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HOW TO USE THIS DATABASE
Select a state to search the database for air traffic control facilities run by the Federal Aviation Administration located in that state. If you'd like to look up a particular airport's control tower, enter part of the airport's name in the search form.
Your search may yield three types of FAA facilities:
1) Air Traffic Control Towers: Also called “Local Control,” these are the tall buildings with glass enclosures at airports. Controllers there direct aircraft at the airport from the moment they land until the moment they take off again. They also monitor radar for planes in the airport area and sometimes handle aircraft passing through the area. The controllers also give pilots information about airport conditions, such as closed runways or repairs, and track traffic volume, among other duties.
2) Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs): These 21 centers handle specific segments of the country and in some cases airspace beyond the borders of the United States. These facilities direct aircraft as they travel at the higher altitudes between destinations along what you might think of as invisible highways in the sky.
3) Terminal Radar Approach Controls (TRACONs): These are radar operations facilities in which controllers direct aircraft flying away from or approaching an airport. Many of these radar facilities are located within air traffic control towers and don't appear separately in the database. Stand-alone TRACONs appear as separate entries in the database.
Note: This database does not include towers at small airports that are staffed by controllers who work for private companies.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE DATA
Where did the data come from?
This is not a government database. This information was compiled by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the labor union for air traffic controllers, at the request of Gannett News Service. The union asked its representatives at each facility to provide the number of certified controllers, trainees and those eligible to retire at that location. The data were collected between April and November of 2006.
The union and the FAA are in a labor dispute and the controllers have been working under an FAA-imposed contract since Sept. 2.
The FAA has not yet responded to a GNS request, made Oct. 4 under the Freedom of Information Act, for its staffing data for every air traffic control facility in the United States.
How can I tell if the airport near me has enough controllers?
Unfortunately, it's hard to tell.
The FAA says it is working on a facility-by-facility staffing benchmark that it will give to Congress in the spring. GNS compared actual staffing with authorized numbers, which the union and the FAA were using as a benchmark until 2003. The union says the authorized numbers were the product of traffic and workload studies and were negotiated between the union and the FAA in 1998 and adjusted through 2003.
Even though most facilities are close to hitting that mark, the FAA says the authorized numbers aren't relevant.
May I compare one airport with another?
Union representatives say no. Air traffic facilities that are roughly the same size could have a very different work environment depending on what kind of airspace they handle, prevailing weather, proximity to other airports, configuration of runways and other factors.
For example, the New York approach control facility, the second busiest in the nation, handled about 2 million flights in 2005. Southern California approach control, the busiest, handled about 2.1 million flights, according to FAA statistics.
"But they move two million in the southern half of the state (of California), and we move two million within 60 miles of the Empire State Building," said Dean Iacopelli, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association at New York approach control.
In California, he said, controllers deal with mostly clear skies, while New York controllers deal with clouds, rain and snow.
What's the difference between certified professional controllers and trainees?
Certified professional controllers (CPCs) are qualified to work in any position at a given facility. For example, a certified controller could handle departures or arrivals as the need arises. However, facilities differ dramatically, and even a fully qualified controller at the New York TRACON would not be able to step into the same job at the Atlanta TRACON without more training.
A trainee cannot work independently at a position in a facility until becoming officially qualified for it and must be supervised by a fully qualified controller until then. It takes on average two to three years to fully train an air traffic controller on all equipment and positions at a facility.