TEC route clearance examples

sarangan

sarangan

Pattern Altitude
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Andrew, CFI-I
I'm looking for examples of how TEC routes are issued in initial clearances in the Northeast. In the SoCal area, for instance, clearances go like, "Cleared to XYZ via Coast Papa Five," referring to the CSTP5 route - though I haven’t found where it is officially stated that CST stands for “Coast” in the chart supplement.

In contrast, TEC routes in the Northeast don’t seem to have names. How are these typically delivered by ATC? For example, there’s a TEC route from ACY to PVD, but I’m not sure how that would be issued in a clearance.

I have limited experience with TEC routes overall, so any clarification from those with direct experience would be appreciated.
 
In my experience the NE just uses the T### format. So in your example T224. So no difference from a Victor airway
 
They are not. Unlike SOCAL, Terminal Enroute Control routes in the Northeast are not named or coded. They are not mentioned by name. They are just IFR Preferred Routes that take place completely in TRACON (as opposed to Center) airspace, typically below 10,000'. Using your example, your clearance would sound like

N1234A is cleared to the Providence airport. Radar vectors CRESI T303 JFK T315 EEGOR MAD CARLD V188 GON Direct. Climb and maintain X000, expect...​

And yes, they would likely say the VORs by name and spell out some of those waypoints.

If you wanted to file that route, that's the way you'd file it.

BTW, great question. I've spoken to IIs in areas where there are no TEC routes (other than SOCAL, NORCAL, and the NE corridor) who have never heard of them
 
sarangan said:
I haven’t found where it is officially stated that CST stands for “Coast” in the chart supplement.
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There's a clue in the introductory notes. Notice that "Coast" is capitalized. The rest you'll notice are mostly named after a departure or destination airport or a fix (generally a VOR).

1752347224348.png
 
sarangan said:
I'm looking for examples of how TEC routes are issued in initial clearances in the Northeast. In the SoCal area, for instance, clearances go like, "Cleared to XYZ via Coast Papa Five," referring to the CSTP5 route - though I haven’t found where it is officially stated that CST stands for “Coast” in the chart supplement.

In contrast, TEC routes in the Northeast don’t seem to have names. How are these typically delivered by ATC? For example, there’s a TEC route from ACY to PVD, but I’m not sure how that would be issued in a clearance.

I have limited experience with TEC routes overall, so any clarification from those with direct experience would be appreciated.
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They are indistinguishable from any other route.
 
TEC routes in the NE are completely different beasts than how they are handled in California. The NE TECs are little more than "preferred routes" that take you from approach-to-approach without involving center. You really don't treat them any different than any other route and they are issued by ATC when they see fit.

The T routes aren't necessarily TEC, they're one of the types of RNAV routes distinguished from Victor airways which are based on VORs
 
Both @flyingron and @midlifeflyer gave more complete and correct answers than I did. Having said that, it might be a distinction without a difference. I've tried to use the IFR Preferred Routes to avoid the inevitable "we have an amendment to your route" conversations. They might be preferred routes in a database, but not sure they've let the controllers know of their existence. My record is 5 amendments in one trip from NC to CT. I've made the trip once out of about 10 with no changes in the NorthEast.
 
Hang 4 said:
Both @flyingron and @midlifeflyer gave more complete and correct answers than I did. Having said that, it might be a distinction without a difference. I've tried to use the IFR Preferred Routes to avoid the inevitable "we have an amendment to your route" conversations. They might be preferred routes in a database, but not sure they've let the controllers know of their existence. My record is 5 amendments in one trip from NC to CT. I've made the trip once out of about 10 with no changes in the NorthEast.
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A bit of speculation. If you look at the SoCal routes, they take the direction of arrivals into LAX into account. And those are all either east or west. While the sectors may be different, it’s still all SOCAL TRACON. The NE TECs, in contrast, cross multiple TRACON boundaries - DCA, PHL, BOS, and the triple threat of EWR-JFK-LGA - all abutting and potentially interfering with each other. That might mean more ATC involvement in SOCAL TEC development. Even without that, the NE may be more subject to traffic changes at one that affect flight paths around the others.

BTW, I have managed to do NE trips fro NC to PHL, ABE, FRG, and ISP with no enroute amendments, so it’s possible.
 
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Yeah, I've filed what I thought was perfectly sensible, and the computer accepted it, it even printed it out on the strip at the tower, but the controller starts to read it to me and then goes, Oh, that 's' not going to work. Advise when ready to copy.
 
flyingron said:
Yeah, I've filed what I thought was perfectly sensible, and the computer accepted it, it even printed it out on the strip at the tower, but the controller starts to read it to me and then goes, Oh, that 's' not going to work. Advise when ready to copy.
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Happens every westbound flight out of PYM. Ironically if you want to go north through the Bravo the suggested routing always works fine.
 
In the NE, I liken to them "aliases" of a preferred route ("the machine likes this"). But as midlifeflyer said, depending on certain ops, you could get a re-route regardless.
 
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