Controllers at work at the Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center.

Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZDC) is an Area Control Center operated by the Federal Aviation Administration and located at Lawson Rd SE, Leesburg, Virginia, United States. The primary responsibility of ZDC is the separation of airplane flights and the expedited sequencing of arrivals and departures along STARs (Standard Terminal Arrival Routes) and SIDs (Standard Instrument Departures) for the Washington-Baltimore Metropolitan Area, the New York Metropolitan Area, and Philadelphia among many other areas.

Washington Center is the second busiest (after Atlanta) ARTCC in the United States. Between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017, Washington Center handled 2,554,410 aircraft operations.[1] The Washington ARTCC covers 165,000 square miles (430,000 km2) of airspace that includes airports in Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Basic breakdown of sectors

ZDC is divided into 8 areas, numbered 1 through 8, that make up 46 sectors. They are mainly broken down into low altitude, intermediate, high altitude and Super High Altitude sectors. There are 18 low sectors, 14 high sectors, 5 super high sectors and 4 various other type sectors, including 1 high/low altitude sector and 3 intermediate altitude sectors.

AREA 1

Super-high sectors

During periods of traffic saturation in the Shenandoah Sector, ZDC will split the Shenandoah sector into two sectors, making Wahoo a second Super High Sector over the Roanoke and Lynchburg, Virginia areas. Shenandoah normally overlaps the Tech High and Gordonsville High Sectors above FL330. When traffic demand is high, Wahoo is activated to overlap the Gordonsville High Sector above FL330 covering J37 and J75 from GVE VOR south while Shenandoah will overlap Tech High Sector above FL 330 and cover traffic on J48 from CSN VOR south, J22 from MOL VOR south and J53 south of ASBUR intersection near LWB VOR.

High sectors

Intermediate sectors

Low sectors

AREA 2

High sectors

Low sectors

AREA 3

High sectors

Low sectors

Sector 30 OLD Valley VAL has been changed to NEW 72 Shenandoah SHD Super Hi Sector in Area 1 above. Old Valley Sector merged into Sector 29 Hot Springs.

AREA 4

Super-high sectors

High sectors

Low sectors

AREA 5

Super-high sectors

High sectors

Low sectors

AREA 6

Super-high sectors

High sectors

Low sectors

AREA 7

High-altitude sectors

Intermediate sectors

Low sectors

AREA 8

High sectors

High-low sectors

Low sectors

References

  1. ^ Federal Aviation Administration. (2018). Air Traffic Activity System (ATADS). Retrieved from http://aspm.faa.gov/opsnet/sys/Center.asp

External links

39°06′06″N 77°32′34″W / 39.1016°N 77.5429°W / 39.1016; -77.5429

Commonwealth of Virginia
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