What best describes positive control in airspace management?

• A. A system where pilots freely manage their own routes without oversight.
• B. An authority ensures that a controller can direct or restrict aircraft actions within a defined airspace.
• C. A weather advisory used to adjust flight paths.
• D. A maintenance procedure for navigation equipment.

Answer: (B)

Positive control means an authority empowers air traffic control to actively direct and constrain aircraft actions within a defined airspace to maintain safe separation and orderly flow. Controllers issue clearances, vectors, altitude and speed instructions, and route changes, and they can hold or reroute aircraft as needed to prevent conflicts. This makes operations predictable and enforceable, not simply advisory. The other scenarios describe pilots managing routes without oversight, weather advisories for path changes, or maintenance procedures—none of which provide the authoritative control over aircraft movements that positive control requires.