(K. Ari Krupnikov) writes:

I've never flown a jet airway (and probably never will, except on an
airliner), but here's a question. There are fewer J routes than V, and
they connect fewer navaids. So it can happen that your destination is
quite far from the nearest high-altitude navaid or interaction. Do you
still file direct from the closest high-alt waypoint, go direct to a
nearby navaid, or use low-altitude routes for your arrival?

That's an interesting question. Ari's seen my Warrior, so he knows
quite well that I cannot fly the jetways either, but in the spirit of
Usenet I'll take an uninformed guess.

From listening to Centre traffic when I'm flying IFR (or with flight
following), I get the impression that the airliners usually get
cleared for the standard jetways and arrival procedures, but then
start begging for direct as soon as they get to their cruising
altitudes -- just like we do, in other words.

The other thing to remember is that they have to descend at some point
before they land, and once they're below FL180, they're on the
low-level airways as well.


All the best,


David