You will make these mistakes. Every new controller does. Some of them will cost you 200 points. One or two might cost you 500.

That’s fine. Recognize the pattern, fix it, move on.

Forgetting handoffs

Aircraft quietly drift toward the edge of your airspace. No alarm. No flashing. They just… leave. -150 points.

It happens because handoffs aren’t urgent. There’s no immediate danger, so your brain deprioritizes them while you’re busy spacing arrivals or resolving conflicts. Then the aircraft exits without ever being handed off.

Fix: issue ho early. 30-40nm from the boundary, not 5nm. Set up onApproachingExit in code mode to catch the ones you miss:

onApproachingExit((event) => {
  const ac = traffic.byCallsign(event.cs);
  if (ac) ac.handover();
});

Late ILS clearance

Aircraft is 6nm from the runway at 5,000ft. You forgot to clear the approach. Too close, too high. Go-around. -50 points.

The command is i 27L (or whatever runway). Issue it when the aircraft is 10-15nm out, heading within 30 degrees of the runway, and at a reasonable altitude. There’s no penalty for clearing early. There’s a big penalty for clearing late.

If an arrival reaches the end of its route without an ILS clearance, it holds at the last waypoint. That’s your signal you forgot someone. See the ILS intercept requirements for the geometry.

Altitude conflicts

You descend AAL123 to FL280. You climb UAL456 to FL280. They’re 15nm apart and converging. Now you have a separation problem.

Before every altitude clearance, scan: who else is at that altitude nearby? Quick mental check. Takes two seconds. Saves you 200 points.

When in doubt, give yourself vertical buffer. Put converging aircraft 2,000ft apart, not 1,000ft. The legal minimum is 1,000ft. That’s not much room when things go sideways.

Ignoring speed control

Two aircraft in trail, both at FL350, 6nm apart. Trailing one is 30kt faster. Gap closing at a mile every two minutes. In 12 minutes, conflict.

New controllers reach for altitude changes or vectors. Experienced controllers just type s DAL456 420 and the problem goes away.

Speed is the most precise tool you have. Small changes (20-30kt) create predictable, gentle spacing adjustments without disrupting the flow. Use it before reaching for the big tools.

Over-vectoring

Aircraft is on course, 60nm from the airport, no conflicts. You give it a heading change. Then another. Then correct back. Now it’s zig-zagging for no reason.

If the aircraft is on a good route and nobody’s in the way, leave it alone. Issue direct MERIT and let it fly. Your efficiency bonus depends on keeping command count low. Three commands per aircraft (route, ILS, tower) earns +100 bonus. Micromanaging every heading kills that.

Creating unstable approaches

Aircraft at 4,000ft, 4nm from the runway. That descent gradient is way too steep. Go-around.

The 3-to-1 rule: 3nm of distance per 1,000ft to lose. If the aircraft needs to drop 3,000ft, it needs at least 9nm. Check this before you clear the approach. If the numbers don’t work, give them more room - extend the downwind, widen the base turn.

Read more about climb and descent rates and what’s realistic for different aircraft types.

No sequencing plan

Five arrivals from three directions, all converging at the same time. You’re reacting to each one individually. Chaos.

Start sequencing at 60nm, not 10nm. Decide the order early. Use dv to let the STAR handle the descent. Slow trailing aircraft. If someone’s too bunched up, put them in a hold at a fix and release them when there’s a gap.

The goal: aircraft arrive at the approach gate (10nm, 3,000ft) already in order with proper spacing. If you’re still sorting things out inside 5nm, you’re too late.

Panic on conflict alert

Red flashing. Two aircraft projected to lose separation. You slam out heading changes to both at the same time. Now neither aircraft is where you expected and the situation’s worse.

Stop. Three seconds.

Where are they? Where are they going? What’s the simplest fix?

Usually: climb one, descend the other. Or just turn one aircraft. One move, not two. Conflict alerts are predictions. You typically have 2-5 minutes. That’s plenty of time for a deliberate decision.

The sim also gives you resolution advisories that tell you exactly what to do. Use them.

Not using descend via

You’re issuing individual altitude clearances to every arrival. c240. Then c180. Then c120. Then c80. Four commands per aircraft. Your efficiency score tanks.

If the aircraft has a STAR, issue dv and let the procedure do the work. One command handles the entire descent. The scoring system rewards this with +40 per constraint met, +100 for a perfect procedure, and +75 for an efficient descent.

Not using holds

Traffic volume spikes. Approach is saturated. Instead of holding aircraft at a fix, you vector them in circles. Five aircraft doing freestyle orbits is much harder to track than five aircraft in a predictable hold pattern.

h MERIT puts an aircraft in a standard holding pattern at MERIT. xhld releases them when you’re ready. Aircraft in holds are stable and predictable. That frees your attention for the aircraft that actually need managing.

The pattern

Most of these mistakes come from the same root causes:

• Reacting instead of planning ahead
• Using one or two commands when the full toolbox is available
• Managing aircraft individually instead of seeing the flow
• Acting too late, then overcompensating

The fix is always the same. Think five minutes ahead. Use the right tool. Keep it simple.

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Start with low traffic. Get the basics right. Then increase the intensity gradually. A clean session with 10 aircraft teaches you more than a chaotic one with 30.

For command reference: approach commands | tower commands | scoring system

Open radarcontrol.io and start fixing these habits.