Centre SOP


Clearance		Apron / Ground		Tower		Terminal		Centre		FSS

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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 training staff before attempting to control a radar position. Centre controllers must be at least C1.

You will need the following additional information:

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

4. Procedures

Below are some procedures explained. However, 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.

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.

Principles of Operation

An area control centre is divided into sectors which work in close liaison. Each sector is controlled by one controller. If there is not enough controllers online for each sector (99% of the time), sectors will be merged together. If only one controller is available, he will control all the sectors of the centre.

Speed Adjustment

Controllers may request pilots to increase/decrease speed in order to maintain the appropriate separation. The pilot should be advised when speed control is no longer required.

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.

Coordination with other units

Aircraft must not penetrate the airspace of another area control centre or sector unless prior co-ordination has taken place. The responsibility for initiating co-ordination rests with the controller of the sector transferring control. Centre must maintain constant coordination with the other centres / sectors, terminal control units (TCUs) and towers (when a controlled airport is not surrounded by a TCA) located in his airspace.

5. MANOPS special procedures

This section includes additional MANOPS procedures that have been approved and can be applied in Canada.

No special procedures exist for this position at this time.

6. Procedures explained with examples

Centre covers large areas and his work is similar to terminal, except that he mostly controls aircraft at their cruising altitudes. He manages initial descents and end of climbs. He has to monitor all aircraft to ensure that no conflict exists. He has to know all the procedures for all the large airports under his control, and he must have all the charts and procedures for ALL airports under his control ready to use.

7. 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.