Name: How Air Traffic Control Works
Uploaded: 2026-03-14T15:08:02.000Z
Duration: 32 min 39 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

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Contrary to popular belief, air traffic controllers have a pretty uneventful job 90% of the time.

But it's the other 10% that makes air traffic control one of the most stressful jobs in the world.

And today we've been given exclusive access to go into the air traffic control tower at Toronto Pearson International Airport to learn how such a small team can manage all the airport traffic.

We will also share with you a rare look inside the Toronto Area Control center where the majority of air traffic is orchestrated.

And then we'll take it one step further with boots on the ground next to active runways, just to give you an intimate experience with how wildlife management experts keep the airport airspace safe so that your only concern is finding the perfect movie for your next flight.

But why heavy airliners like the A380 typically land on the departure Runway.

Why it's not just bad weather, but also clear sunny days that that demand more air traffic controllers.

The real reason why flight volumes never recovered post Covid and why during thunderstorms shorter flights are more likely to be canceled than long haul flights is not what you think.

The Toronto International Airport is an all you can eat buffet with runways.

There are 5,000 acres of green space around the airport with two creeks and several ponds.

But unfortunately, birds and airplanes are a dangerous combination.

And it's only a matter of time before a bird strike leads to a serious emergency.

And that's where Ivan comes into the picture.

But while the team prepares the birds for their first patrol of the day, I'm gonna head over to the control tower because I was promised a spectacular view and that's just the bathroom.

The control tower communicates only with aircraft that are within a 7 mile radius of the airport and below 2500ft of altitude.

There are four primary roles inside the control tower and air traffic controllers rotate through these roles during their shifts.

So I talk to all aircraft that are parked at all the gates prepared to depart.

Clearance delivery tells pilots which Runway to go to and what squawk code to put in their transponder.

This four digit code is how the airplane will be identified as it flies through the airspace.

In case of emergency, the pilot can change the squawk code.

For example, broadcasting code 7500 tells air traffic controllers that the aircraft has been hijacked.

As soon as the apron tower on top of Terminal 1 gives the go ahead, the airplane pushes back from the Gate.

And now the pilot is in communications with ground controllers who are responsible for all ground traffic except for what's on the runways.

But ground controllers don't just talk to pilots who are taxiing from or to the gates.

Any ground vehicles, like those used for construction, snow removal, and

even this tractor towing, the airplane must coordinate their movements through ground controllers stationed inside the control tower.

Anything that moves on the ground is tracked with the help of three ground radars stationed in different parts of the airport.

And the results are displayed on the ground radar screens.

For simplicity, the movements are color coded.

Where departing airplanes are blue, arriving airplanes are brown, and ground vehicles are shown in yellow.

That's what ground controllers call an uncorrelated target.

Basically, the ground radars have picked up a movement, but

the vehicle has no transponder to broadcast what it actually is.

In this case, it was a tractor that was towing that airplane, but

this ground controller knows that only because she's looking outside the window.

That said, a green tag could also be an animal, such as a coyote, and

in some cases, a false target that doesn't really exist.

So if it's really foggy outside and the radar is showing a green tag on the Runway, all operations would have to be halted until the Runway is inspecting.

For decades, air traffic controllers have been using paper flight strips to help keep track of flights and their sequences.

And most airports in the United States still use these paper strips, but not here.

When the Toronto tower was opened in 1997, it became the first air traffic control tower in the world to use electronic flight strips.

And this was a major improvement in streamlining the operations.

Once the airplane gets close to the departure Runway, it's switched from the ground controller to the tower controller.

The tower controller directs all the traffic that's on runways and then issues takeoff and landing clearances for any aircraft that's about to depart or land.

This is a critical step in any flight because the majority of airplane accidents happen during the takeoff or landing phase.

But some accidents can be easily avoided if you have a bald eagle.

Every day of the week, Ivan flies over a critical area of the airport.

After some turning and gliding, he lands on a platform about half a mile away to enjoy the food that was left for him earlier.

Ivan has been doing this for the past 24 years.

That's because one of the runways is positioned parallel to a creek, which is a popular spot for waterfowls like ducks and geese.

Primary goal is to prevent these birds from making a habit of coming to the airport every day and also from establishing themselves and having their offspring there.

And this applies to local bird populations as well as migratory birds that may be passing through this area.

I should highlight that Ivan's role is not to catch wildlife.

You provide free education, we provide free education to wildlife.

By merely flying over this creek day in and day out, Ivan turns this otherwise top notch neighborhood into what even these ducks agree is no place to raise a family.

And it's been very effective using Ivan for 24 years.

We've actually haven't had any nesting or nesting activity down by the creek.

Ivan's role is deterrence, similar to that of his strategic nuclear bomber.

This approach to wildlife management kills two birds with one stone.

Not only does it reduce the risk to airplanes, but

it also saves wildlife itself from fatal encounters in the sky.

After airplanes take off and leave the 7 mile radius of the airport, the pilot is no longer in contact with the control tower.

From this point forward, it's the area controllers who'll be directing every movement of the airplane until it approaches its destination.

With thousands of airplanes in the air at all times, it's not the pilot, but

the area controller who ensures two airplanes don't cross the same point at the same time.

Yes, pilots are the ones flying the airplane, and yes, they get all the action.

But it's the area controllers who tell the pilot what to do.

If you think of the pilot as a rally driver, the area controller is the person who sits next to them and gives them detailed instructions at every turn.

In fact, pilots would never make any control decisions without the permission or clearance from area controllers.

Traffic for you just ahead of Your right wing, three miles northeast bound, 500 above.

At its core, the job of an area controller is surprisingly ensure that aircraft maintain a safe lateral and vertical separation from each other during their flight.

And this applies to a 1 ton Cessna as well as a 540 ton, a 380.

To control aircraft, area controllers use the geographical position that aircraft transponders broadcast throughout their flight.

Then, using radios, they'll tell the pilot what they want him to do.

Once the airplane is about to enter a new area, it's handed off by the current area controller to the next one.

There's essentially a chain of area controllers that each pilot has to go through until the airplane approaches its destination airport.

But of course, it's more complicated than that.

If you look at the incoming traffic into the airport at any Given time, there are dozens of airplanes coming in from various directions.

But before they can land, they need to be funneled into a few manageable streams.

A subset of area controllers, known as approach controllers, deal exclusively with this type of air traffic.

During the funneling process, the approach controllers sequence the airplanes so that not only they're safely spaced out, but

also that they're coming in at the airport's landing capacity.

For example, the Toronto airport can handle about one landing every minute, so the approach controllers would try to match that frequency.

To create space between airplanes, the controller may ask the pilot to perform 1 of 3 Slow down the aircraft, circle around an area, or do what's known as vectoring, which essentially means changing the heading of the aircraft from its direct flight path.

Sometimes, flight delays just can't be avoided.

But there is one thing that we can all avoid when traveling.

For example, a little while ago, I was in the British Virgin Islands for a couple of weeks on the catamaran, which was amazing.

But I still needed some Internet connectivity, which would have cost me a fortune in roaming fees.

But thanks to Saily, who sponsored us, I was able to take a break from being on a break in one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to.

The best part is that before my trip began, I downloaded the Saily app and logged into my account.