Definition
An IFR departure in which air traffic control uses radar to provide navigational guidance in the form of headings (vectors) to the departing aircraft, rather than requiring the pilot to follow a pre-published departure route. After takeoff, the controller issues specific headings and altitudes to guide the aircraft from the departure airport onto its filed route of flight, while monitoring its position on radar.
Plain English
A departure where the controller watches your aircraft on radar and tells you which way to turn and how high to climb, rather than you flying a pre-printed departure path on your own. The controller steers you from the runway out to your planned route by giving you headings to fly.
Context Anchor
Seen in instrument departure planning and used after takeoff when the pilot is working with departure control instead of following only a printed departure route.
Derivation
Radar' comes from RAdio Detection And Ranging, a system that bounces radio waves off aircraft to determine their position. 'Controlled' here means actively directed by ATC. Together, the term describes a departure that is actively steered by a controller using radar, rather than flown along a pre-published path.
Why Pilots Care
Provides immediate, real-time guidance in busy or low-visibility airspace without requiring the pilot to fly a published departure route.
Intuition Check
Radar-controlled does not mean the airplane is being flown automatically by radar. It means air traffic control is using radar to monitor the aircraft and issue instructions to the pilot.
Example Sentence 1
After receiving their IFR clearance, the crew briefed a radar-controlled departure and expected vectors to join the airway shortly after takeoff.
Example Sentence 2
Radar-controlled departures allow ATC to sequence multiple aircraft efficiently in terminal airspace.