what is airspace management as it relates to aviation?

Answer 1

This to me is a somewhat broad question since I am an air traffic controller, but I will explain it as it relates to me, in the en route air traffic control environment. I'll try to keep this in laymen's terms as much as possible, not everyone that might read this is involved in the aviation indusry.

Airspace traffic management is vital to our National Airspace System (NAS). If we didn't have the Traffic Management programs in effect, we'd have gridlock, (meaning alot of aircraft holding over airports) in the skies.

Take for example, the EWR aiport, (Newark, New Jersey). Everyday about 9-10am, we are instructed to place 20 miles, (or another chosen mileage) laterally between each aircraft that is destined for EWR that is traversing through the Chicago Center Airspace. This is done to other center airspaces to ensure that the airport has a steady but not overwhelming stream of aircraft, depending on runway configuration, weather conditions, etc.

Now let's look at preferential routing. We'll use a flight from Chicago O'Hare to Orlando International, (ORD-MCO). Aircraft are assigned preferential departure routing so that they will stay clear of arriving aircraft into their departure airport, and to more easily mix into the flow of aircraft that are already in stream overhead. This is called a Standard Instrument Departure, aka SID.

A typical route of flight portion might look something like this:

ORD.ORD1.EON..DNV..
TTH..BWG..GQO..ATL
.J89.OTK.LEESE1.MCO

"ORD1" is the SID that the aircraft will fly on departure. EON, "Peotone" is the first navigational aid, aka "fix" that this flight will use to start blending into the stream of traffic overhead. The other 3 letter jumble of words are other navigational "fixes" that the aircraft is scheduled to fly on this particular flight plan. For example, BWG, is Bowling Green, in Kentucky.

A pilot doesn't necesarily have to fly the exact portion of this route. If a pilot chooses, and atc approves, a pilot my ask for and receive a shortcut to someplace further along his route of flight. On an early morning flight a pilot may receive as far as OTK, (Valdosta, GA) without any question asked from atc.

And speaking of OTK, that brings us to the arrival portion of this flight. OTK.LEESE1.MCO, is spoken as "Valdosta, Leese One Arrival". this is a predetermined route of flight, typically with altitudes to either expect or required to be at from atc. This is referred to as a STAR, Standard Terminal ARrival. It will do the same thing as a SID, as in keep one clear from departures travelling from your destination airport.

Now that you know about preferential routing, let's go back to the Traffic management side of thsi and how it ties in. There are usually multiple STAR's into an airportand sometimes, two or three different ways to join one particular star. En Route spacing and metering allows controllers to manage the aircraft that are headed to an airport by ensuring that aircraft are in sequence already at a similar speed and descending to the same altitude.

Any given weekday morning, the line of arrivals from the Northeast into Chicago O'Hare usually stretches from 80-140 miles back from the airport. They are usually 7-10 miles in trail, and at relatively same speed. Speeds are usually assigned by a controller somewhere in the arrival sequence to maintain proper distance.

I hope anyone who read this got some insight into how your flight might mix ino the NAS the next time you fly. I've been quite broad in this answer, but a truly detailed answer would look something like a novella. Which we're bordering on now.

Answer 2

Here's an overview. The Federal Aviation Administration controls the airspace over 24 million square miles of the earth's surface. That's all of the US, about halfway across the Atlantic and nearly all of the Northern Pacific - 15 percent of the world's surface area. Nothing moves in that airspace without the FAA knowing about it - not military, not commercial flights, not general aviation flights, not the Space Shuttle, not satellite launches - nothing.

So, how do you handle nearly 56,000 flights per day ? Obviously you have "roadways" in the sky that flights use, coordinated by the FAA air traffic controllers. This is airspace management. We line the traffic up like cars on a road, when planes are going to the same, or similar destinations. Certain altitudes are used for westbound traffic, and other altitudes are used for eastbound traffic, so nobody runs into each other. Things work fine until lots of planes converge on a single airport, then the Air Traffic Controllers take over and stage arrivals and takeoffs so that everyone stays separated. There are certain arrival pathways and departure pathways that are defined for each airport, depending on the wind and other conditions.

All of the above relates to an ideal world. When thunderstorms or other events crop up, the FAA adjusts the traffic accordingly. We re-route traffic around weather or if necessary, hold airplanes on the ground until the bad weather passes. This might be frustrating for say, passengers in Los Angeles who can't understand that bad weather in Denver has delayed their departure. Remember however, that fuel is money to the airlines and they'd rather be in a hold on the ground waiting for takeoff clearance that being flying circles in the sky waiting for the weather at an airport to clear off. Realizing that the average thunderstorm has the same amount of energy as the first atomic bomb, flying through them is something you want to avoid. I have - and don't want to do it again.

So in a nutshell, airspace management is the set of rules you use to pack as many airplanes as possible into a given chunk of airspace without compromising safety. This includes the technology used to monitor aircraft and keep them separated, the re-routing for weather and other events that may arise. In the end, it's all about safety.

This is what the 45,000 men and women of the FAA focus on every day - day in and day out. I know, because I'm one of them.

Answer 3

Airspace management is the job of the air traffic controllers -- they are supposed to track all aircraft in a given area and ensure that no two aircraft get too close to each other (midair collisions are NOT a good thing). It also relates to the way air traffic controllers establish traffic patterns for aircraft that are taking off from, or landing at, any given airport; or for aircraft that are en route between Airport A and Airport B. It's very complicated because you're dealing with 3-D space, so they have to keep track of each aircraft by position, by velocity, and also by altitude. The goal is to keep air traffic moving freely while ensuring the safety of all the planes, wherever they may be.

Answer 4

In simple terms it is the same as one way streets and stoplights to control the flow of traffic.
Airspace classifications around the airport are designated on a radius and by height from the ground.
Airspace over 10,000 feet is designated special airspace and needs clearance to fly in.
What air traffic control does is give an aircraft a "highway " to use that is clear of oncoming aircraft and has separation in between.
The aircraft must follow these rules strictly unless there is an emergency.
Classifications of Airspace can get complicated as to A,B,C,D military and so on. There are publications updated frequently to let Pilots know of any changes or updates.
The air traffic controllers are in constant contact with the aircraft and change their course if necessary.
Hope that explained it. I tried to keep it easy to understand.

Answer 5

"what is airspace management as it relates to aviation?"
Are you serious?
First of all, Airspace Management, wouldn't relate to much else than aviation.
Secondly, the term is self descriptive.
Airspace: the space lying above the earth or above a certain area of land or water; especially : the space lying above a nation and coming under its jurisdiction
Management: 1 : the act or art of managing : the conducting or supervising of something (as a business)
2 : judicious use of means to accomplish an end
3 : the collective body of those who manage or direct an enterprise.
I assume you do know what aviation means.
Hmmm, on second thought!
Aviation: 1 : the operation of heavier-than-air aircraft
2 : military airplanes
3 : airplane manufacture, development, and design

Answer 6

Air traffic control performs "Airspace Managment"
"Airspace" is that region of the sky that planes
fly in. Management is the process of managing
all those planes and where they are at a given moment.

Answer 7

dont know