AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

 Air Traffic Management (ATM) was earlier termed as Air Traffic Control (ATC).
 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) maintains and operates the airways system in US.
 International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was established in 1944 to standardize
air traffic control procedures internationally.
 The main role of FAA is to provide safe and efficient movement of aircraft throughout
the airspace system.
 The primary function of Air Traffic Management System (ATMS) is to prevent collisions
between aircrafts.
 Aircrafts operate in the National Airspace System (NAS).
 NAS is defined by a series of air routes, airspace classifications, and navigational aids.
 In areas with very low volumes of flight activity during excellent visibility conditions,
aircraft may operate in the complete absence of ATC.
 In the busiest airspace or when visibility is limited, aircraft may be under full positive
control, only being able to change speed, course, or altitude by direct orders from the air
traffic controller.
Air Traffic Management Rules:
 Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) are applied when there is sufficient visibility
for pilots of aircraft to be able to navigate by referencing locations on the ground, as well
as to be able to see and avoid other aircraft in the area.
 Around airports, VMC is defined as at least 3 statute miles (land miles) visibility and
cloud ceilings (defined as at least 5/8 of the sky covered by clouds) of at least 1000 ft
above the ground level (AGL).
 Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) exists when visibilities are less than 3
statute miles and cloud ceilings are less than 1000 ft above the ground.
 Aircraft operating in VMC tend to fly under Visual Flight Rules (VFR).
 Aircraft flying in IMC or at altitudes over 18,000 ft AMSL fly under Instrument Flight
Rules (IFR).
 Aircraft flying under IFR navigate using ground based and satellite based navigation
aides and are fully controlled along planned routes by ATC personnel.
Air Traffic Separation Rules:
 Rules governing the minimum separation of aircraft in the vertical, horizontal or
longitudinal, and lateral directions.
 Minimum separations are a function of aircraft type, aircraft speed, availability of radar
facilities, navigational aids, and severity of wake vortices.
Vertical Separation in the Airspace:
 Minimum vertical separation of aircraft outside of the terminal area from the ground up to
and including 41,000 ft above mean sea level (AMSL) is 1000 ft.

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 In 2005, vertical separation minimums above 29,000 ft AMSL were reduced from 2000 ft
to 1000 ft under the Reduced Vertical Separation Minima (RVSM) program.
 Implementation of RVSM program allowed for additional routes (jet routes) thereby
increasing the capacity within the NAS.
 Within a terminal area a vertical separation of 500 ft is maintained between aircrafts,
except that a 1000 ft vertical separation is maintained below a heavy aircraft.
Assigned Flight Altitudes:
 In order to have separation of air traffic in the airspace, ATC assigns flight altitudes to
aircraft based on their direction (magnetic heading) of flight, and whether or not they are
flying under VFR versus IFR rules.
 Aircraft flying under IFR are assigned altitudes of odd-thousand feet (3000 ft, 5000 ft,
7000 ft, etc.) AMSL while on easterly heading (magnetic compass heading of 0 to 179)
and even-thousand feet (4000 ft, 6000 ft, 8000 ft, etc.) while on a westerly heading
(magnetic compass heading of 180 to 359).
 Between 29,000 ft AMSL (flight level, FL 290) and 41,000 ft AMSL (FL 410), aircraft
are assigned a flight level of either FL 290, FL 330, FL 370, or FL 410 when travelling on
an easterly heading, and either FL 310, FL 350, FL 390 when travelling on a westerly
heading.
 If an aircraft is RVSM certified, it may be assigned an RVSM altitude of FL 300, 320,
340, etc. between FL 290 and FL 410.
 Aircraft flying under VFR above 3000 ft AMSL are assigned altitudes of odd-thousand
feet plus 500 ft (3500 ft, 5500 ft, etc.) while on easterly heading, and even-thousand feet
plus 500 ft (4500, 6500 ft, etc.) while on a westerly heading.
 Above FL 180, all traffic is required to be on an IFR flight plan.
Longitudinal Separation in the Airspace:
 The minimum longitudinal separation depends on the aircraft size, aircraft speed, and the
availability of radar for the control of air traffic.
 For the purpose of maintaining aircraft separations, aircraft are classified by FAA as
heavy, large, or small based upon their MGTOW.
 Small: MGTOW  12,500 lb; large: MGTOW from 12,500 lb to 300,000 lb; heavy:
MGTOW  300,000 lb.
 Aircraft size is related to wake turbulence; heavy aircraft create trailing wake vortices
which are hazardous to the following lighter aircraft.
 The minimum longitudinal separations en route (on the way) are expressed in terms of
time or distance as shown below:
i) For en route aircraft following a preceding en route aircraft, if the lead aircraft
maintains a speed of at least 44 kn faster than the trail aircraft:
 5 mi between aircraft using distance measuring equipment (DME) or area
navigation (RNAV)
 3 minutes between all other aircraft

