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New York JFK Approach Control

KJFK / JFK — United States

New York JFK (KJFK / JFK) is one of the real-world terminal areas you can control in the free ATC Radar Simulator. Its approach (APP) airspace — centred near 40°38.4'N 73°46.8'W in United States — is modelled with real runways, radio navaids and instrument procedures. As the approach controller you sequence arriving traffic onto the ILS approach, launch departures on their standard instrument departures, and keep every flight safely separated on the radar.

John F. Kennedy International is America’s premier international gateway, famous for its two crossing pairs of parallel runways and the evening transatlantic departure rush. Arrivals funnel in over the CAMRN, LENDY, PARCH and ROBER fixes while heavy jets stream out over the ocean gates — and runway 13R still hosts the legendary Canarsie VOR approach curving in past Brooklyn.

JFK’s operation is defined by its evening: from late afternoon a wall of heavies checks in for the transatlantic bank, and the crossing runway pairs force deliberate configuration choices — landing 31s with departures threaded between arrivals, or the famous 13L Canarsie curve when winds dictate. All of it happens inside the tightly packed New York airspace shared with LaGuardia and Newark.

Runways

Runways 04L, 22R, 04R, 22L, 13L, 31R, 31L are equipped with an ILS (Instrument Landing System) — a localizer for lateral guidance and a glideslope for the descent path down to the threshold. In the simulator you turn arrivals onto the extended centreline, clear them for the approach, and watch them capture the localizer and glideslope automatically.

Radio navaids

VOR/DME: JFKCRICCCDPKCOLRBV

Standard arrivals (STARs)

Standard departures (SIDs)

The terminal airspace

• Transition level: FL180 — below it aircraft fly altitudes on the local QNH; at or above it they fly standard flight levels.
• Upper limit: FL170 — overflights cross the sector below this level.
• The terminal control area (TMA) extends roughly 60 NM around the field.
• Entry / exit fixes on the boundary: JFKCRICCCDPKCOLRBVCAMRNLENDYPARCHROBERWAVEYBETTEHAPIEGREKI

How to control New York JFK in the simulator

Kennedy is a configuration puzzle wearing a radar scope: pick your runway pair, protect the crossing points, and feed the evening bank without blinking. When the wind forces 13s, the Canarsie-style curved final becomes the show — deliver arrivals to a tight base and trust the turn.

Pick New York JFK when you start a session, then double-click an aircraft's data block to assume it. Give it radar headings, climb or descend it to a level and control its speed to build an orderly stream toward the runway. Turn arrivals onto final, clear them for the ILS, and keep at least 3 NM and 1,000 ft between aircraft — the short-term conflict alert (STCA) warns you before a loss of separation. New to it? Read the guide to approach radar control and the ATC glossary first.