Are sectional paths correct across "long" distances?

"Peter Duniho" writes:

Either a straight line between your
origin and destination will keep you out of restricted airspace, or it
won't.

Yes. (If we're calling the Great Circle path a "straight line.)
That's why I want it to be exact.

I don't know if this would realistically affect me or not. I've never
planned long trips without GC paths. I don't want to deal with the
inconsistency though.

It's something that matters to me. Am I going to have to think about
where I'm going around some airspace/mountain/...? Do I have to explain
my plans to Center?

That still doesn't explain why you are worried about the difference between
great-circle and a sectional straight line. You never have to explain your
planning to Center,

And yet I've been asked on more than one occasion. Is this one of those
Wubba-logic things where "never" means "5% of the time" and I'm just
supposed to forget my experiences, or by "never have to" are you just
meaning that you can not divulge the information and remain in compliance
with FAA regs (even though they'll probably drop you and call you names)?

--kyler

"Kyler Laird" wrote in message
...
[...]
And yet I've been asked on more than one occasion. Is this one of those
Wubba-logic things where "never" means "5% of the time" and I'm just
supposed to forget my experiences, or by "never have to" are you just
meaning that you can not divulge the information and remain in compliance
with FAA regs (even though they'll probably drop you and call you names)?

There is absolutely no basis for Center ever asking you to justify your
choice in flight planning. Their job is to control airspace -- to keep you
from hitting other airplanes.

I have never had any controller ask me to justify my route of flight. I
won't go so far as to say you never have either, but it boggles my mind that
you would have, and that you'd think there's any reason you'd be required
to.

But frankly, that's just a red herring anyway. There's no way in hell that
any controller would want to know why you flew a sectional straight line
instead of a great-circle route or vice a versa. The difference is just
noise to them.

If it makes you feel better, feel free to detail the instances in which ATC
has asked you to justify your route. It's such a bizarre concept, I'm sure
we'd all learn something new from that. But it still has nothing to do with
this thread.

Pete

Peter, you saved me the effort of replying further; your replies
stated essentially what I would have said.

One comment: The reason I asked for the greatest distance between a
GC line and a straight line was that it looked to me, on Kyler's
chart, as though it was never more than a few miles. That would
indirectly indicate the difference between the distance to destination
of the two routes could not be more than a few miles.

I can't remember ever planning a flight of more than a couple hundred
miles that did not involve dodging around one or more restricted areas
or MOAs, so the question about the difference between a straight line
and a GC over a long distance is only of academic interest.

vince norris

"Peter Duniho" writes:

There is absolutely no basis for Center ever asking you to justify your
choice in flight planning.

My use of "explain" was apparently ambiguous. I've not been asked to
justify my route (that I recall), but I have been asked to elaborate on how
I'm going to deal with airspace barriers. I got the feeling that they
wanted more than "I'm going to avoid them."

But frankly, that's just a red herring anyway. There's no way in hell that
any controller would want to know why you flew a sectional straight line
instead of a great-circle route or vice a versa. The difference is just
noise to them.

Again, that's off the subject. I don't know that I'm capable of providing
further clarification on my preference to have all of my maps (and paths)
be aligned.

That's my own laziness though. I'm perfectly happy justifying the use of
Great Circle paths for the tools I build solely because it's The Right
Thing to do.

--kyler

"Kyler Laird" wrote in message
...
"Peter Duniho" writes:

There is absolutely no basis for Center ever asking you to justify your
choice in flight planning.

My use of "explain" was apparently ambiguous. I've not been asked to
justify my route (that I recall), but I have been asked to elaborate on
how
I'm going to deal with airspace barriers. I got the feeling that they
wanted more than "I'm going to avoid them."

But frankly, that's just a red herring anyway. There's no way in hell
that
any controller would want to know why you flew a sectional straight line
instead of a great-circle route or vice a versa. The difference is just
noise to them.

Again, that's off the subject. I don't know that I'm capable of providing
further clarification on my preference to have all of my maps (and paths)
be aligned.

That's my own laziness though. I'm perfectly happy justifying the use of
Great Circle paths for the tools I build solely because it's The Right
Thing to do.

--kyler

When flying VFR, I've been asking about my planned route of flight before.
The controller is just doing his/her job and wants to get the heads up.

"F1" wrote in message
...
When flying VFR, I've been asking about my planned route of flight before.
The controller is just doing his/her job and wants to get the heads up.

Did the controller ask you to explain why you chose one route versus
another? I doubt they did. That is the issue here, not a controller's
general interest in which way you're going.

In article ,
"Peter Duniho" wrote:

"F1" wrote in message
...
When flying VFR, I've been asking about my planned route of flight before.
The controller is just doing his/her job and wants to get the heads up.

Did the controller ask you to explain why you chose one route versus
another? I doubt they did. That is the issue here, not a controller's
general interest in which way you're going.



I've had controllers ask me "how I'm navigating" while VFR. But I
believe the intent of the question has generally been, "Can you give me
a heads-up where you're heading so I can anticipate your flight path
better?" Sometimes I think it's been, "Based on where you said you were
going, I'm wondering if you're lost; do you need some help?"

In all cases, if I've come back with something like, "We're going to be
maneuvering in the area of X for a while", or "We're going to be
following X, Y, and Z", (no matter how absurd or circuitous that path
might have been), that's seem to satisfy the controller.

"Roy Smith" wrote in message
...
[...]
In all cases, if I've come back with something like, "We're going to be
maneuvering in the area of X for a while", or "We're going to be
following X, Y, and Z", (no matter how absurd or circuitous that path
might have been), that's seem to satisfy the controller.

Exactly. That was my point. The controller doesn't care, and has no reason
to care, why you pick a particular route. They just want to know what the
route is (and much of time, they aren't too terribly concerned about that
either, if you're VFR).

Pete