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 ii) For en route aircraft following a preceding en route aircraft, if the lead aircraft
maintains a speed of at least 22 kn faster than the trail aircraft:
 10 mi between aircraft using DME or RNAV
 5 minutes between all other aircraft
iii) For en route aircraft following a preceding en route aircraft, if both aircraft are at
the same speed:
 20 mi between aircraft using DME or RNAV
 10 minutes between all other aircraft
iv) When an aircraft is climbing or descending through the altitude of another aircraft:
 10 mi for aircraft using DME or RNAV if the descending aircraft is
leading or the climbing aircraft is following
 5 minutes for all other aircraft
v) 30 mi between aircraft in which one aircraft is using DME or RNAV and the other
is not.
 Minimum longitudinal separations over the oceans is 10 minutes for supersonic flights
and 15 minutes for subsonic flights.
 When the aircraft mix is such that wake turbulence is not a factor and radar coverage is
available, the minimum longitudinal separation for two aircraft travelling in the same
direction and at the same altitude is 5 nm, except that when the aircraft are in the terminal
environment within 40 nm of the radar antenna the separation can be reduced to 3 nm.
 If wake turbulence is a factor, the minimum separation in the terminal area between a
small or large aircraft and a preceding heavy aircraft is 5 nm.
 The spacing between two heavy aircraft following each other is 4 nm.
 The spacing between a heavy aircraft and a preceding large aircraft is 3 nm.
 For landing aircraft when wake turbulence is a factor, the longitudinal separation between
a small aircraft and a preceding large aircraft is 4 mi and between a small aircraft and a
preceding heavy aircraft is 6 mi.
 Horizontal separation in landing for arrival-arrival spacing of aircraft on same runway
approaches in VFR and IFR conditions in nautical miles:
VFR trail aircraft type IFR (wake vortex) trail aircraft type
Lead aircraft type
Heavy Large Small Heavy Large Small
Heavy 2.7 3.6 4.5 4.0 5.0 6.0
Large 1.9 1.9 2.7 3.0 3.0 4.0
Small 1.9 1.9 1.9 3.0 3.0 3.0
 Separation for same runway consecutive departures in VFR and IFR conditions in sec.:
VFR trail aircraft type IFR trail aircraft type
Lead aircraft type
Heavy Large Small Heavy Large Small
Heavy 90 120 120 120 120 120
Large 60 60 50 60 60 60
Small 50 45 35 60 60 60
Lateral Separation in the Airspace:
 The minimum en route lateral separation below 18,000 ft AMSL is 8 nm, and at and
above 18,000 ft AMSL is 20 nm; over oceans it varies from 60 to 120 nm.

