Lesson 1 · 5 min
What air traffic control actually does
The three kinds of control service in the UK, and where the tower fits in.
Underlined terms below have a definition — click one to read it, or open the full glossary.
One job, three settings
Air traffic control exists to keep aircraft apart and to keep traffic moving in a sensible order. In the UK that work is split into three broad settings.
(the tower) looks after the , the and the immediately around the airfield. This is where you start in this simulator.
handles aircraft arriving at and leaving the airfield's wider airspace, feeding them to the in a workable sequence.
looks after aircraft en route at higher levels, passing them between sectors as they cross the country.
The controller's priorities
Safety first: aircraft must never conflict on the or in the air. Everything else — speed, efficiency, pilot convenience — comes after that.
A controller issues instructions, not suggestions. A is a permission to do something specific, in a specific place, at a specific time.
If you are not sure it is safe, the correct answer is to delay: hold the aircraft, ask it to , or again.
In this simulator, an unsafe clearance is never blocked — it is logged as a safety event, exactly as it would be in real life.
Where the rules come from
UK phraseology and procedures come from the . The radiotelephony manual, , sets out what to say and in what order. The and the set out how aircraft must fly.
This simulator follows conventions closely enough to teach the habits, but it is a learning aid — not an approved training device.
Try it
Which service looks after the runway and the visual circuit?
You are unsure whether the runway will be clear in time. What is the safe action?