Most people have a misconception about air traffic controllers(or ATC in short). Most people that i spoke to, thought that the people at the control towers take charge of everything related to air traffic control. They are only partially right. There are different types of air traffic controllers, those at the towers(local and ground controllers) are just one type. There are others who operates from underground too! I would elaborate on this.

To make it simple, We will follow through a flight taken by a aircraft from Los Angeles to Washington D.C, and understand how the air traffic controllers direct this aircraft from the moment it leaves the gate to the moment it land and park.

This flight can be broken down into 7 simple parts.They are:

1.Preflight
2.Takeoff
3.Departure
4.En-route
5.Descent
6.Approach
7.Landing

Air traffic controllers across states or nations work as a team. Its much like playing a game of handball. ATC will pass on the ball(aircraft) among themselves until the aircraft reach its final destination.

1.Preflight

At this stage, the pilot of the aircraft will do his/her flight planning.He will pass over this flight plan, which includes, the name of the aircraft, the flight number, the aircraft type, the proposed planned route as well as the intended altitude and speed to be use during the flight, to the flight data person located at the towers.

The flight data person will review the conditions along the route between Los Angeles and Washington D.C and then enter the flight plan as well as weather conditions into computer database for approval. He/She goes on to generate the flight progress strip which holds all the information contained in the flight plan. This slip will be updated and passed among the ATC of different states during the flight.

2. Takeoff

Once the flight plan is cleared by the relevant authorities, the flight progress strip will be passed onto the ground controllers at the towers. The ground controllers are in-charge of directing this aircraft to its designated runway and ensure that it does not veer off into other active runways used by other aircraft. He/she uses visual aids(e.g. binoculars) or ground radar to hand out direction to the pilot.

The moment the aircraft reached the taxiway, the command is hand over to the local controllers. The local controllers at the towers will then survey the airspace above the airfield. Once the airspace above the airport is clear, a green

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