Definition
An aircraft arriving at an airport that is given final approach guidance by an air traffic controller using radar, typically through radar vectors to the final approach course.
Plain English
An arriving flight that the controller guides toward the runway using radar, telling the pilot which headings to fly until lined up for the approach.
Context Anchor
Seen in air traffic control and approach-control discussions for aircraft coming into airports served by radar.
Derivation
Radar began as an acronym for radio detection and ranging. That origin helps because a radar arrival is not just an aircraft that is arriving; it is an arriving aircraft being observed by a radar-based control facility.
Why Pilots Care
Allows safe sequencing and precise alignment with the runway while reducing pilot workload in busy or low-visibility conditions.
Intuition Check
Do not read “arrival” here as simply “a landing.” A Radar Arrival is about how the aircraft is being handled on the way in: the radar facility has radar contact with it.
Example Sentence 1
As a radar arrival, we were vectored onto the ILS final about eight miles from the runway.
Example Sentence 2
During the radar arrival the pilot maintained assigned headings until established on the approach.