Definition
A service operated by the FAA to promote the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic. ATC personnel, working from control towers, approach control facilities, and en route centers, issue instructions and clearances to pilots to separate aircraft from each other and from terrain, and to manage the use of airspace and airport surfaces.
Plain English
ATC is the team of trained controllers on the ground who guide and separate aircraft. They talk to pilots by radio, tell them where they can go, when they can take off or land, and keep aircraft a safe distance apart.
Context Anchor
Pilots encounter ATC on the radio before taxi, during takeoff and landing, while flying through controlled airspace, and when receiving route or altitude instructions.
Why Pilots Care
Prevents collisions, sequences arrivals and departures at busy airports, and provides guidance in low visibility or complex airspace.
Intuition Check
ATC does not fly the aircraft for the pilot. ATC controls the flow of traffic by issuing instructions and clearances, while the pilot remains responsible for operating the aircraft safely.
Example Sentence 1
Before taxiing at a towered airport, the pilot contacted ATC for clearance to the active runway.
Example Sentence 2
ATC issued a heading change to maintain separation from another aircraft.