Fundamentals of Air Traffic Control

Rating:
Summary: Full of historical detail
Review: This book is a college text about how the American air traffic control system works. Nolan was an air traffic controller himself, and is quite familiar with the history of air traffic control procedures in the U.S. The book contains chapters on the history of air traffic control, navigation systems (that have been used throughout the history of air traffic control), airspace classification, air traffic control communications, air traffic control procedures, non-radar separation, radar operations and separation, oceanic air traffic control, the future of air traffic control, and employment within the Federal Aviation Administration. Appendices cover IFR chart legends, aircraft models, and airport 3-letter identifiers. Each chapter begins with a list of explicit goals and ends with a vocabulary list and review questions. There is also an extensive glossary at the back of the book.

I think the book may give a firm historical perspective on American air traffic control to students who wish to be employed by the FAA. It provides a general overview of the tasks of air traffic controllers, but reading this book is clearly just the first small step along the way towards formal training as an air traffic controller. I found the historical coverage quite complete, and the book may be valuable as an archive of air traffic control hardware and procedures. The chapter on the future of air traffic control is very telling, however. It describes many new software products that will hopefully very soon make many of the procedures and equipment described in the remainder of the book obsolete.

One striking aspect of the book was its intense focus on US air traffic control to the extent that the existence of air travel beyond the borders of the US is barely acknowledged. (The map on p. 84, for example is quite telling- -it seems to depict the continental U.S. as an island, surrounded by water on all sides.) In a general college textbook about air traffic control, it would have been at least somewhat interesting to learn a little about how US air traffic control procedures differ from those in other countries, and why, or how our air traffic control rules have influenced or been influenced by those of other countries. Certainly a summary of such topics would be at least as valuable to future air traffic controllers as the detailed political history of the U.S. air traffic control system that is presented in chapter 1.

Rating:
Summary: Full of historical detail
Review: This book is a college text about how the American air traffic control system works. Nolan was an air traffic controller himself, and is quite familiar with the history of air traffic control procedures in the U.S. The book contains chapters on the history of air traffic control, navigation systems (that have been used throughout the history of air traffic control), airspace classification, air traffic control communications, air traffic control procedures, non-radar separation, radar operations and separation, oceanic air traffic control, the future of air traffic control, and employment within the Federal Aviation Administration. Appendices cover IFR chart legends, aircraft models, and airport 3-letter identifiers. Each chapter begins with a list of explicit goals and ends with a vocabulary list and review questions. There is also an extensive glossary at the back of the book.

I think the book may give a firm historical perspective on American air traffic control to students who wish to be employed by the FAA. It provides a general overview of the tasks of air traffic controllers, but reading this book is clearly just the first small step along the way towards formal training as an air traffic controller. I found the historical coverage quite complete, and the book may be valuable as an archive of air traffic control hardware and procedures. The chapter on the future of air traffic control is very telling, however. It describes many new software products that will hopefully very soon make many of the procedures and equipment described in the remainder of the book obsolete.

One striking aspect of the book was its intense focus on US air traffic control to the extent that the existence of air travel beyond the borders of the US is barely acknowledged. (The map on p. 84, for example is quite telling- -it seems to depict the continental U.S. as an island, surrounded by water on all sides.) In a general college textbook about air traffic control, it would have been at least somewhat interesting to learn a little about how US air traffic control procedures differ from those in other countries, and why, or how our air traffic control rules have influenced or been influenced by those of other countries. Certainly a summary of such topics would be at least as valuable to future air traffic controllers as the detailed political history of the U.S. air traffic control system that is presented in chapter 1.

Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: This book is excellent. It provides the basic knowledge for people who would be going itno the ATC field. It provides excellent examples of communications, strip marking, and typical phraseology used.