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The ATC system: who owns what
Structure, not phraseology: every facility a VFR pilot talks to, in flight order — what it owns, what it does for you, and when calling is the regulation versus good practice. Required contacts quote the rule itself; advised contacts quote the AIM, and the two never share a style. Flight following and VFR lost comms get their own honest bands below.
Two badges, two weights. Required — 14 CFR means the contact is the regulation, quoted solid. Advised — AIM means the sources recommend it, quoted dashed. Students routinely repeat AIM guidance as if it were regulation — this sheet keeps the line visible.
1 · Clearance Delivery
FAA GUIDANCEOwns: No airspace and no surface — a relief frequency the tower adds where traffic warrants, so clearances and departure instructions come off the ground frequency.
For VFR: At busier towered fields: departure instructions, a beacon code, and the frequency to call after takeoff, before you ever taxi.
“Normally, only one ground control frequency is assigned at an airport; however, at locations where the amount of traffic so warrants, a second ground control frequency and/or another frequency designated as a clearance delivery frequency, may be assigned.”
AIM 4-3-14
Advised — AIMFirst call of the day at a towered field, before engine start, on whichever of ground or clearance delivery the field publishes.
“Pilots of departing aircraft should communicate with the control tower on the appropriate ground control/clearance delivery frequency prior to starting engines to receive engine start time, taxi and/or clearance information.”
AIM 4-3-14
2 · Ground Control
REGULATIONOwns: The movement area — taxiways and runway crossings at a towered field. It is a position in the tower cab, not a separate building.
For VFR: Taxi instructions to and from the runway, runway crossings, and progressive taxi if you ask for it.
“They are used for issuance of taxi information, clearances, and other necessary contacts between the tower and aircraft or other vehicles operated on the airport.”
AIM 4-3-14
Required — 14 CFRBefore moving on a runway or taxiway at any airport with an operating control tower — a clearance is the rule, not a courtesy.
“No person may, at any airport with an operating control tower, operate an aircraft on a runway or taxiway, or take off or land an aircraft, unless an appropriate clearance is received from ATC.”
§ 91.129(i)
Advised — AIMStay with ground through taxi and run-up; go to tower only when ready for takeoff.
“Unless otherwise advised by the tower, remain on that frequency during taxiing and runup, then change to local control frequency when ready to request takeoff clearance.”
AIM 4-3-14
3 · Tower (local control)
REGULATIONOwns: The runways and the surface area around the airport — Class D, or the surface piece of Class B or C — for a safe, orderly flow of traffic.
For VFR: Takeoff and landing clearances, pattern sequencing, and traffic in the pattern.
“Towers have been established to provide for a safe, orderly and expeditious flow of traffic on and in the vicinity of an airport.”
AIM 4-1-2
Required — 14 CFRTwo-way radio communications with the tower, any time you operate to, from, through, or on an airport whose tower is up. (§ 91.126 is written for Class G fields — its (a) says so; D, C and B fields reach the same rules by incorporation: § 91.129(a) folds in §§ 91.126–91.127 for Class D, and § 91.130(a) and § 91.131(a) fold in § 91.129 for C and B.)
“Unless otherwise authorized or required by ATC, no person may operate an aircraft to, from, through, or on an airport having an operational control tower unless two-way radio communications are maintained between that aircraft and the control tower. Communications must be established prior to 4 nautical miles from the airport, up to and including 2,500 feet AGL.”
§ 91.126(d)
Advised — AIMMake the first call well outside the surface area — the AIM's own number is about 15 miles. (The AIM's surrounding sentence restates the two-way-contact requirement — that rule is the § 91.126(d) quote above, not this advisory line.)
“Initial callup should be made about 15 miles from the airport.”
AIM 4-3-2
4 · Approach / Departure (TRACON)
REGULATIONOwns: The terminal airspace around busier airports — the Class B or C shelves and the arrival/departure corridors between the tower's surface area and the en route structure.
For VFR: Sequencing into busy terminal areas, traffic advisories, and — where a program exists — landing information for VFR arrivals before tower handoff.
