Air Traffic Control Entities
Air Traffic Control is a multi-faceted operation. Air traffic requires management from multiple different areas. The purpose of Air Traffic Control is to manage the flow of traffic and prevent a collision between two or more aircraft. (PHAK, 2016). Two different avenues of management for ATC are the ARTCC and Ground control. ARTCC stands for Air Route Traffic Control Center. ARTCC's primary responsibility is managing the flow of traffic in certain airspace. There are 21 of these centers and they cover an airspace of up to 100,000 nautical miles. The responsibility to direct flow of traffic and ensure seamless transition between each center as a "hand-off" is crucial to the safety of flight.
Ground control is similar to the ARTCC as it's responsibility is again to ensure there are no collisions between moving aircraft; however, they are responsible for orchestrating this movement "on the ground" at airports where not only are aircraft involved, but vehicles also have to be considered. Ground control provides instructions and guidance to manage traffic flow of aircraft taxiing in and out of their terminals, departure order, and ensuring safety of movement in controlled movement areas by vehicles. Both ARTCC and Ground manage aircraft traffic, but it's done in different manners and during different phases of aircraft movement.
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