Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center, California

In Palmdale, at the gate of Plant 42, the FAA operates an air traffic control center that manages all aircraft coming into Southern California airports. The facility oversees around 177,000 square miles of airspace (divided into six areas), comprised of portions of Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, and even Mexico. Tracking information from radar sites across the desert is transmitted to the Palmdale center, which communicates directly to the pilots, lining up the endless chain of planes for their final approach and landing sequence.