In article ,
Andrew Sarangan wrote:

Roy Smith wrote in
:

Andrew Sarangan wrote:
Why not use a VOR receiver for airway navigation? Using a GPS for
airway navigation kind of seems backwards.

There are lots of reasons to use GPS to fly airways instead of VORs.

1) GPS is more accurate.

2) GPS's cross-track error display on the CDI is easier to interpret
than a VOR's angular displacement, especially near the navaid.

3) GPS gives you distance from every fix, not just navaids with
co-located DME. And it's horizontal distance, not slant distance.

4) With GPS, you don't have to worry about navaid service volumes and
poor reception at low altitudes.



All of the above are good reasons, but what I meant was, why would you
want to fly airways with a GPS when you can go direct?

Ah. I see; a good answer to the wrong question :-)

OK, a couple more (hopefully good) answsers:

1) Because that's what your clearance is.

2) Because it guarantees terrain clearance.

3) Where there's lots of SUA, airways are often designed to avoid the
SUA's.

4) Because they're printed on sectionals, so it helps with situational
awareness.

All that being said, if the route was my own choice and I had GPS, I'd
probably just punch in "direct destination" and off I go :-)