title-14-part-170-sec170-3

812

SUBCHAPTER J—NAVIGATIONAL FACILITIES

PART 170—ESTABLISHMENT AND

DISCONTINUANCE CRITERIA FOR
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SERVICES
AND NAVIGATIONAL FACILITIES

Subpart A—General

Sec.
170.1

Scope.

170.3

Definitions.

Subpart B—Airport Traffic Control Towers

170.11

Scope.

170.13

Airport Traffic Control Tower (ATCT)

establishment criteria.

170.15

ATCT discontinuance criteria.

Subpart C

[

Reserved

]

UTHORITY

: 49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40103–40107,

40113, 44502, 44701–44702, 44708–44709, 44719,
44721–44722, 46308.

OURCE

: 56 FR 341, Jan. 3, 1991, unless oth-

erwise noted.

Subpart A—General

§ 170.1 Scope.

This subpart sets forth establishment

and discontinuance criteria for naviga-
tion aids operated and maintained by
the United States.

§ 170.3 Definitions.

For purposes of this subpart—

Air navigation facility

(NAVAID)

means any facility used, available for
use, or designated for use in the aid of
air navigation. Included are landing
areas; lights; signaling, radio direction-
finding, or radio or other electronic
communication; and any other struc-
ture or mechanism having a similar
purpose of guiding or controlling flight
or the landing or takeoff of aircraft.

Air traffic clearance

means an author-

ization by air traffic control for an air-
craft to proceed under specified traffic
conditions within controlled airspace
for the purpose of preventing collision
between known aircraft.

Air traffic control

(ATC) means a serv-

ice that promotes the safe, orderly, and
expeditious flow of air traffic, includ-
ing airport, approach, departure, and
en route air traffic control.

Air traffic controller

means a person

authorized to provide air traffic serv-
ice, specifically en route and terminal
control personnel.

Aircraft operations

means the airborne

movement of aircraft in controlled or
noncontrolled airport terminal areas,
and counts at en route fixes or other
points where counts can be made.
There are two types of operations:
local and itinerant.

(1)

Local operations

mean operations

performed by aircraft which:

(i) Operate in the local traffic pat-

tern or within sight of the airport;

(ii) Are known to be departing for, or

arriving from flight in local practice
areas located within a 20-mile radius of
the airport; or

(iii) Execute simulated instrument

approaches or low passes at the air-
port.

(2)

Itinerant operations

mean all air-

craft operations other than local oper-
ations.

Airport traffic control tower

means a

terminal facility, which through the
use of air/ground communications, vis-
ual signaling, and other devices, pro-
vides ATC services to airborne aircraft
operating in the vicinity of an airport
and to aircraft operating on the airport
area.

Alternate airport

means an airport,

specified on a flight plan, to which a
flight may proceed when a landing at
the point of first intended landing be-
comes inadvisable.

Approach

means the flight path es-

tablished by the FAA to be used by air-
craft landing on a runway.

Approach control facility

means a ter-

minal air traffic control facility pro-
viding approach control service.

Arrival

means any aircraft arriving at

an airport.

Benefit-cost ratio

means the quotient

of the discounted life cycle benefits of
an air traffic control service or naviga-
tion aid facility (

i.e.

, ATCT) divided by

the discounted life cycle costs.

Ceiling

means the vertical distance

between the ground or water and the
lowest layer of clouds or obscuring phe-
nomena that is reported as ‘‘broken,’’
‘‘overcast,’’ or ‘‘obstruction.’’

813

Federal Aviation Administration, DOT

§ 170.3

Control Tower

—See Airport Traffic

Control Tower.

Criteria

means the standards used by

the FAA for the determination of es-
tablishment or discontinuance of a
service or facility at an airport.

Departure

means any aircraft taking

off from an airport.

Discontinuance

means the withdrawal

of a service and/or facility from an air-
port.

Establishment

means the provision of

a service or facility at a candidate air-
port.

Instrument approach

means a series of

predetermined maneuvers for the or-
derly transfer of an aircraft under in-
strument flight conditions from the be-
ginning of the initial approach to a
landing, or to a point from which a
landing may be made visually. It is
prescribed and approved for a specific
airport by competent authority.

Instrument flight rules

(IFR) means

rules governing the procedures for con-
ducting flight under instrument mete-
orological conditions (IMC) instrument
flight.

Instrument landing system

(ILS) means

an instrument landing system whereby
the pilot guides his approach to a run-
way solely by reference to instruments
in the cockpit. In some instances, the
signals received from the ground can be
fed into the automatic pilot for auto-
matically controlled approaches.

Instrument meteorological conditions

(IMC) means weather conditions below
the minimums prescribed for flight
under Visual Flight Rules (VFR).

Instrument operation

means an air-

craft operation in accordance with an
IFT flight plan or an operation where
IFR separation between aircraft is pro-
vided by a terminal control facility or
air route traffic control center
(ARTCC).

Life cycle benefits

means the value of

services provided to aviation users over
the life span of a facility or service.

Life cycle costs

means the value of re-

search and development costs, invest-
ment costs, operation costs, mainte-
nance costs, and termination costs
over the life span of a facility or serv-
ice.

Maintenance costs

means the costs in-

curred in servicing and maintaining a
facility after establishment.

Mean sea level

(MSL) means the base

commonly used in measuring altitudes.

