Humans are at the heart of air traffic management. They are responsible for keeping our skies safe, and ensuring traffic continues to flow safely and efficiently. Despite rapid advancements in technology that support Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) in managing more aircraft, the role of the human as the decision maker has not changed.

We’re now less than a month away from West Airspace Deployment (West) and we are busy finalising preparations for implementation.

I recently spoke at an online webinar hosted by Resilient Pilot on the topic of skills fade and the anxiety being felt by air traffic controllers and pilots who have been furloughed for the past year (and more) and therefore working with far fewer flights than usual due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.  

To celebrate International Women’s Day this Sunday 8 March and the 100th anniversary year for air traffic control, we are giving 100 lucky winners the opportunity to win a NATS goody bag, featuring one of our commemorative retro patches.  

To be completely honest, I didn’t really know this job existed until I came across it. I was teaching English in Japan for a few years, and then when I moved back to the UK I got involved with film directing. But I wanted a change of career, something that offered stability but was interesting […]

The airspace above London and the South East is some of the busiest and most complex in the world, so it might come as a surprise to know that a core part of the way air traffic is managed in this airspace currently still relies on pen and paper…

Earlier this year, in a meeting with aviation industry executives at the White House, President Donald Trump called the U.S air traffic arrangements “obsolete”. Perhaps surprising to his many critics, he’s actually not alone in his thinking as the majority of airlines agree with his plans to liberalise and even privatise the country’s air traffic control organisation.

Frequency Monitor Codes (FMCs) have now been in use in the UK for over 10 years and they’ve collected a range of names during that time such as Listening Squawks and Monitor Codes but they are all actually referring to the same thing.

Pilots are encouraged to use a FMC when they are flying outside controlled airspace, but close to controlled airspace boundaries, in order to increase situational awareness and help to combat infringements.

As the flying season is now well underway, we thought we’d provide a deeper look over the coming weeks, at some of the services that are available to pilots. Today we’re starting with the Lower Airspace Radar Service (LARS).

To become an air traffic controller requires a specific set of skills and attitude, things that can’t necessarily be taught or learned. For every successful controller validated, many thousand wash out during the process. But as you may suspect, for those that have what it takes it’s rewarding in every sense.