Tasks of Air traffic controllers

Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) are responsible for providing the Air Traffic Control Service according to ICAO Document 4444 (Air Traffic Management - something like the bible of air traffic control, setting international standards) and ICAO Annex 11 (Air Navigation Service). Annex 11 defines this as follows:

Air traffic control service is a service provided for the purpose of:

• preventing collisions:
  • between aircraft, and
  • on the manoeuvring area between aircraft and obstructions; and
• expediting and maintaining an safe, orderly and expeditious flow of air traffic.

The first bullet point can be summarized with the term Safety. This point, of course, has the highest priority. As you will learn in one of the following chapters, within the framework of the Air Traffic Control Service, we prevent collisions between aircraft by establishing and ensuring separation. To prevent collisions on the ground, we issue safe taxi instructions.

The second bullet point can be summarized with the term Efficiency. According to the mentioned regulations, the air traffic controller is also obliged to handle traffic not only safely but also efficiently and orderly.

At the beginning of the training, the focus is of course on Safety first, but we want to train you to become an efficient controller as quickly as possible. It will be very important for you to correctly prioritize the many tasks as a controller, to demonstrate good preplanning, and to use your frequency efficiently.

However, the topic of Efficiency is extremely difficult to describe as a theoretical topic, which is why your mentors will primarily work on it with you during the practical sessions.