Definition
An area of airspace in which radar-equipped approach control facilities provide radar separation, sequencing, and approach guidance to arriving and departing IFR aircraft, and to participating VFR aircraft, typically surrounding one or more airports served by that facility.
Plain English
A chunk of sky around one or more airports where controllers use radar to watch aircraft and guide them in for landing or out on departure.
Context Anchor
Seen in FAA route listings such as tower en route lists in the Chart Supplement, where routes are grouped by the radar approach control area that serves them.
Derivation
Radar comes from “radio detection and ranging,” meaning finding an object and its distance by radio signals. “Approach control” refers to the controllers who handle aircraft near airports as they arrive, depart, or pass through nearby airspace. Together, the phrase points to the airspace served by that radar-based control facility.
Why Pilots Care
Knowing the boundaries tells pilots when to expect radar vectors, speed assignments, and approach clearances instead of pilot-nav procedures.
Intuition Check
Do not read “approach” here as an instrument approach to a runway. In this term, “approach control” means the air traffic control facility that manages aircraft near airports.
Example Sentence 1
After departure, the tower handed us off to the radar approach control area covering the surrounding airports for vectors on course.
Example Sentence 2
During busy periods the Radar Approach Control Area handles multiple simultaneous arrivals by assigning headings and altitudes.