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Ask the Captain: Air traffic control for Air Force One

John Cox, special for USA TODAY
Air Force One lands at the Grand Junction Regional Airport in Colorado on Aug. 8, 2012.

Question: When the president is "in transit" by air, who has responsibility for air traffic control of Air Force One? Is it the normal controllers and centers across the country (U.S. or international), or does the Air Force (or equivalent international counterpart) handle ATC? If it's the military, is there any coordination between that branch of the service and their civilian counterparts?

- submitted by reader Michael

Answer: FAA air traffic controllers handle all traffic while it is enroute across the United States. Air Force One is handled differently than other traffic using more discreet frequencies to communicate with controllers. The control of international airspace varies from country to country. Most countries have civilian controllers but there are some countries where the military provides them.

Controllers coordinate traffic movement between airspace regardless of whether it is military or civil airspace. An example is the military warning areas off the east coast of the U.S. FAA controllers will coordinate with the military controllers when storms force civil airplanes offshore and into the warning areas. There is a common goal to safely move aircraft from departure to landing. The professionalism of the air traffic controllers, civilian and military, make the system work. They do a great job.

Q: I recently, as a co-pilot of a smaller plane, flew from Morristown N.J., to Long Island N.Y. Clearance delivery gave the IFR (instrument flight rules) clearance, but spoke so fast it was impossible to write it all down without asking for it again. Do they not know that the pilots are trying to write this down and have difficulty keeping up with them? And if you do ask them to "say again," you can just see them rolling their eyes.

- Steve, Montreal

A: There are well-known stories about fast talking air traffic controllers and slow taking (and writing) pilots. Controllers often expect the pilots to know most of the clearance in advance based on the filed flight plan. This expectation can result in very high speed clearance delivery.

My experience has been when there is a major modification to the filed flight plan and I have missed some portion of the clearance, a request to "say again more slowly please" has resulted in a much easier to copy clearance.

The air traffic control specialists do a marvelous job of moving thousands of flights daily. Their profession requires rapid exchange of information between controllers, sometimes that rapid exchange capability is used on clearance delivery, making it a challenge for the pilots.

John Cox is a retired airline captain with U.S. Airways and runs his own aviation safety consulting company, Safety Operating Systems.

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