PaulaJay1 wrote:
In article , Dave Butler
writes:


I haven't navigated by airways more than probably a dozen times in the past
25 years.

That's interesting. What part of the country do you live in (assuming US),
what
altitudes, what kind of equipment?


I fly out of an area west of CLE with a Garmin 430 and haven't used an airway
in several years. I file direct with a VOR in the middle of the route if one
is on course. I will sometimes get a change as I near CLE from the east.
Sometimes it is to an intersection but most of the time it is vectors. Flight
levels are generally 5 to 9k.

Thanks, so I guess avoidance of airways is fairly common. In about 10 years of
IFR flying in airplanes variously equipped with and without RNAV, I've only had
direct clearances a dozen or so times. I don't seek direct clearances even when
equipped because they seem to save very little distance.

In my view, staying on an airway makes navigation simpler, all my course lines
are already drawn on my charts, I always know where I am relative to a nearby
intersection or navaid. I can locate my position on an IFR chart at a glance.
Minimum altitiudes are spelled out for the airways (yeah, I guess off-course
altitudes are there now, too).

Personal preference I guess. I can see where flying long distances the advantage
might be greater. For most of my flights the time-savings is in the noise level.

Sorry for the thread drift.