Definition
An air traffic control instruction or condition indicating that the standard minimum separation between aircraft must be expanded due to specific operational factors such as wake turbulence, weather, equipment limitations, or traffic conditions. When this requirement is in effect, controllers apply greater distances or time intervals between aircraft than the normal published minimums.
Plain English
ATC needs to keep aircraft farther apart than usual. The normal spacing isn't enough right now, so a bigger gap is being applied.
Context Anchor
You may encounter this in ATC procedures, approach and departure sequencing, traffic-flow delays, or notes explaining why aircraft cannot be spaced as closely as usual.
Derivation
Separation comes from a Latin word meaning “to set apart.” In aviation, it does not just mean distance in a general sense; it means keeping aircraft far enough apart to meet a required safety standard.
Why Pilots Care
Prevents wake turbulence encounters and maintains safe aircraft spacing.
Intuition Check
Do not read this as a casual suggestion to give aircraft a little more room. It means a larger-than-normal separation standard is required for that operation or situation.
Example Sentence 1
Tower advised increased separation required behind the departing 747, so we held short an extra two minutes before takeoff.
Example Sentence 2
The pilot acknowledged the call for increased separation required during the approach sequence.