Northern California TRACON

Last updated
Northern California TRACON
Location
  • Mather, California, USA
Coordinates 38°33′39″N121°15′26″W / 38.5608°N 121.2572°W / 38.5608; -121.2572
Parent organization
 Federal Aviation Administration

Northern California TRACON (NCT, radio communications: NorCal, NorCal Approach and NorCal Departure) is a terminal radar approach control (TRACON) facility in Mather, California, that serves the Northern California region. [1] It is a unit of the Air Traffic Organization (ATO) within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). As an air traffic control facility, NCT provides safety alerts, separation, and sequencing of air traffic that is arriving, departing, and transiting the airspace and airports in Northern California.

NCT controls airspace over 19,000 square miles (49,000 km2), [2] and serves San Francisco International Airport, Oakland International Airport, San Jose International Airport, Reno International Airport, Sacramento International Airport, plus 19 other smaller airports with airport traffic control towers. [3] NCT is the 3rd busiest TRACON in the US. [4] In 2024, NCT handled 1,522,806, almost as many as Oakland Center. [5]

NorCal TRACON is the step between local control and an Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC), in this case, Oakland Center.

When an arriving aircraft nears the Bay Area, Oakland Center advises it to contact NorCal TRACON. TRACON gives the arrival a descent profile and other landing aid clearances. During busy times, TRACON often has to hold aircraft in the air. After TRACON sets up the flight for an approach to landing, the flight contacts the air traffic control tower at the arrival airport for landing clearance. [6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ notams.aim.faa.gov https://notams.aim.faa.gov/lta/main/viewlta?lookupid=2504770882564527871 . Retrieved 2025-08-28.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ Comstock, Nicole (3 September 2014). "TRACON Center in Rancho Cordova Manages 20,000 Square Miles of Airspace". FOX40. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  3. ↑ "Federal Aviation Administration FACT SHEET for San Carlos Airport (SQL)" (PDF). Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  4. ↑ Federal Aviation Administration. "Air Route Traffic System (ATADS)". Air Route Traffic System (ATADS). Retrieved 2025-02-11.
  5. ↑ www.faa.gov http://web.archive.org/web/20250803204225/https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/by_the_numbers/air-traffic-by-the-numbers-FY2024.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2025-08-03. Retrieved 2025-08-28.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ "Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) | SKYbrary Aviation Safety". skybrary.aero. Retrieved 2025-08-28.
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