Definition
The service provided by air traffic control (ATC) that keeps aircraft apart from each other by required minimum distances, both horizontally and vertically, to prevent collisions and conflicts.
Plain English
ATC's job of making sure aircraft stay a safe distance apart from one another in the sky.
Context Anchor
Seen in departure planning, published departure routes, and air traffic control instructions, especially when several aircraft are using the same airport area.
Why Pilots Care
Ensures safe flight by preventing mid-air conflicts in busy airspace.
Intuition Check
Traffic separation does not mean only looking outside for other aircraft. Here, it means planned spacing between aircraft, often built into a route or given by a controller.
Example Sentence 1
By assigning each departing aircraft a different SID, the controller maintained traffic separation as they climbed out of the terminal area.
Example Sentence 2
The SID route was designed to allow traffic separation without additional vectoring.