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NAVIGATIONAL AIDS:
 Navigational aids (NAVAIDS) classified into: (i) ground based systems, and (ii) satellite
based systems.
Ground Based Systems:
Non-directional Beacon (NDB):
 Oldest ground-based navigational aid.
 Emits radio frequency signals on frequencies between 400 and 1020 Hz.
 Mounted on a 35 ft (approx.) tall pole.
 Located on or off airport property, at least 100 ft clear of metal buildings, power lines, or
metal fences.
 Aircraft navigate using the NDB by referencing an Automatic Direction Finder (ADF)
located on the aircraft’s panel.
 ADF points toward the location of the NDB.
Very High Frequency Omni range Radio (VOR):
 VOR stations are located on the ground and send out radio signals in all directions.
 Each signal can be considered as a course or route referred to as a radial that can be
followed by an aircraft.
 In terms of 1 intervals, there are 360 routes that are radiated from a VOR station, from 0
pointing toward magnetic north increasing to 359 in a clockwise direction.
 The range of a VOR station is usually less than 200 nm.
 An Omni Bearing Selector (OBS) placed in the cockpit indicates the heading of the
aircraft relative to the direction of the desired radial and whether the aircraft is to the right
or left of the radial.
 Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) shows the pilot the slant distance between the
aircraft and a particular VOR station.
Air Route Surveillance Radar:
 The radars will have a range of about 250 nm.
 Radar is not an aid to navigation and its function is to provide air traffic controllers with a
visual display of the position of each aircraft so that they can monitor their spacing and
intervene when necessary.
 Radar can be used by air traffic controllers to guide aircraft when necessary and has been
included as an aid to navigation.
 NDB, VOR, and radar are used to determine which direction to fly when approaching an
airport.
 Air traffic controllers monitor the spacing between aircraft on the radarscope and instruct
pilots by means of voice communication.
 Radar returns appear on the radarscope as small blips and these are reflections from the
body of the aircraft.

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 Primary radar requires the installation of rotating antennas on the ground and the range of
the primary radar is a function of its frequency.
 Secondary radar consists of a radar receiver and transmitter on the ground that transmits a
coded signal to an aircraft fitted with a transponder.
 Transponder is an airborne receiver and transmitter which receives the signal from the
ground and responds by returning a coded reply to the interrogator on the ground.
 The coded reply contains information on aircraft identity and altitude.
Instrument Landing System (ILS):
 Most widely used method of approach navigation at the world’s largest airports.
 ILS system consists of two radio transmitters located on the airport.
 One radio beam is called the localizer and the other the glide slope.
 The localizer indicates to pilots whether they are left or right of the correct alignment for
approach to the runway.
 The glide slope (2 to 7.5) indicates the correct angle of descent to the runway.
 In order to help pilots on their ILS approach, up to three low power fan markers called
ILS markers are installed so that they may know how far along the approach to the
runway they have progressed.
 First is called the outer marker (OM) and is located about 3.5 to 5 mi from the end of the
runway.
 The middle marker (MM) is located about 3000 ft from the end of the runway.
 An additional marker called the inner marker (IM) is located 1000 ft from the end of the
runway.
 When the aircraft passes over a marker, a light glows in the cockpit and a tone sounds.
Airport Surface Detection Equipment (ASDE):
 Specially designed radar also referred to as ground radar is used to aid the controller in
regulating traffic on the airport.
 The system gives the air traffic controller in the control tower a pictorial display of the
runways, taxiways, and terminal area with radar indicating the position of the aircraft and
other vehicles moving on the surface of the airport.
Satellite Based Systems:
Global Positioning System (GPS):
 GPS is a satellite based radio positioning and navigation system.
 GPS is designed to provide highly accurate position and velocity information on a
continuous global basis to an unlimited number of properly equipped users.
 It is unaffected by weather and provides a common world-wide grid reference system.
 It consists of 24 satellites in near circular orbit about the earth.
 GPS receivers onboard aircraft automatically select the appropriate signals from typically
four satellites which are in view of the receiver and translate these signals into a three-
dimensional position, and when the receiver is in motion, velocity.
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