Separation (aeronautics)

It is a common misconception that air traffic controllers keep all aircraft separated.

On the other hand, a large amount of private flying in light aircraft is done under VFR since this requires a lower level of flying skill on the part of the pilot, and meteorological conditions in which a pilot can see and avoid other aircraft.

Airspace exists in seven classes, A to G, in decreasing order of air traffic control regulation.

RVSM airspace encompasses Europe, North America, parts of Asia and Africa and both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

It therefore does not necessarily require the use of radar to provide air traffic control using procedural separation minima.

Other lateral separation may be defined by the geography of pre-determined routes, for example the North Atlantic Track system.

On occasion, 10 NM may be used, especially at long range or in regions of less reliable radar coverage.

Under its SESAR project, Eurocontrol is optimizing the slack of the separation, reducing it from 3 to 2.5 nmi (5.6 to 4.6 km): a simulation increased throughput by up to 14% at Zurich's Runway 14, which cannot have any high-speed exit, inducing a longer runway occupancy.

However, the separation minima are set for risk mitigation and therefore it is central to a controller's job to prevent this situation from occurring.

A conflict occurs when the distance between aircraft in flight violates a defining criterion, usually considered as 5 nautical miles (9 km) of horizontal and/or 1,000 ft (300 m) of vertical separation.

[4] A local conflict occurs if two or more aircraft pass a certain given point (in nearly all cases a certain town)[citation needed].

Looking at the information on the flight progress strips, a controller can detect an opposite conflict by checking: