Air Traffic Control - Knowledge Test per NCAA-AC-PEL 018
This domain is the ATC knowledge test defined by the NCAA advisory circular NCAA-AC-PEL 018 on personnel licensing. It samples the procedural toolkit a licence holder must actually apply: rules of the air (ICAO Annex 2), ATS procedures in PANS-ATM Doc 4444, airspace and services under Annex 11, and aerodrome standards under Annex 14. Expect calculation items on separation and wake turbulence alongside definitional items on clearances, altimetry and rating privileges.
Licence, ratings and privileges
- A student licence permits on-the-job training under supervision only; it carries no independent control authority.
- Ratings: aerodrome control; approach control procedural; approach control surveillance; area control procedural; area control surveillance - each valid only with unit endorsements.
- A rating is exercisable only with a current Class 3 medical and a valid unit competence check.
Separation
- Vertical: 1 000 ft between RVSM-approved aircraft inside designated RVSM airspace (FL290–FL410); 2 000 ft above FL410 or wherever either aircraft is not RVSM-approved.
- Horizontal: time, distance or geographical; radar minima are normally 5 NM, reducible to 3 NM only in designated TMAs.
- Wake turbulence categories Super/Heavy/Medium/Light carry time or distance minima applied behind the heavier aircraft.
- A clearance is an authorisation with defined limits; it does not relieve the pilot of responsibility for terrain clearance or traffic avoidance outside those limits.
Worked example
An RVSM-approved aircraft already cruises at FL350 and another requests FL350. If the requesting aircraft is also RVSM-approved, 1 000 ft separation already exists on the same track, so the level may be granted. If the second aircraft is a non-RVSM state flight, the 2 000 ft minimum applies and FL350 is unavailable: assign FL330 or FL370. Reasoning: RVSM reduces the standard 2 000 ft minimum only for pairs of approved aircraft, and only inside designated RVSM airspace.
Traps
- Treating 3 NM radar separation as available everywhere rather than only where designated.
- Confusing transition altitude (feet, QNH) with transition level (flight level).
- Reading "cleared for approach" as "cleared to land".
- Checking the wake category of the leader instead of the following aircraft.