Definition
The ICAO term used by an air traffic controller to inform a pilot that the aircraft has been identified on the radar display and that radar flight following will be provided until radar identification is terminated.
Plain English
It means the controller can now see your aircraft on their radar screen and will be watching it as you fly. They will keep tracking you until they tell you the tracking has ended.
Context Anchor
Heard in radio communications after departure, during flight following, or when entering controlled airspace where radar service is being provided.
Derivation
Radar comes from “radio detection and ranging,” meaning finding and measuring the distance to objects by radio signals. Contact comes from a word meaning “to touch,” but in this use it means a confirmed connection or identification, not physical touching.
Why Pilots Care
It confirms you are being tracked, enabling radar vectors, traffic advisories, and separation services from ATC.
Intuition Check
Do not read “contact” here as simply “we are talking on the radio.” You may be in radio contact before the controller has radar contact; radar contact means your aircraft has been identified on the radar display.
Example Sentence 1
After checking in with departure, the pilot heard, 'Cessna 12345, radar contact, climb and maintain 5,000.'
Example Sentence 2
When radar contact is established, the pilot can request vectors for the approach.