“In addition to the use of radar for the control of IFR aircraft, all commissioned radar facilities provide the following basic radar services for VFR aircraft: Safety alerts. Traffic advisories. Limited radar vectoring (on a workload permitting basis). Sequencing at locations where procedures have been established for this purpose and/or when covered by a Letter of Agreement.”
AIM 4-1-18
Required — 14 CFRClass C: two-way radio communications established before entering, and maintained inside.
“Each person must establish two-way radio communications with the ATC facility (including foreign ATC in the case of foreign airspace designated in the United States) providing air traffic services prior to entering that airspace and thereafter maintain those communications while within that airspace.”
§ 91.130(c)(1)
Required — 14 CFRClass B: not just radio contact — an ATC clearance, received before you are in.
“The operator must receive an ATC clearance from the ATC facility having jurisdiction for that area before operating an aircraft in that area.”
§ 91.131(a)(1)
Advised — AIMVFR arrival at a field with an approach-control program: call approach for landing information before the tower.
“Numerous approach control facilities have established programs for arriving VFR aircraft to contact approach control for landing information. […] Compliance with this procedure is not mandatory but pilot participation is encouraged.”
AIM 4-1-8
5 · Center (ARTCC)
FAA GUIDANCEOwns: The en route structure between terminal areas — most of the chart, wherever no TRACON owns the sky.
For VFR: En route flight following — radar traffic advisories, workload permitting — over stretches with no approach control below.
“Centers are established primarily to provide air traffic service to aircraft operating on IFR flight plans within controlled airspace, and principally during the en route phase of flight.”
AIM 4-1-1
Advised — AIMVFR en route in Class E or G: no call is required — traffic advisories exist when requested, and only when requested.
“Traffic information may be provided to flights not operating on IFR flight plans when requested by pilots of such flights.”
AIM 4-1-15
6 · Flight Service (FSS)
FAA GUIDANCEOwns: No airspace at all. FSS is an air traffic facility, but it controls nothing — it briefs, files, relays, and searches.
For VFR: Preflight briefings, flight plan filing/opening/closing, en route advisories, and search and rescue when a flight plan goes unclosed.
“Flight Service Stations (FSSs) are air traffic facilities that provide pilot briefings, flight plan processing, en route flight advisories, search and rescue services, and assistance to lost aircraft and aircraft in emergency situations.”
AIM 4-1-3
Advised — AIMFor briefings, flight plans, and relays — never for a clearance of its own. When FSS passes you a clearance, it is relaying ATC's.
“FSSs also relay ATC clearances, process Notices to Airmen, and broadcast aviation weather and aeronautical information.”
AIM 4-1-3
7 · UNICOM / CTAF
FAA GUIDANCEOwns: Nothing — nobody controls a non-towered airport. UNICOM is, in the Pilot/Controller Glossary's words, “a nongovernment communication facility which may provide airport information at certain airports”; the CTAF is a frequency, not a facility.
For VFR: A common frequency where pilots announce position and intentions, and a UNICOM operator (if staffed) can pass airport information.
“A CTAF is a frequency designated for the purpose of carrying out airport advisory practices while operating to or from an airport without an operating control tower. The CTAF may be a UNICOM, MULTICOM, FSS, or tower frequency and is identified in appropriate aeronautical publications.”
AIM 4-1-9
Advised — AIMApproaching or departing any airport without an operating tower: broadcast and listen on the CTAF. No rule scripts this — the AIM calls it essential.
“It is essential that pilots be alert and look for other traffic and exchange traffic information when approaching or departing an airport without an operating control tower.”
AIM 4-1-9
8 · VFR flight following — what the sources actually call it
AIM 4-1-15, Radar Traffic Information Service
FAA GUIDANCEThe glossary defines flight following by reference: FLIGHT FOLLOWING points to TRAFFIC ADVISORIES, and TRAFFIC INFORMATION points to the same entry. The AIM paragraph describing that radar traffic-advisory service is 4-1-15, Radar Traffic Information Service — its own text calls it VFR radar advisory service. In terminal airspace, AIM 4-1-18's basic radar service packages the same traffic advisories for VFR aircraft. The phrase “flight following” appears nowhere in the frozen AIM section itself — only in the glossary.
