designated airway names

[RUDAS]

I've always wanted to know this.Who names airways and what significance (if any) do the designated names have?

For example "UG655A" or "UN850".

[niknak]

In the good old days, they were mostly designated by colours and numbers, i.e B1 would Blue 1, above F245 it would be UB1 (Upper Blue 1).

This made it dead easy for atcos and pilots alike, cos all they had to do to follow the route was look at the colour on the map. :p

As the airspace has become more complicated and busier, colours were dropped and the phonetic alphabet replaced them, Blue 1 became Bravo 1.
Then just as we thought it was all sorted, along came another change which saw any semblence of common sense thrown out of the window, in came Yankee, Lima and other daft designators.

I think it's all part of "European Airspace Harmonisation", and as to who organises it all? I haven't a clue, but they really should get out more. :8

[MACC 29 all the time!!!!]

And those few sensible ones that are left are soon to disappear into history as well....... leaving us a long list of everything being UN this and UL that!!!!!

[chiglet]

And I thought that "UL" was "Upper LinK" :ok:
and UN was "Un [k]Nown":rolleyes:
Soddit, I've got 2 years and 23 days to go, :{ [not counting mind] and I still have to learn the beggars:\ :\
we aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

[BALIX]

chiglet

I've given up trying to learn the damn things. I got stuck many years ago on Amber One and Two so I decided what is the point? There is a hamper map on each sector which is (reasoably) up to date that I can refer to as and when required.

Blimey, they will be expecting us to know right from left next :}

[BALIX]

topupper

It's nothing special I'm afraid. It's just a map. Dunno why they are called hamper maps - presumably the bit of the sector 'furniture' upon which they rest is called a hamper.

Anyway, if they are kept up to date, they have all those pesky airway names on them.

[chiglet]

Remember "Bunny Gunsons' tape..........?
"Pilot" Der.. I follow the Red One and the Green One etc
Bring them back Pleeeeaazzzze:mad:
we aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

[RomeoTangoFoxtrotMike]

Chiglet,

Do you have to supply your own kid leather gloves, or are they provided ;)

( Just remembered -- that was the pilot )

[reynoldsno1]

ICAO Annex 11

A,B,G,R for routes which form part of the regional network of ATS routes and are not RNAV routes;
L.M.N,P for RNAV routes which form part of the regional network of ATS routes;
H.J,V,W for routes which do not form part of the regional network of ATS routes and are not RNAV routes;
Q,T,Y,Z for RNAV routes which do not form part of the regional network of ATS routes;
Prefixes - K for low-level helicopter routes; U to indicate theroute is established in upper airspace; S to indicate a route established exclusively for supersonic aircraft
Suffixes - Y for RNP1 routes at or above FL200 to indicate all turns between 30 and 90 degrees shall be made within the allowable RNP toleraqnce of a teangential arc between the straight leg segments defined within a radius of 22.5NM; Z for RNP1 routes at or below FL190 to indicate all turns between 30 and 90 degrees shall be made within the allowable RNP toleraqnce of a teangential arc between the straight leg segments defined within a radius of 15NM; F to indicate that on the route advisory service only is provided; G to indicate that on the route information service only is provided;

There is method in the apparent madness

[EGCC Rwy 24]

I just logged on, feeling all bullish, about to tell everyone that my site (http://www.ReportingPoints.info) now has all the airway changes due on 27 November properly documented; and what happens?

I get faced with ReynoldsNo1 telling me that there is method in the madness of the new names. So, I guess my next technical challenge is to add some explanatory notes to the site so that the ICAO Annex 11 stuff gets displayed for each route - explaining what the route is all about. Just when I was going to have a Sunday off!

Please feel free to have a look (http://www.ReportingPoints.info) though. If you select Recent Changes from the menu on the left and then pick 27 November, you will see a list.

If you get as far as the Overview Map, don't forget you can zoom in and out by "right mouseing" on the map.

Comments and improvements always welcome.

Nick

At the risk of stating the obvious, none of this is for use out there in the real world!!!

[EGCC Rwy 24]

The technology continues to develop!

Not only does my site (http://www.ReportingPoints.info) have loads of 27 November related information, it now also gives the ability to click on any point in the Overview Map.

The map will then redraw, showing all the routes (ok, all the lower routes and some of the uppers, I'm still typing) that pass through the clicked point.

Whilst taboo for navigation (obviously) does give some grapic ideas of what goes where over the UK.

Nick

[bagpuss lives]

Very nice Nick :)

[EGCC Rwy 24]

The maps, such as this one (http://www.reportingpoints.info/MapShell.asp?Type=E&Id=DCS) showing routes passing over Dean Cross, are now somewhat faster to load.

I have managed this by simply removing some of the detail on the map outlines (mainly small islands around the UK coast).

Comments and suggestions welcome.

[Topofthestack]

Many of the airway intersection/reporting points etc names used to reflect close proximity to the geographical place but using 5 letters made the process a bit more difficult.

It would appear these days that the various ATC Operations departments who design the airspace have great delight in trying to get their names, in abbreviated form, onto the airspace map. Keep your ear to the ground for new airspace development and those interested in following this trend should email the appropriate Directorate of Airspace Policy or ATC Centre Ops department and ask to go on the list! :)

[EGCC Rwy 24]

For anyone interested, the maps (http://www.reportingpoints.info/MapShell.asp?Type=Point&Id=TNT&Label=TNT) now load more quickly.

When the screen is first displayed, the full graphic (including the outline map) is drawn. Then, when points are clicked, only the points and routes are redrawn. The rest of the map stays put.

Bingo! After the first load, everything is much faster.

Nick