Standard Terminal Arrival Route

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Standard Terminal Arrival Route* (STAR)

Traffic moving through an Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) and destined for any of the major nearby or internal hubs is directed to descend to around 10,000 feet and is “handed off”to a tower or the Terminal Radar Control facility (TRACON). These controllers then handle the traffic all the way to the runway. The FAA has devised an orderly approach to this handoff. Each hub has a predetermined set of navigational aids designated as “corner posts”or “arrival gates.”The STARs are simply road maps showing pilots how to get to those arrival gates. Pilots and controllers have “maps”showing these STARs, which indicate how the FAA would like arriving traffic to proceed when destined for each hub. Not all arrivals to hub airports include a STAR. For example, Cleveland has four arrival gates, but only three have a published STAR.

Reference: http://meted.ucar.edu/nas/indepth/id_star.htm

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