| ATC Bibles - ATC Reference Materials / Rose Marie Kern |
Every sector of aviation has a guide, a reference, a “Bible” that defines the rules and regulations we work by, and usually several supplemental documents that allow for regional variations.
Just as the private pilot has the Aeronautical Information Manual and the published Notices to Airmen, each branch of Air Traffic Control must abide by the rules laid out for them at the national level.
For those who wish to be apprised of which stone tablets regulate the actions of ATC, I have compiled a list of publications that are easily accessed through the http://www.faa.gov/ website.
FAA 7110.65 This publication governs the Air Route Traffic Control Centers, Approach Controls and Air Traffic Control Towers. This lovely document covers everything from how fast they are allowed to speak to the basics of separating air traffic both enroute and in a terminal environment.
FAA 7110.10 This kissing cousin to the 7110.65 is the governing publication for Flight Service. It covers such things as the requirements of a pilot briefing and the order of precedence regarding procedures. For instance radio calls from aircraft already in flight are higher priority than phone calls. With privatization the book stays pretty much the same, but references to FS21 are being made to reflect the new operating system.
FAA 7340.1 Contractions. …All kinds of contractions. It has contractions used in ATC, ICAO and in weather. It contains all the known three letter designators for air carriers across the planet. This is good because the next time that Gessellschaft Fur Flugzieldarstellung airlines flies in from Germany, I will know that the contraction GFD should be pronounced “Kite”.
For civilian aircraft it gives the contractions that are assigned to each country – like “N” means USA and XA means Mexico. There are military aircraft type contractions, and the allowed contractions for all the small aircraft. Since a lot of these have changed in the past 5 years, I actually use this portion of the book more than all the rest. (For instance, Cherokees are not PA28’s. They are P28A’s. PA28 will not be accepted by the computer anymore because the computer knows the new designators).
FAA JO7350.7 Location Identifiers When I started working for the FAA, this book was under two inches thick, it is now twice that. It lists every known public and private airfield in the US, Mexico and Canada, as well as Navaids, weather stations and Flight Service Stations. If your job immerses you in location identifiers long enough, you find yourself seeing airport names in every auto license plate on the road.
FAA 8020.16 Aircraft Accident and Incident Notification, Investigation, and Reporting
...So you have an Oops – big or small, this handbook is used by Flight Standards and Flight Service to accomplish all the required procedural steps and compile the mountains of paperwork necessary to satisfy all the lawyers.
FAA 7900.5 Surface Weather Observations Do you believe there is a book over an inch thick that just tells you how to take a METAR?
AC 00-45 Aviation Weather Services This one is a bit thinner than the Metar book – but it covers everything you wanted to know about how to interpret all known weather products as they relate to aviation - advisories, winds, surface charts, forecasts, radar, satellite imagery etc.
So next time you lay around staring at the sky and wondering how in the world all those air traffic people know what they are supposed to do when, just pick up one of these books!
Rose Marie Kern works at Lockheed Martin’s ABQ AFSS. If you’d like to ask Rose a question concerning ATC and the Lockheed Martin AFSS’s, send her an email at author@rosemariekern.com
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