Fltplan go direct to3/8/2023 So, to state the obvious, they won’t be of any help. This can lead to attempting to use VORs that are not actually in service. When this happens, pilots may find themselves navigating using VORs for which they had not checked the status in a preflight briefing process. It’s even more challenging if you’re transiting an area that was off the path you had originally intended to fly, potentially as a rerouting for weather or on an ATC re-vector for traffic. This can get tedious, and many pilots skip this, especially when they typically rely on the use of GPS for navigation. The only way to find out if a VOR will be usable is to check NOTAMs for specific VORs that you plan to use along, or near, your route. This is something that won’t show up on a chart and takes some digging to find out but can be important if you are considering using VORs in your cross-country navigation. Speaking of transition to that MON VOR network, many VORs are completely NOTAMed as out of service. In some cases, like the example above, these GPS MEAs also include an “MAA,” or “Maximum Authorized Altitude.” This particular route was put in place as a part of a GPS routing around the west and north of Chicago’s O’Hare airport to help pilots transition the area without having to go from VOR to VOR and includes a maximum altitude to keep these aircraft from getting higher where they might be in the way of higher-flying airline traffic coming into the area. The GPS MEA is an altitude that can be used to guarantee the obstacle clearance and is a minimum altitude that can be used as an MEA along the entire airway segment as long as the navigation can be completed using GPS. We have now added a third number between these on some segments, denoted in blue and with a “G” after it. The MEA gave that same obstruction clearance but also navigation reception was guaranteed along the entire segment of the airway. The MOCA guaranteed you wouldn’t hit stuff and signal reception only within 22 nautical miles of a VOR. It used to be that an airway might list a MOCA (a number with an * before it) and MEA along a segment. If they are going to be gone soon anyway, we aren’t sinking money into keeping them going longer. As we transition to the Minimum Operational Network (MON) for our VOR system, meaning as we decrease the number of active VORs, many of them are not being fixed or upgraded when problems occur. Well, I personally know this one is a VOR that has areas of coverage that don’t provide reliable signals in some radials due to signal blockage. Why would this be the case, you might ask? This next image shows us an example of this, where the FAA has charted an actual notation that indicates: “PMM R-243 UNUSABLE EXCEPT FOR AIRCRAFT EQUIPPED WITH SUITABLE RNAV SYSTEM WITH GPS.” This means that you can fly the Victor but only if you use GPS to do so, not the VOR signal associated with this radial. In some cases, a Victor Airway may not be able to be reliably used with a VOR signal anymore, but the Victor Airway could still be used with an alternate form of navigation equipment. SPECIFIC NAVIGATION EQUIPMENT LIMITATIONS It might not take, though now you’ll know the reason why. So take that into account if you’re filing a flight plan using Victor Airways. When the FAA has determined that a segment of a Victor Airway will no be longer usable for a long period of time, it puts the notation in the charts. (Figure 2) VOR Navigation, Figure 2 UNUSABLE ROUTE SEGMENT (Figure 1) VOR Navigation, Figure 1įirst, let’s look at a quick, obvious key, and one that’s more permanent in nature. Looking at the excerpted chart segment, there are a few things that I can point out that would be great clues to an IFR pilot that some sections of the VOR navigation options may be limited, unavailable or downright out of service. In the old days, and I feel like I’m dating myself, you could look at an enroute chart and be pretty confident that a Victor Airway was going to be useable if it were published. A few of these notations may make big differences to us if we need to use those VORs, Victor Airways or waypoints along our flight paths. But, as we make changes to our airspace system, these charts have begun to see more things of consequence noted on them to which we may need to pay some attention.
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