Editing Air traffic control (section)

==History==
In 1920, [[Croydon Airport]] near London, England, was the first [[airport]] in the world to introduce air traffic control.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.transportheritage.com/find-heritage-locations.html?sobi2Task=sobi2Details&catid=91&sobi2Id=273 |title=Heritage locations – South East – Surrey – Croydon Airport |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925180501/http://www.transportheritage.com/find-heritage-locations.html?sobi2Task=sobi2Details&catid=91&sobi2Id=273 |archive-date=25 September 2018 }}</ref>  The 'aerodrome control tower' was a wooden hut {{Convert|15|ft|0|abbr=off}} high with windows on all four sides.  It was commissioned on 25 February 1920, and provided basic traffic, weather, and location information to pilots.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kaminski-Morrow |first=David |date=25 February 2020 |title=Colourised Images Mark Centenary of World's First Control Tower |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/safety/colourised-images-mark-centenary-of-worlds-first-control-tower/136903.article |work=Flight Global }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-51648067/croydon-airport-100-years-of-air-traffic-control-in-the-uk |title=How a Hut in Croydon Changed Air Travel |work=BBC News |access-date=2 March 2020 }}</ref>

In the United States, air traffic control developed three divisions. The first of several air mail radio stations (AMRS) was created in 1922, after World War I, when the U.S. Post Office began using techniques developed by the [[U.S. Army]] to direct and track the movements of [[reconnaissance aircraft]]. Over time, the AMRS morphed into [[flight service station]]s. Today's flight service stations do not issue control instructions, but provide pilots with many other flight related informational services. They do relay control instructions from ATC in areas where flight service is the only facility with radio or phone coverage. The first airport traffic control tower, regulating arrivals, departures, and surface movement of aircraft in the US at a specific airport, opened in Cleveland in 1930. Approach- and departure-control facilities were created after adoption of radar in the 1950s to monitor and control the busy airspace around larger airports. The first air route traffic control center (ARTCC), which directs the movement of aircraft between departure and destination, was opened in Newark in 1935, followed in 1936 by Chicago and Cleveland.<ref>FAA Historical Chronology, 1926–1996</ref> 

After the [[1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision]], killing all 128 on board, the FAA was given the air-traffic responsibility in the United States in 1958, and this was followed by other countries.<!--ref name=Economist15jun2019--> In 1960, Britain, France, Germany, and the [[Benelux]] countries set up [[Eurocontrol]], intending to merge their airspaces.<!--ref name=Economist15jun2019--> The first and only attempt to pool controllers between countries is the [[Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre]] (MUAC), founded in 1972 by Eurocontrol, and covering Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and north-western Germany.<!--ref name=Economist15jun2019--> In 2001, the [[European Union]] (EU) aimed to create a '[[Single European Sky]]', hoping to boost efficiency and gain economies of scale.<ref name="Economist15jun2019">{{Cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/international/2019/06/15/air-traffic-control-is-a-mess |title=Air-traffic control is a mess |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=15 June 2019 }}</ref>

In the USSR, the first air traffic control service was organized in 1929 on the [[Moscow]] - [[Irkutsk]] air route; in 1930, control areas were defined along all existing air routes.<ref>Н. Зыков. Дирижеры воздушных трасс // журнал «[[Nauka i Zhizn|Наука и жизнь]]», № 12, 1981. стр.58-59</ref>