Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center
Washington Center, officially the Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZDC), is an FAA facility in Leesburg, Virginia. Its job is to separate aircraft and speed up arrivals and departures for the Washington-Baltimore, New York, and Philadelphia areas, using Standard Terminal Arrival Routes (STARs) and Standard Instrument Departures (SIDs).
It is the fourth busiest ARTCC in the United States. In 2024, Washington Center handled about 2,468,399 aircraft operations. The center controls roughly 165,000 square miles (430,000 square kilometers) of airspace that includes airports in Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina.
ZDC is divided into eight areas (1–8) with a total of 46 sectors. These sectors are categorized as low, intermediate, high, and Super High Altitude. There are 18 low sectors, 14 high sectors, 5 super high sectors, and 4 other sectors (including one high/low and three intermediate sectors).
During very busy periods in the Shenandoah area, Shenandoah can be split into two sectors, and the Wahoo sector may operate as a second Super High Sector over Roanoke and Lynchburg. Normally, Shenandoah overlaps the Tech High and Gordonsville High sectors above FL330. When traffic is heavy, Wahoo overlaps Gordonsville High above FL330 to cover routes south of the GVE VOR, while Shenandoah overlaps Tech High above FL330 to cover routes south of CSN, MOL, and near LWB VOR.
Sector changes include Old Valley VAL becoming Shenandoah SHD Super High Sector in Area 1, with Old Valley merged into Sector 29 Hot Springs.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 17:21 (CET).