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How are the direction of Victor airways determined on IFR Enroute Chart?

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Instrument Rating

Regarding ASA IR TEST PREP, the questions 4338 and 4507 on page 4-14 refer to the right/left of Victor airways as options for answers.  To determine either right or left, the direction of the Victor airways must be defined.  In these cases, there are no arrows for the airways.  Could you tell me which VOR facilities are considered to be a starting point to read the airway?

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8 Answers



  1. John D Collins on Jan 14, 2019

    You will have to provide the detail of the questions and any reference charts to be able to give you an answer. Single direction routes are shown in the legend as the airway designation box with a direction arrow at one end indicating the direction.

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  2. coco on Jan 15, 2019

    Thank you, John,

    I’m not sure but in this case is the basis for the airway direction VOR’s radial?

    The qustions are as follows:

    4338. (Refer to Figures65 and 66) What is your position relative to GRICE intersection?
    A – Right of V552 and approaching GRICE intersection.
    B – Right of V552 and past GRICE intersection.
    C – Left of V552 and approaching GRICE intersection.

    (Figures)
    https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/supplements/media/instrument_rating_akts.pdf

    4507. (Refer to Figures 89 and 90) What is your relationship to the airway while en route from BOE VORTAC to HVE VORTAC ON V8?
    A – Left of course on V8
    B – Left of course on V382
    C – Right of course on V8

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  3. John D Collins on Jan 15, 2019

    In the first question, the LH CDI is tuned to 112.0 (TBD) with the OBS set to 116 degrees, the indications are “To” and “Fly left”. With this indication, you are south of the airway and the assumption is that you are navigating “To” TBD along V552 as this is what the CDI is setup to accomplish. The RH CDI is tuned to 108.3 (I-PTN) with the OBS set to 236 degrees and the indications is “Fly Left” with no “To/From” indication. I-PTN is a localizer and the OBS setting is not relevant. It is used to determine the intersection GRICE. The forward direction of the localizer is 238 degrees, or west-south-west with fly left being indicated any time when you are on the north-north-west side of the localizer. So putting this all together, you have not yet reached GRICE intersection and are located to the south of the airway and being south of the airway, puts you to the right of the airway if you are navigating to TBD along the airway, which is what your CDI is set up to do.

    The next question includes the direction of flight as part of the question “en route from BOE VORTAC to HVE VORTAC ON V8”, so your direction is not an issue. I will leave it as an exercise for you to work out. Feel free to include your analysis and I will be happy to check it for you.

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  4. Mark Kolber on Jan 15, 2019

    Just noting: Coco’s question was asking about the direction of a Victor airway, apparently asking how to tell when there is a 1-way airway and which way it goes, pretty unusual, prompting John’s question

    The follow-up to John’s question showed that the question was actually about plain vanilla VOR orientation (being an airway it itself is irrelevant, except to tell you the radial you are on), showing how important it is to understand the question in order to answer it.

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  5. Mark Kolber on Jan 15, 2019

    Coco, back to the way your question was asked just to make sure.

    Do you understand that the “direction” of an airway is the same as the radial information provided just outside the VOR compass rose? IOW, in the first question, the “direction” of V552 in question 4338 is 114 degrees from LFT VOR to GRICE and 296 from TBD to GRICE?

    If not, back up a bit and learn that first.

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  6. coco on Jan 16, 2019

    John and Mark,

    Thank you for your kind reply to my questions. With explanations from both of you, Now I think I understand what you said including the issue of “the direction” of the airway which should be in accordance with the radial information.

    John, if you have time, I would appreciate your check of my answer for the second question:

    Question4507 (regarding Figures 89, I referred to the previous version as follows because there is no V382 in the present version although the answer is the same)
    http://www.goldsealgroundschool.com/Library/FAA-CT-8080-3E-IR.pdf

    The LH CDI is tuned to 112.8 (BCE) with the OBS set to 033 degrees, the indications are “FROM” and “Fly left.” You are SE of the airway. You are navigating from BCE along V382.
    The RT CDI is tuned to 115.9 (HVE) with OBS set to 046 degrees, the indications are “TO” and “Fly right.” So you are NW of the airway, V8, which can be also said that you are Left of course on V8. Therefore the answer should be A (Left of course on V8.)

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  7. John D Collins on Jan 16, 2019

    Coco,

    I agree with your answer choice. The only comment I would offer is that the question defines where you are navigating to along V8. V282 is not shown in the diagram, so it is somewhat misleading and as you point out has been deleted. So this statement is not correct “You are navigating from BCE along V382.” The second answer, B – Left of course on V382, should have been edited to match the current chart in the figure. One can be navigating using either of the VOR indicators, and in this question, that is unambiguous because of the statement “while en route from BOE VORTAC to HVE VORTAC ON V8”.

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  8. coco on Jan 16, 2019

    John,

    I see what you pointed out.
    Anyway, I am glad to understand this kind of questions.
    Thank you so much!

    Coco

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