Centre

Centre (ACC)


Clearance		Apron / Ground		Tower		Terminal		Centre		Radio / FSS

Description

Area Control Centres are responsible for the orderly flow of traffic while en-route, as well as Arrival/Departure control at many small and medium sized airports. Canada has 7 Area Control Centres, located on Gander, Moncton, Montréal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver. Their airspace is very similar, yet not identical to the corresponding FIRs.

Area of responsibility

Area Control Centre (ACC) is responsible for the All the airspace within it's FIR which is not delegated to another unit (TCU, other ACC, etc.). The lateral dimensions vary from FIR to FIR, see the information pages and the appropriate sector files. Centre controllers take responsibility for every ATS unit within it's sector when the unit is not in operation. This means that if you are alone at the Centre you are ultimately responsible for every "active" position within your sector. Centre controller must therefore be familiar with the procedures of many different airports, which can be a rather big challenge.

What you need to know

In addition to the general guidelines, a Centre controller must:

Be familiar with the Clearance delivery SOP;
Be familiar with the Apron/Ground control SOP;
Be familiar with the Tower control SOP;
Be familiar with the Terminal control SOP;
Be familiar with FSS procedures;
Know the local procedures for all the airports within the FIR;
Understand the different airspace divisions within the FIR;
Know the SIDs and STARs, for all the airports within the FIR, and when to use them;
Understand the principles of vectoring, and sequencing aircraft;
Understand noise abatement procedures when applicable;
Know all separation minima's for arriving, departing and en-route traffic

Important: All IVAO controllers, regardless of division, MUST have passed an oral evaluation with the CA-AOC, CA-TC, or local FIR chief before attempting to control a radar position. Centre controllers must be at least C1.

Procedures

Firstly you'll need the following information:

The CA custom sector file for the given sector;
The complete collection of charts for the all airports within the FIR.

It would be unrealistic to try and note down all the guidelines for Centre control in this document. Instead we refer you to MANOPS section 4 and 5, available in our downloads section. If the two chapters are too daunting you are welcome to contact our training staff for a one-to-one explanation.

One important point to remember is that Centre controllers will issue the landing runway to pilots based on published procedures and runways in use. ALWAYS update the SFI (F5) with the code for the assigned runway, as listed the FIR's SFI codes.

Hand off

Hand off traffic to the adjacent sector at least 2 minutes, or 2000ft before the pilot is expected to leave your zone to provide time for call-up. DO NOT tell pilot to change frequency until radar hand-off is accepted. If hand-off is rejected keep the pilot in your airspace, and co-ordinate with the adjacent sector.
Always respect pre-defined hand-off altitudes, and advise the adjacent sector in you are unable to comply.

IvAc settings

We recommend you use the NAVCAN blue-grey colour scheme (available in the downloads section) with range rings set to 10nm, VORs, NDBs (no name), All airspace boundaries, runways. and relevant airways turned on. Toggle geo data, airport names, SIDs (for CYR/A zones) and STARs as needed.

Select altitude filter limits that include as a minimum:

the altitudes normally under the jurisdiction of your sector; and
the first usable altitude in any vertically adjoining airspace under the jurisdiction of another controller, plus 200 feet beyond that altitude.

Example: A sector that has jurisdiction of the airspace from FL230 to FL350 would set its altitude filters at 218 and 362.

See ATC school documentation on centre position.