“FLIGHT FOLLOWING - See TRAFFIC ADVISORIES”
Pilot/Controller Glossary, letter F
“TRAFFIC ADVISORIES - Advisories issued to alert pilots to other known or observed air traffic which may be in such proximity to the position or intended route of flight of their aircraft to warrant their attention.”
Pilot/Controller Glossary, letter T
“TRAFFIC INFORMATION - See TRAFFIC ADVISORIES”
Pilot/Controller Glossary, letter T
“This is a service provided by radar ATC facilities. Pilots receiving this service are advised of any radar target observed on the radar display which may be in such proximity to the position of their aircraft or its intended route of flight that it warrants their attention. This service is not intended to relieve the pilot of the responsibility for continual vigilance to see and avoid other aircraft. […] VFR radar advisory service does not include vectors away from conflicting traffic unless requested by the pilot. When advisory service is no longer desired, advise the controller before changing frequencies and then change your transponder code to 1200, if applicable.”
AIM 4-1-15, Radar Traffic Information Service
“Many factors, such as limitations of the radar, volume of traffic, controller workload and communications frequency congestion, could prevent the controller from providing this service.”
AIM 4-1-15
“Traffic advisory service will be provided to the extent possible depending on higher priority duties of the controller or other limitations; e.g., radar limitations, volume of traffic, frequency congestion, or controller workload.”
P/CG TRAFFIC ADVISORIES, Note 2
9 · Lost comms, VFR — what the rules do and do not say
REGULATION“(a) General. Unless otherwise authorized by ATC, each pilot who has two-way radio communications failure when operating under IFR shall comply with the rules of this section.”
§ 91.185(a)
“It is virtually impossible to provide regulations and procedures applicable to all possible situations associated with two‐way radio communications failure.”
AIM 6-4-1
“If an aircraft with a coded radar beacon transponder experiences a loss of two‐way radio capability, the pilot should adjust the transponder to reply on Mode A/3, Code 7600.”
AIM 6-4-2
“However, if the aircraft radio fails in flight, the pilot in command may operate that aircraft and land if weather conditions are at or above basic VFR weather minimums, visual contact with the tower is maintained, and a clearance to land is received.”
§ 91.126(d)
“(2) If the aircraft radio fails in flight under VFR, the pilot in command may operate that aircraft and land if— (i) Weather conditions are at or above basic VFR weather minimums; (ii) Visual contact with the tower is maintained; and (iii) A clearance to land is received.”
§ 91.129(d)(2)
VFR Quick Reference — the full light-gun signal table, quoted from the rule that sets it.
Where the entry rules live
This sheet is about who you are talking to. The airspace entry rules themselves — weather minimums, equipment, and the entry table — live on their own sheet, quoted in full.
Airspace: Entry, Equipment, Minimums — entry requirements and VFR minimums, class by class.
Badges.REGULATION quoted from 14 or 49 CFR.FAA GUIDANCE quoted from the AIM, an AC, or an FAA handbook — advice, not law.POH/AFM your aircraft’s own records govern.TECHNIQUE our voice — how to think about it.Text outside quotation marks is ours, whatever badge sits nearby.
Sources, kept apart. “Required” entries quote 14 CFR at eCFR issue date 2026-08-24 — the rule. “Advised” entries and facility descriptions quote the AIM and the Pilot/Controller Glossary — guidance, not regulation. Retrieved 2026-08-31 (14 CFR, AIM chap4) / 2026-09-01 (AIM chap6 sec4, P/CG); every artifact is frozen and hashed in the repository (see atc-system/content.ts). Check against the current text before relying on anything here.
This is a study aid. It does not replace the regulations, the AIM, or your CFI, and it is not for navigation or dispatch. Verify against the primary source before you act on it.
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