8.2 Air Traffic Control Entities

In the United States the air traffic control team is made up of several subcategories and entities that all work towards the same goal. However, they both do very different tasks in order to accomplish this goal. The goal I am talking about is obviously managing and maintaining aviation safety in and out of the airport runway. Among these entities that I will be discussing in this blog are ground controller and center controller.  

A ground controller is responsible for all ground traffic (HowStuffWorks, 2021). This includes aircraft taxiing from the gates to the takeoff runways and from landing runways to the gates (HowStuffWorks, 2021). The ground controller is directly responsible for moving the aircraft from point A to point B safely and without any accidents (HowStuffWorks, 2021). When the ground controller deems it safe for transport, he or she directs the pilot around the airport. The ground controller and pilot communicate via radio and gives them instructions, such as which runway to takeoff from (HowStuffWorks, 2021).


When an aircraft reaches a certain altitude, the pilots will be in contact with the center controller. The center controller falls under the air route traffic control centers or ARTCC (HowStuffWorks, 2021). The center controller is responsible for the air traffic at higher altitudes (HowStuffWorks, 2021). These controllers also handle the pilot reports and conditions such as turbulence (HowStuffWorks, 2021). 
 

Both the ground controller and center controller are very similar in many ways. They both control the airspace in and out of the airports. They also maintain several safety measures to make sure that each aircraft arrives and is moved safely between flights. The difference between them is quite clear. One primarily focusses on the safety and transporting of aircraft on the ground and the other focusses on a much wider scale of aircraft safety in the air. 
   


References

Craig Freudenrich, P. D. (2021, May 14). How air traffic control works. HowStuffWorks Science. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/air-traffic-control.htm

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