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The begging
In 1920, Croydon Airport, London was the first airport in the world to introduce air traffic control. -
The job of an air traffic controller
The primary method of controlling the immediate airport environment is visual observation from the airport control tower. The tower is a tall, windowed structure located on the airport grounds. Air traffic controllers are responsible for the separation and efficient movement of aircraft and vehicles operating on the taxiways and runways of the airport itself -
First air traffic control center in U.S.
The first airport traffic control tower, regulating arrivals, departures and surface movement of aircraft at a specific airport, opened in Cleveland in 1930. -
First air route control center
The first air route traffic control center, which directs the movement of aircraft between departure and destination was opened in Newark, NJ in 1935, followed in 1936 by Chicago and Cleveland. -
Radar making jobs easier
Approach/departure control facilities were created after adoption of radar in the 1950s to monitor and control the busy airspace around larger airports. -
Responsibilities
The areas of responsibility for tower controllers fall into three general operational disciplines; local control or air control, ground control, and flight data / clearance delivery—other categories, such as Apron control or ground movement planner, may exist at extremely busy airports. While each tower may have unique airport-specific procedures, such as multiple teams of controllers ('crews') at major or complex airports with multiple runways. -
Ground crew
Ground control (sometimes known as ground movement control) is responsible for the airport "movement" areas, as well as areas not released to the airlines or other users. -
Another job part of air traffic control
Clearance delivery is the position that issues route clearances to aircraft -
Why air traffic controllers are important
a highly disciplined communications process between air control and ground control is an absolute necessity. Air control must ensure that ground control is aware of any operations that will impact the taxiways, and work with the approach radar controllers to create "gaps" in the arrival traffic to allow taxiing traffic to cross runways and to allow departing aircraft to take off. -
Flight mapping
Flight Traffic Mapping uses animation to depict flight traffic. The mapping of flights in real-time is based on a sophisticated air traffic control system that was developed for North America. -
Terminal control
Terminal controllers are responsible for providing all ATC services within their airspace. Traffic flow is broadly divided into departures, arrivals, and overflights. -
Working from home
Remote and virtual tower (RVT) is a system based on air traffic controllers being located somewhere other than at the local airport tower and still able to provide air traffic control services. Displays for the air traffic controllers may be live video, synthetic images based on surveillance sensor data, or both. -
today's responsibilities for air traffic controllers
Air traffic controllers make sure that planes and other aircraft take off and land safely. They may use radar to track flight paths and control the traffic flow in the sky. -
today "AMRS"
Over time, the AMRS morphed into flight service stations. Today's flight service stations do not issue control instructions, but provide pilots with many other flight related informational services. They do relay control instructions from ATC in areas where flight service is the only facility with radio or phone coverage.