Microwave landing system

(MLS)

means a landing system which enables
equipped aircraft to make curved and
closely spaced approaches to properly
instrumented airports.

Noncommercial traffic

means all air-

craft operations that are conducted
free of compensation.

Nonprecision approach procedure

means an FAA standard for approach-
ing an IFR runway where no electronic
glide slope is available.

Nonscheduled commercial service

means

the carriage by aircraft in air com-
merce of persons or property for com-
pensation or hire that are not operated
in regularly scheduled service such as
charter flights.

Present value

(PV) means the value of

a stream of future benefits or costs
that are discounted to the present.

PVB

BPV

means the discounted

value of life cycle benefits.

PVC

CPV

means the discounted

value of life cycle benefits.

PVCM

CMPV

means the dis-

counted value of operations and main-
tenance costs less termination costs
over a facility’s remaining life cycle.

Runway

means a defined rectangular

area on a land airport prepared for the
landing and takeoff of aircraft along
its length.

Runway visual range

means an instru-

mentally derived value based on stand-
ard calibrations that represent the hor-
izontal distance a pilot will see down
the runway from the approach end.

Scheduled commercial service

means

the carriage by aircraft in air com-
merce under parts 121 and 135 of per-
sons or property for compensation or
hire based on published flight sched-
ules.

Separation

means the spacing of air-

craft in flight and while landing and
taking off to achieve their safe and or-
derly movement.

Takeoff clearance

means authoriza-

tion by an airport traffic control tower
for an aircraft to take off.

Tower cab

means an ATC facility lo-

cated at an airport. Controllers at
these facilities direct ground traffic,
takeoffs, and landings.

Traffic advisories

means advisories

issued to alert pilots to other known or

814

14 CFR Ch. I (1–1–24 Edition)

§ 170.11

observed air traffic which may be in
such proximity to the position or in-
tended route of flight of their aircraft
to warrant attention.

Traffic pattern

means the flow of air-

craft operating on and in the vicinity
of an airport during specified wind con-
ditions as established by appropriate
authority.

VFR traffic

means aircraft operated

solely in accordance with Visual Flight
Rules.

Visual flight rules

(VFR) means rules

that govern the procedures for con-
ducting flight under visual conditions.
The term ‘‘VFR’’ is also used in the
United States to indicate weather con-
ditions that are equal to or greater
than minimum VFR requirements. In
addition, ‘‘VFR’’ is used by pilots and
controllers to indicate the type of
flight plan.

Visual meteorological conditions

(VMC)

means meteorological conditions ex-
pressed in terms of visibility, distance
from clouds, and ceiling equal to or
better than specified minima.

[56 FR 341, Jan. 3, 1991, as amended by Amdt.
170–3, 66 FR 21067, Apr. 27, 2001; Docket FAA–
2017–0733, Amdt. 170–4, 82 FR 34400, July 25,
2017]

Subpart B—Airport Traffic Control

Towers

§ 170.11 Scope.

This subpart sets forth establishment

and discontinuance criteria for Airport
Traffic Control Towers.

§ 170.13 Airport Traffic Control Tower

(ATCT) establishment criteria.

(a) The following criteria along with

general facility establishment stand-
ards must be met before an airport can
qualify for an ATCT:

(1) The airport, whether publicly or

privately owned, must be open to and
available for use by the public as de-
fined in the Airport and Airway Im-
provement Act of 1982;

(2) The airport must be recognized by

and contained within the National
Plan of Integrated Airport Systems;

(3) The airport owners/authorities

must have entered into appropriate as-
surances and covenants to guarantee
that the airport will continue in oper-
ation for a long enough period to per-

mit the amortization of the ATCT in-
vestment;

(4) The FAA must be furnished appro-

priate land without cost for construc-
tion of the ATCT; and

(5) The airport must meet the ben-

efit-cost ratio criteria specified herein
utilizing three consecutive FAA annual
counts and projections of future traffic
during the expected life of the tower fa-
cility. (An FAA annual count is a fiscal
year or a calendar year activity sum-
mary. Where actual traffic counts are
unavailable or not recorded, ade-
quately documented FAA estimates of
the scheduled and nonscheduled activ-
ity may be used.)

(b) An airport meets the establish-

ment criteria when it satisfies para-
graphs (a)(1) through (a)(5) of this sec-
tion and its benefit-cost ratio equals or
exceeds one. As defined in § 170.3 of this
part, the benefit-cost ratio is the ratio
of the present value of the ATCT life
cycle benefits (BPV) to the present
value of ATCT life cycle costs (CPV).

BPV/CPV

≥

1.0

listed in this section does not guar-
antee that the airport will receive an
ATCT.

§ 170.15 ATCT discontinuance criteria.

An ATCT will be subject to dis-

continuance when the continued oper-
ation and maintenance costs less ter-
mination costs (CMPV) of the ATCT
exceed the present value of its remain-
ing life-cycle benefits (BPV):

BPV/CMPV<1.0

Subpart C

[

Reserved

]

PART 171—NON-FEDERAL

NAVIGATION FACILITIES

Subpart A—VOR Facilities

Sec.
171.1

Scope.

171.3

Requests for IFR procedure.

171.5

Minimum requirements for approval.

171.7

Performance requirements.

171.9

Installation requirements.

171.11

Maintenance and operations require-

ments.

171.13

Reports.