Application of Electronic Aids to Control of Terminal Area Air Traffic

Abstract

The ATC system must ensure the safe and expeditious movement of traffic through the TMA and down to and along the surface of the airport. There must be a plan which defines the path to be followed by each aircraft, taking account of all other proposed movements. There must also be a means of implementing this plan with adequate accuracy, or for revising it should later events make this necessary. The plan must take account of the finite accuracy with which an aircraft can navigate (using “navigation” in the broad sense of “the progress of the craft about its ways in space and time“). We will therefore discuss first the tools required for implementing any chosen plan, before discussing the planning function itself.