When an air traffic controller uses the words
radar service terminated, he or she is telling you that you will no longer be provided with any radar-related services such as radar flight following or traffic alerts. Radar service may be terminated by the pilot or the controller, depending on the circumstances. If you are flying under visual flight rules (VFR) and receiving radar flight following through busy airspace, you may find that your radar service is terminated as you leave the jurisdiction of one air traffic control facility or get ready to enter that of another. This often happens because controllers are too busy with flights on instrument flight plans to arrange or accept handoffs of VFR flights. You can also expect to be told that your radar service has been terminated any time you fly below the level of radar coverage or enter an area where radar coverage is not available.
In some cases, radar services are automatically terminated, and the pilot is not informed. That can happen when the pilot cancels an instrument flight plan unless the aircraft is inside Class B or Class C airspace, within a terminal radar service area, or in another location where radar service is part of normal operations.
Radar service also can be terminated automatically when an aircraft conducting an instrument, visual, or contact approach has landed or has been instructed to change to an advisory frequency; when an arriving VFR aircraft has been instructed to change to tower or advisory frequency or when that aircraft has landed at a tower-controlled airport within Class B or Class C airspace, a terminal radar service area, or at an airport where sequencing is provided; or when an aircraft completes a radar approach.
Taxi Into Position And Hold
To keep traffic on the ground and in the air moving efficiently, controllers sometimes issue the instruction taxi into position and hold. For instance, if traffic clearing the active runway prevents you from taking off immediately but the controllers want you to be ready to expedite your departure for following traffic, you may be asked to taxi into position and hold. This instruction from a controller authorizes a pilot to taxi onto the departure runway into position for takeoff and then stop. It does not constitute takeoff clearance, and the pilot must wait for further instructions from controllers before departing.
