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Who controls international airspace?

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States provides air traffic control services over U.S. territory and over international waters where it has been delegated such authority by the International Civil Aviation Organization.



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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States provides air traffic control services over U.S. territory and over international waters where it has been delegated such authority by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

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FAA's obligations for safety and efficiency Due to mandates, the FAA globally conducts certain functions for safety in and outside of the United States, such as performing air traffic control handoffs and assessing whether a foreign civil aviation authority complies with international aviation standards.

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FAA conducts the International Aviation Safety Assessment Program (IASA), assessing the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of each country that has carriers operating to the United States.

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Because the Earth is a three-dimensional sphere and not merely a two-dimensional flat, East-West surface. Because of this spherical shape, often times the shortest distance is flying more north and south, up over the Northern latitudes and the North Pole, rather than flying east/west over the Pacific.

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Has a plane ever ditched in the ocean? 23 November 1996: Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 (a Boeing 767-260ER), ditched in the Indian Ocean near Comoros after being hijacked and running out of fuel, killing 125 of the 175 passengers and crew on board.

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Class A airspace is generally the airspace from 18,000 feet (~3.4 miles, 5.5 km) mean sea level (MSL) up to and including flight level (FL) 600 (~11.4 miles, 18.3 km), including the airspace overlying the waters within 12 nautical miles (NM) (~13.8 miles, 22.2 km) of the coast of the 48 contiguous states and Alaska.

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It houses the president of the United States and his administration along with highly protected national intelligence. In fact, ever since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the entire DC area is considered National Defense Airspace (NDA) and is the most restricted airspace in the country.

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The U.S. aviation system is the safest in the world, but one close call is one too many. The FAA and the aviation community are pursuing a goal of zero serious close calls, a commitment from the Safety Summit in March. The same approach virtually eliminated the risk of fatalities aboard U.S. commercial airlines.

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