Victor Airways

T

TN Tom

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Feb 24, 2014
Messages
6
Location
East Tennessee
Display Name
Display name:
TN Tom
I live in East Tennessee, approximately seven miles south of the Victor 16 Airway center line. V16, heading slightly SW (252 degrees) eventually intersects with Knoxville VORTAC.

Standing on a small hill, near my barn, I have gotten in the habit of watching jet contrails-most notable of which those that are made in the direction of Knoxville-roughly from east to west.

My reading tells me that Victor Airways are controlled Class E airspace from 1,200 AGL up to, but not including, 18,000 feet MSL.

My first question is, do jet aircraft flying above FL 180 (18,000') follow the same Victor Airways-only at a greater altitude or do they have their own designated airways?

I have no background in aviation, but am working on a website that is aviation related. Any help provided is much appreciated.
 
TN Tom said:
I live in East Tennessee, approximately seven miles south of the Victor 16 Airway center line. V16, heading slightly SW (252 degrees) eventually intersects with Knoxville VORTAC.

Standing on a small hill, near my barn, I have gotten in the habit of watching jet contrails-most notable of which those that are made in the direction of Knoxville-roughly from east to west.

My reading tells me that Victor Airways are controlled Class E airspace from 1,200 AGL up to, but not including, 18,000 feet MSL.

My first question is, do jet aircraft flying above FL 180 (18,000') follow the same Victor Airways-only at a greater altitude or do they have their own designated airways?

I have no background in aviation, but am working on a website that is aviation related. Any help provided is much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Victor 16 runs between Volunteer VORTAC, about four miles SSW of Knoxville Downtown Airport, and Holston Mountain VORTAC, about fourteen miles ESE of Tri-Cities Regional Airport. Above the Victor Airway system there is the Jet Route system, with airways between 18,000 and 45,000 feet. While Jet Routes sometimes directly overly Victor Airways that doesn't happen in this case. The most closely aligned Jet Route to this segment of Victor 16 is J22, between Volunteer and Pulaski VORTACs.

Go to SkyVector and you can click between charts of the two airway structures.
 
Thanks Dan and Steven for your quick responses. I have a couple of more questions and will ask them a bit later-once I figure out how to ask them. Beautiful day shaping up here in East Tennessee-got to get out in it.
 
Thanks for the helpful charts.

J22 is slightly north of V16 and heading in the same general direction.

The jets that I have been following appear to be on a heading of 260 degrees from where I stand-which is well south of V16 and J22. In other words, they appear to be coming from more of an easterly direction. I have made mental notes of their flight paths and there seem to be at least three distinct paths going in the same westerly direction-possibly a mile apart. A couple of days ago, I saw two different jets flying the same direction at the same time-the one a mile or so to the left of the other and trailing at a slightly lower altitude.

Since the jets I have been following are pretty much flying directly overhead, it's difficult to estimate their altitude. It's also difficult to judge if they are in a climb or a descent.

At first I thought they may be taking off from Tri-Cities, but when I checked out the schedule on line there were no flights taking off at that time-at least ones headed west.

Victor Airways are eight miles wide. V16 is further south of J22 and closer to where I live. Let's just say these jets were using J22. Would they be flying a good distance to the left of the J22 center line? Which leads to the question as to how wide are jetways?
 
Last edited:
TN Tom said:
Victor Airways are eight miles wide. V16 is further south of J22 and closer to where I live. Let's just say these jets were using J22. Would they be flying a good distance to the left of the J22 center line? Which leads to the question as to how wide are jetways?
Click to expand...
Flights are supposed to take place along the centerline of an airway, not to the left or right. I'm not sure the answer to your second question
 
Tough to answer your questions. Above FL180 it's common to give direct routes, or the aircraft were on a STAR? I am not familiar with the airspace, so it would be tough to guess...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
MarkZ said:
Tough to answer your questions. Above FL180 it's common to give direct routes, or the aircraft were on a STAR? I am not familiar with the airspace, so it would be tough to guess...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

In his part of the world it is common to get direct route at most any altitude...
 
TN Tom said:
Thanks for the helpful charts.

J22 is slightly north of V16 and heading in the same general direction.

The jets that I have been following appear to be on a heading of 260 degrees from where I stand-which is well south of V16 and J22. In other words, they appear to be coming from more of an easterly direction. I have made mental notes of their flight paths and there seem to be at least three distinct paths going in the same westerly direction-possibly a mile apart. A couple of days ago, I saw two different jets flying the same direction at the same time-the one a mile or so to the left of the other and trailing at a slightly lower altitude.

Since the jets I have been following are pretty much flying directly overhead, it's difficult to estimate their altitude. It's also difficult to judge if they are in a climb or a descent.

At first I thought they may be taking off from Tri-Cities, but when I checked out the schedule on line there were no flights taking off at that time-at least ones headed west.

Victor Airways are eight miles wide. V16 is further south of J22 and closer to where I live. Let's just say these jets were using J22. Would they be flying a good distance to the left of the J22 center line? Which leads to the question as to how wide are jetways?
Click to expand...
If you have an iOS device, try this app:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/plane-finder-ar/id390039844?mt=8

It may help you at least solve the mystery of what planes you are actually looking at, then you can go to flightaware and see what their filed route is.
 
TN Tom said:
Victor Airways are eight miles wide.
Click to expand...

For the most part, yes. Airways have a 4.5° splay, at 51 miles from the VOR that splay is 4 miles either side of centerline. So airways with segments more than 51 miles from the VOR are more than 8 miles wide. You can see this in areas of poor radar coverage, where controlled airspace is limited to what's required for airways, instrument approaches, and holding patterns. V113 is formed by the 196° radial of Sod House VORTAC out to 87 miles. You can see it begin to spread at a point four miles northeast of ROBUD intersection. At the changeover point, where navigation switches to Mustang VORTAC, the airway is about 13.7 miles wide.

V16 is further south of J22 and closer to where I live. Let's just say these jets were using J22. Would they be flying a good distance to the left of the J22 center line?
Click to expand...

If the assigned route is an airway the goal is to fly on the centerline. With GPS, they'll be right on it. VOR navigation is not as accurate.

Which leads to the question as to how wide are jetways?
Click to expand...

Jet routes are built to the same standards as Victor airways.
 
There's not a "Thanks" button that I am aware of on this site. So, I'd like to offer a big Thank-You to all who have responded in this thread. I've learned much. Thanks again!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top