Which VOR to Track on the L975 to Goles?

[duir]

During I/R Training at Leeds an interesting question occurred. On a test route to either Doncaster or Humberside, via Denby and Goles-Airway L975, which Navaid should be used- WAL or OTR? WAL is on the airway but becomes a long way away after a while. OTR becomes closer but the Airway no longer goes there.

???
:confused:

[FlyingForFun]

Surely the correct person to ask would be your IR instructor?

For what it's worth, when I asked my IR instructors exactly that question, they said no problem to use OTR, even though it is no longer on the airway. You are too far away from WAL to be able to use it reliably by the time you get to GOLES. I didn't get that route on my test, so I don't know if the examiners agree, but I'm sure my school wouldn't be teaching something which examiners didn't like.

A more interesting question would be this: how would an instrument-rated pilot who was not familiar with the area or the history of that particular airway know that he can track to OTR? Is it sufficient to place a ruler on a chart and say "Yep, looks like that airway tracks towards OTR".....

FFF
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[moggiee]

If the centreline of L975 is aligned with OTR then it is perfectly reasonable to track inbound to OTR, even if the airway does not go all the way there. There are plenty of examples of where an airway does not go all the way to the beacon and where the beacon in front is the one to use.

Generally, I would advise tracking to a VOR in front of you rather than away from one behind you - then the beacon is becoming more acurate all the time. This is expecially true if the beacon in front is nearer.

As for "how would you know what to do if you were not familiar with the area" I would be very disappointed in any instrument rated pilot who could not work this out from looking at the chart.

[Northern Highflyer]

If you are doing the SID out of LBA, say the POL1W, you will track from POL towards TNT. At this point I would have WAL set up for the intercept outbound towards GOLES. Once on track you can set OTR up on the other box and use them both. Once you get to around WAL 50d, IIRC, put them both, along with the DME onto OTR. Track until you are the correct distance from the VOR for GOLES (about 17 I think).

You will find that, certainly with HUY, you will be given a direct to KIM before you reach GOLES anyway.