With so many airplanes flying around, how airports around the world able to track so many airplanes and prevent them from colliding with each other? Is it basically, “alright, so this plane is coming from this route, do not put any plane on this route”?
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The air traffic control system, aviation is one of the most heavily regulated industries ever. There are many ways that planes avoid each other, there is ATC (air traffic control) which in basic terms tells us pilots, what to do, it’s their job to handle us. In the ATC network, there are several controllers with different roles. A clearance controller approves and clears us to our destination via our flight plan, this is the first controller we pilots talk to. A ground controller which instructions on how to taxi to our destination within the airport, whether that be the runway or the terminal. The tower controller, which handles aircraft taking off and landing, tower controls all movement on the runways. An approach and departure controller handles all incoming traffic and sequences them for arrival and/or handles departing traffic and sends them on their way. Finally, there are ATC centers which are large pieces of controlled airspace that guide us on our way to our destination during cruise. Of course, we also have what we call ‘see and avoid’ if you see a plane avoid it. Finally, most modern-day aircraft have a traffic collision and avoidance system (TCAS) which will send an aural warning to both planes, plane A will receive a warning to climb and plane B will receive a warning to descend although the TCAS system is primarily backup, aviation is all about redundancy and safety. I hope I answered your question, this is just the tip of the iceberg of aviation communication! Feel free to ask any other questions you may have.
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