Aircraft vectoring is the term given to a navigation service provided to aircraft by air traffic control

Air traffic control

Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...

. The controller decides on a particular pattern for the aircraft to fly, composed of specific legs or vectors. The aircraft then follows this pattern when the controller instructs the pilot to fly specific headings at appropriate times.

Vectoring is used to separate aircraft by a specified distance, to aid the navigation of flights, and to guide arriving aircraft to a position from which they can continue their approach to land under the guidance of an approach procedure published by the FAA.