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Brainteasers
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Jan. 25, 2007

Brainteasers
Interactive Quiz #116:
Along the Airways

Before you can truly appreciate the ease and convenience of the modern sat/nav world, the pilot should master the pre-Columbian world of federal airways. See what you know about these ancient routes between ground-based navaids.

INSTRUCTIONS: Answer the questions as best you can, then click on the "Score my quiz answers" button to see your score and read the explanations. If you don't like your score the first time around, you can change some of your answers and resubmit. To get the most out of this quiz, we suggest you keep trying until you get a perfect score.

NOTE: When more than one answer is true, only the most complete, correct answer will be scored as correct. The answers are assumed to apply within the United States unless otherwise noted.

1. Low-altitude federal airways are called "Victor" Airways and are named for Victor Mature, the first FAA Administrator. They're depicted on IFR low-altitude en route charts with black lines between navaids and intersections (see Quiz #89 for more). A typical IFR clearance might sound like this: "Cessna Niner Three Yankee, cleared to Mount Joy Airport via Victor 93, Lancaster, direct ... " Victor Airways (in the lower 48 states) have altitude limits that normally extend from (_____) to (_____).
a. 1500 feet AGL up to, but not including, 10,000 feet MSL
b. 1200 feet MSL up to, but not including, FL180
c. 1200 feet AGL up to, but not including, 18,000 feet MSL
d. Surface up to, and including, 18,000 feet MSL
2. OK, we lied about Victor Mature in the previous question. Low-altitude airways are called "Victor" because they're designated with the letter "V" and "Victor" is the phonetic word for the letter "V." Here's one to stump your friends who have yet to master two-way radio communications or the Brainteaser quizzes: What is the official, FAA-endorsed, AIM-backed, phonetic pronunciation of "Victor"?
a. VIK-TOR
b. VIK-TUR
c. VIC-AR
d. VIK-TAH
e. VEE
3. Airway courses are magnetic and distance depicted on charts is in nautical miles (NM). Generally, how wide is a federal airway (within 51 NM of the navaid)?
a. 2 NM each side of centerline
b. 4 NM each side of centerline
c. 6 NM each side of centerline
d. 8 NM each side of centerline
4. Imagine you're on an IFR clearance inside controlled airspace, navigating westbound along a freshly paved federal airway ... smooooooth ... The CDI is centered and you're level at 8000 feet MSL. The MEA is 4200 feet. Given the width of a federal airway (refer to the previous question's correct answer), ATC expects you to operate where along the airway?
a. Right of the centerline (left in UK airspace)
b. Left of the centerline (right in UK airspace)
c. One dot CDI deflection right of the centerline (westbound 180-359 degrees)
d. One dot CDI deflection left of the centerline (eastbound 360-179 degrees)
e. Along the centerline
5. Attention Sport Pilots! You haven't been forgotten. Victor airways are routinely used by instrument pilots on IFR flight plans and under no circumstances should be utilized for VFR navigation unless receiving ATC radar service.
a. True
b. False
6. Federal airways exist in the high-altitude, Class A airspace above the upper limits of Victor airways. In this rarified administrative atmosphere where only IFR pilots dare go, the federal airways are designated by what letter?
a. A
b. J
c. V
d. Z
e. Roman Numerals
7. Since you know your airspace rules, you'll also know that the high-altitude federal airways (in the lower 48 states) mentioned in the previous question top out at:
a. FL230 (Flight Level 230, ~23,000 feet)
b. FL450 (~45,000 feet)
c. FL600 (~60,000 feet)
d. No tops
8. Even if you never fly airways because ATC clears you direct everywhere using GPS (Ha!) it's wise to review airway NOTAMS during your briefing. Here's a portion of one we saw on DUATS:

(FEDERAL AIRWAY NAME) POINT 90 DME FROM CARLETON (CRL) VORTAC, MI.

CHANGEOVER POINT 11 DME FROM GRAND RAPIDS (GRR)VOR/DME, MI.

CHANGEOVER POINT 113 DME FROM MILWAUKEE (BAE) VORTAC, WI.,

GRAND RAPIDS (GRR) VOR/DME RESTRICTED TO 11 DME.

A changeover point is the point at which a pilot, operating along a federal airway, is expected to do what? (Choose the best answer.)


a. Change over from one ATC facility to another.
b. Change over from local time to GMT.
c. Change over from the navaid behind to the one ahead.
d. Change over from ground-based navaids to RNAV (GPS).
9. Federal airways sound like the neatest things since airway beacons and should be around for many years to come. Not every pilot, though, likes to fly straight, level and dull along a government pathway. Some of us like to turn upside-down in open-cockpit biplanes for the sheer fun of it. The FAA, however, frowns upon performing aerobatics along a federal airway, and according to FAR 91.303 aerobatic flight must avoid federal airways by what distance?
a. Within 4 nautical miles of the airway's centerline
b. Within 2 nautical miles of the airway's centerline
c. Within 2 nautical miles of the airway's edge
d. Within 8 nautical miles of the airway's centerline
10. Let's say you've just sold your latest YouTube video to United Artists and decide to blow some of that windfall to become one of the millions of new pilots who will purchase a very light jet (VLJ). You'll very lightly jet about IFR in the flight levels where your VLJ gets very good gas mileage. To avoid being labeled a high-altitude roadblock by ATC, you request "VFR On Top" (OTP) at 19,500 feet over central Kansas. OTP is one of the least understood and most underutilized IFR tools in the system. OTP allows you to retain your IFR-ness on your IFR flight plan, but you must operate at in VMC at VFR altitudes. The high-altitude Center controller will respond to your OTP altitude clearance using the following phraseology (assume no traffic conflictions and choose the best answer):
a. "Maintain VFR On-Top at Flight Level 195."
b. "Maintain Flight Level 195."
c. "Maintain VFR On-Top between Flight level 190 and Flight level 200."
d. "Climb and maintain VFR On-Top at 19,500 (one-niner thousand five hundred)."
e. "Unable."