AOPA Flight Training - How It All Works: Airways = Roadways

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Airways = Roadways

Airways often are referred to as "highways in the sky" for a reason. That's because our network of airways and jetways is very much like the national highway system, and both serve the needs of all Americans.

Like streets, most airways and jetways are bidirectional, but some are one way. Most pilots flying in instrument conditions without visual reference to the ground follow airway or jetway routes. Even pilots flying with visual reference to the ground use them.

Low Altitude Airways

Airways serve primarily smaller piston-engine, propeller-driven airplanes on shorter routes and at lower altitudes.

Airways start at 1,200 feet above ground level (agl) and extend upward to an altitude of 18,000 feet mean sea level (msl). Airways are 8 nautical miles wide.

Airways are called "Victor" airways, because they run primarily between VORs (see the Navigation & Communication page), and the phonetic alphabet's term for "V" is Victor. Airways have names like V222 or V37.

High Altitude Jetways

Jetways are actually called jet routes, and serve primarily airliners, jets, turboprops, and turbocharged piston aircraft operating over longer distances above altitudes of 18,000 feet.

Jet routes start at 18,000 feet mean sea level (msl) and extend upward to an altitude of 45,000 feet msl (altitudes above 18,000 feet are called "flight levels" and are described as FL450 for 45,000 feet msl). Jet routes have names like J42 or J121.

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