Hello! This week, our focus for our blog posts is to discuss the different air traffic control entities and their functions. I specifically will be discussing the functions of the Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) and the Flight Service Station (FSS).
The air traffic control system is comprised of many entities that work together to advise and provide routing for traffic to safely and expeditiously execute their flight. There is absolutely no way the aviation industry would be where it is today without the services from air traffic control. Some of the entities that encompass the air traffic control system include:
Clearance Delivery
Ground Control
Tower Control
Approach/ Departure Control
ARTCC
FSS
Remote Communications Outlet (RCO)
Oceanic Control
Typically a pilot will contact ARTCC sometime within the enroute segment of their flight, especially if flying longer ranges. ARTCC is responsible for providing traffic separation for aircraft that are under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) (PHAK, 2016). If workload permits, ARTCC can provide services to aircraft under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and give weather advisories. There are 22 ARTCC sectors designated throughout the U.S. to include portions of the ocean off the coast (Kern, 2020). Each sector covers a very large area, usually including multiple states. When a pilot is flying and outside of the airspace designated for an approach/departure controller, the pilot will be handed off to the ARTCC who is in charge of the sector they are flying in. The ARTCC sector that designates the area that I travel around is Jacksonville Center. Jacksonville Center covers 160,000 square miles to include sections of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina (FAA, 2020). To cover the area, the center divides its airspace into smaller areas, then subdivides those areas into smaller sectors (FAA, 2020). A controller may be designated to each sector during busier parts of the day and when it dies down, they will combine multiple sectors to one controller (FAA, 2020). Something that I found interesting was the fact that at busier times of the day, the controller that is talking to you on the radio may have up to two backup controllers helping them out providing help with flight plan information, traffic separation, and coordinating with other sectors (FAA, 2020).
The video below shows Los Angeles Center, the services they provide, and how they communicate with aircraft entering their airspace.
The FSS has numerous tasks. Some include providing weather briefings, insuring route clearances, filing VFR/IFR flight plans, and activating search and rescue (PHAK, 2016). The FSS can be contacted on the ground via 1-800-WXBRIEF or over the radio in the air. In my experience, one of the most common reasons it is used is for weather briefings. These briefings will include an interpretation of weather charts, weather observations, and forecasts for your time of departure and along your route. While en route, a pilot can contact the nearest FSS over the radio to get an updated weather briefing. Unlike the ARTCC, the FSS has nothing to do with the separation of traffic while enroute
The video below is an example of a pilot receiving an inflight weather briefing with flight service.
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
(2016). Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (PHAK). Retrieved
https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/phak/
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). (2020). Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center. Retrieved https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/service_units/air_traffic_services/artcc/jacksonville/overview/
Kern, R. M. (2020, January 1). Air Route Traffic Control. AVweb. https://www.avweb.com/flight-safety/faa-regs/air-route-traffic-control/
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