Air Traffic Control Entities

The importance of the Air Traffic Control Activity (by Diego Llorente) 

Air traffic control or known as ATC is a service provided by controllers located on the ground to develop the task of guiding aircraft in controlled airspaces and offer information and full support to pilots within non-airspace.

Airspace control is controlled by each country, and they are independently responsible for the service in those within their area of ​​responsibility. In accordance with the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), ATC operations are carried out in English or in the language used by the ground station. In practice, the native language of a region is used normally; however, the English language must be used upon request. The English language is mandatory. 

The job of an air traffic controller is considered one of the most stressful tasks in the aviation field. It is a task that implies a great responsibility and does not give rise to the margin of error as occurs in the performance of the pilots as I have talked about in the previous blogs. Safety in aviation comes first. The task of an ATC is to provide a service that facilitates operations but is mainly based on guaranteeing operational safety.

This week I am going to compare the operation of aerospace in Spain and a region of the United States, mainly the Central and South Florida region. 

Air Traffic Control in Spain is carried out mainly by ENAIRE. This body is in charge of planning, directing, coordinating, operating, conserving, and managing air traffic. Likewise, it is also in charge of telecommunications and aeronautical information services, as well as the infrastructures, facilities, and communications networks of the air navigation system, with the aim that the provision of the service is safe, effective, continuous, and sustainable.

In general, the ATC in Spain is mainly in charge of:

·       The prevention of collisions and accelerating and maintaining the movement of air traffic in an orderly manner.

·       Provide advice and useful information for the safe and efficient operation of flights.

·       Notify and assist the relevant agencies regarding aircraft that need help and rescue. 

ENAIRE is the highest priority to safety in the provision of air navigation services, evaluating and minimizing, with a proactive and systematic approach, the risks to aviation that may lead to accidents or incidents. In addition, the level of weighted security incidents 1 per 100,000 flight hours has been reduced by 15% over the three-year period; The quality in the provision of the ATS service has been improved, reducing the delay associated with our service.

In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversees air traffic control. The entity in charge of carrying out this work is the national aerospace system, which oversees controlling and regulating a complex system for commercial, civil, and military aircraft.

The main objective of the FAA with this subject is to be able to order a complex system in an effective and favorable way to be able to provide efficiency to air operations and safety. Over the years, aviation created its airports based on the prevailing winds and then the systems for navigation were improved, giving security to be able to make an effective approach and take-off system, a task that ATC currently performs. 

There are many similarities in the ways air traffic controllers operate. In Spain, we can call Europe with respect to the United States, they work in a very similar way, but there are certain differences from one aeronautical legislation to another regarding airspaces and regulations, but aviation is integrated in part worldwide with a similar operation. The United States is the pioneer country in aviation and from there the rest arises, but this does not want to determine anything negative in the other sectors. Therefore, ENAIRE and the FAA have the same objective and the same vision with the air traffic controllers.

In conclusion, these bodies have the purpose of carrying out controls, verifications, and modifications to guarantee operational safety. If any modification has to be made, the FAA is in charge of carrying out the quality tests and all the necessary implementations to verify designs, procedures, and mechanisms to guarantee air operations in terms of maximum safety for labor and safety integrity. the passengers. Once the modifications have been implemented, the FAA and ENAIRE would oversee carrying out the necessary monitoring for possible discrepancies. This means that the activity of the controllers and pilots is regulated, monitored, and analyzed every day so that they are carried out safely and effectively.

References 

American Psychological Association. (2019). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association: 7th Edition, 2020 Copyright (Seventh ed.). American Psychological Association.

FAA TV: Procedimientos de vuelo en el control del tráfico aéreo de las regiones Centra y Sur de la Florida. (n.d.). FAA TV. https://www.faa.gov/tv/?mediaId=2037

Llorente, D. (2021). El sueño de ser piloto comercial: De América Latina a los Estados Unidos (Spanish Edition) (1st ed.). Editorial Autores de Argentina.