Unit 6 Air traffic control system

Because they were few, underpowered, and only slightly engaged in commerce, airplanes before 1914 needed no communications between themselves or with ground-based stations. As World War I progressed, airships and specially equipped airplanes carried Morse code radio equipment for military purposes. It was not until the 1930’s, however, that civil aviation communications radio became a truly useful appliance. Fledgling airlines in the United States began to install radios aboard their airplanes and at their dispatch hubs to monitor each airliner’s progress.

This practice brought about the earliest, most rudimentary form of what has become the air traffic control (ATC) system. Early pilots considered radios an unwelcome intrusion in the cockpit, and some pilots refused to use them. Despite these protests, aviation communications provided undeniable benefits to safe and efficient operation, so the system expanded. Following World War II, aviation radios had become widespread in all but the smallest airplanes, as airspace around major cities became congested.

By the 1960’s, radios were familiar even in small airplanes. By the 1970’s, air travel had become sufficiently pervasive that medium-sized and smaller cities attracted enough air traffic to make communications important to safety. The number of control towers rose accordingly, and radio communication frequencies soon became congested.

Few pilots could realistically consider their airplanes as operating apart from the air traffic system, but standardization of communications procedures and phraseology lagged behind hardware technology. Air traffic control (ATC) uses technology and trained staff to assure safe movement of aircraft in airspace and at airports. ATC continually monitors every instrument flight rules (IFR) flight from takeoff to landing, as well as visual flight rules (VFR) flights upon pilot request and controller availability, enabling reliable, efficient transportation of people and goods by airlines.

Air transportation is essential to modern life, and it requires that passengers feel safe during air travel. The features of aviation that distinguish it from other transportation forms are its high speed and vertical operation.

The potential for severe injury or death to aircraft passengers has led to air traffic control (ATC) systems that have evolved from early traffic control with signal flags in the 1920’s to the sophisticated systems using advanced technology and specially trained staff of the twenty-first century. Current ATC assures the safe movement of virtually all aircraft operating in airspace and at airports. Its objectives include giving pilots all the data and control services needed to maximize safe, efficient aircraft operation; maximizing safe air traffic at airports; and minimizing unavoidable flight arrival and departure delays. It is ATC, a product of the National Airspace System, that makes air transportation the safest means of mass transportation in the United States.

Commercial airplanes generally travel airways, which are analogous to roads, although they are not physical structures. Airways have fixed widths and defined altitudes, which separate traffic moving in opposite directions.

Vertical separation of aircraft allows some flights to pass over airports while other processes occur below. Air travel usually covers long distances, with short periods of intense pilot activity at takeoff and landing and long periods of lower pilot activity while in the air, the portion of the flight known colloquially as the “long haul”. During the long-haul portion of a flight, pilots spend more time assessing aircraft status than searching out nearby planes. This is because collisions between aircraft usually occur in the vicinity of airports, while crashes due to aircraft malfunction tend to occur during long-haul flight.

All pilots wishing to utilize IFR must demonstrate their ability through detailed testing, and all aircraft must have adequate flight instruments. For each flight, a detailed flight plan must be filed with the Flight Service Station, part of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); flight clearance must be received from Clearance Delivery or Ground Control (or from Approach Control if the pilot files while in the air); and ATC directions must be followed throughout the flight.

Exercises

1. Answer the following questions. Begin your answers with such introductory phrases as: as far as I know; as far as I remember; to my mind; certainly; it's hard to tell; probably; of course; if I am not mistaken etc.

1) What purposes was Morse code radio equipment used for in time of World War I?

2) Why had aviation radios become widespread in all but the smallest airplanes?

3) What are the advantages of aviation radio appliances?

4) What are the features that distinguish aviation from other transportation forms?

5) What is meant by "long haul"?

6) Why do pilots spend more time assessing aircraft status than searching out nearby planes during the long-haul portion of a flight?

7) Where must flight clearance be received?

2. You should check the pronunciation of key words. Transcribe the words: appliance; equipment; fledgling; reliable; distinguish; feature(s); clearance

4. Find in the texts the English equivalents for the following expressions:

(1) приобрести широкое распространение (2) несмотря на, (3) для военных целей, (4) при взлёте и посадке, (5) дальние перевозки, (6) разрешение на полёт, (7) в противоположном направлении, (8) поблизости от, (9) надёжный, (10) Правила полёта по приборам, (11) авиадиспетчерская служба, (12) иметь важнейшее значение, (13) Федеральное управление гражданской авиации (США), (14) наземный центр управления

5. Match the words from the texts (1-10) with the definitions (A-J):

6. Complete the text with the words from the box