Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZID), (radio communications, "Indy Center") is one of 22 established FAA

Area Control Center In air traffic control, an area control center (ACC), also known as a center or en-route center, is a facility responsible for controlling aircraft flying in the airspace of a given flight information region (FIR) at high altitudes between ...

s, and is physically located at 1850 South Sigsbee Street,

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, (

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

). The primary responsibility of Indianapolis Center is sequencing and separation of over-flights, arrivals, and departures in order to provide safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of aircraft filed under

instrument flight rules In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Fl ...

(IFR). Indianapolis Center is the 12th busiest ARTCC in the United States. In 2024, Indianapolis Center handled 2,097,778 aircraft operations. Indianapolis Center covers approximately 73,000 square milesFAA. Department of Transportation. Facility orientation guide; Indianapolis ARTCC Indianapolis, Indiana. Retrieved from StuckMic.com FAA - Air Traffic Control Facility Orientation Guides. http://www.cdn.stuckmic.com/images/data/525/indianapolis.pdf of the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

, including parts of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. Indianapolis Center lies adjacent to six Air Route Traffic Control Centers:

Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZDC) is an Area Control Center operated by the Federal Aviation Administration and located at Lawson Rd SE, Leesburg, Virginia, United States. The primary responsibility of ZDC is the separation of airp ...

Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZTL) (radio communications, "Atlanta Center") is one of 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers operated by the United States Federal Aviation Administration. It is located at 299 Woolsey Rd, Hampton, Georgi ...

, Memphis Air Route Traffic Control Center,

Kansas City Air Route Traffic Control Center Kansas City Air Route Traffic Control Center (, Kansas City Center in radio communications), is one of 22 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Area Control Centers. It is located at 250 S. Rogers Rd. Olathe, Kansas, United States. The primary r ...

Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZOB) or Cleveland Center is located at 326 East Lorain Street, Oberlin, Ohio, United States. The center is located about outside of the city of Cleveland.Wildavsky, Aaron B. Leadership in a Small Town. ...

, and Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center. ZID overlies or abuts many approach control facilities (including Indianapolis, Louisville, Cincinnati, Huntington, Terre Haute, Columbus, and Charleston). On

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, Indianapolis Center was handling

American Airlines Flight 77 American Airlines Flight 77 was a scheduled domestic transcontinental passenger flight from Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles. The Boeing 757-200 aircraft serving the flig ...

. Indianapolis Center was the first enroute facility to use CPDLC (Controller - Pilot Data Link Communication). ZID along with UPS tested the system during nightly operations in 2018.

Popular culture

Indianapolis Center is depicted in the second scene of

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

's ''

Close Encounters of the Third Kind ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' is a 1977 American science fiction film, science fiction drama film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François ...

'' (1977), in which an air traffic controller provides information and guidance to pilots of two passenger jets (

Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1930 until it was acquired by American Airlines in 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles ...

Allegheny Airlines Allegheny Airlines was a local service carrier that operated out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1952 to 1979, with routes primarily located in the eastern U.S. It was the forerunner of USAir that was subsequently renamed US Airways, which i ...

and a fictional "Air East") who are en route through the ZID

flight information region In aviation, a flight information region (FIR) is a specified region of airspace in which a flight information service, an alerting service (ALRS), and an area control centre are provided. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) dele ...

to avoid collisions with each other or with an unidentified "aircraft" that appears to have extremely bright anti-collision lights and is "exhibiting some non-ballistic motion." A supervisor orders another controller to "get on the horn with the 45th Recon Wing to find out if there is a test flight mission in "Restricted Area 2508." (The actual 45th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron was based at

Bergstrom Air Force Base Bergstrom Air Force Base was located seven miles southeast of Austin, Texas. In its later years, it was a major base for the United States Air Force (USAF) RF-4C Phantom reconnaissance fighter fleet. History Bergstrom was originally act ...

in the mid-1970s, but was inactivated not long before the film's pre-production. The real Restricted Area 2508 is located in Southern California.) The scene concluded with a senior supervisor instructing the controller to ask the TWA and Air East pilots if they wish to officially report a

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...

. Both pilots declined.

References

External links

* eather.gov/zid Indianapolis Center Weather Service Unit (CWSU)( NWS/ FAA) {{coord, 39, 44, 17.5, N, 86, 16, 48.8, W, region:US-IN_type:landmark, display=title Air traffic control centers Air traffic control in the United States Aviation in Indiana Transportation in Indianapolis Transportation buildings and structures in Marion County, Indiana