Direct TO On Course

[Old Smokey]

On a recent flight through Canadian airspace, we overheard a number of aircraft cleared "Direct to XXX On Course". We eventually received such a clearance ourselves (A veeery long one!).

The "On Course" suffix to the clearance is a bit of an odd one, I haven't heard it anywhere else, including the adjacent United States.

If the clearance was, for example "Track Direct to XXX On Course 345", I would take that as meaning intercept a Course of 345 to XXX.

Is the "On Course" simply a "leftover" from earlier times, or does it have an additional meaning to the more normal "Direct TO"?

Any Canucks out there?

Regards,

Old Smokey

[linedriva]

Had the same out of Houston the other night. We just took it to mean the same as 'direct to', which is what we did. We were not questioned about the tracking either, so it must have been ok.

[DBate]

Usually ATC wants you to fly direct to xxx, and then from that point to continue with your flight plan routing, hence the wording 'on course'.

Regards,
DBate

[eckhard]

Yes, that's my understanding too: In Canada, 'direct XXX, on course', means 'fly from present position to XXX, then resume flight-planned course'. The equivalent, less ambiguous phrase in the USA is, 'direct XXX, rest of the route unchanged'.

Beware some ATC units in South America, where 'cleared direct to XXX' means 'cleared via the flight-planned route to XXX'. Always worth reading back as, 'Roger, cleared to XXX via the flight-planned airways routing'.

That certainly was the case some years back; things may have changed now.

Hope this helps,

Eck

[Old Smokey]

Thank you respondants, it makes sense, and does remove any ambiguity about further flight after the "Direct TO".:ok:

A mini question, but had me puzzled.

Regards,

Old Smokey

[galaxy flyer]

OS

When you are puzzled, we should be truly humbled.

GF

[172_driver]

Made a "fool" of myself in Ontario the other day when I got a "after departure turn left on course" to my destination. Being raised with aviation in Europe I had never heard it before .. Couldn't figure out how to turn left on course, which I interpreted as "present heading".

A long conversation followed where I tried in plain English to describe my difficulties understanding what she meant. Eventually: *sigh*... turn left on course direct to Riverside .... crystal :ok:

[Tmbstory]

In the past we used to go from Vancouver to Anchorage and on many occasions when contacting 'Departures' after take off, would be cleared 'Direct to Anchorage' and have a good flight.

It usually made for a nice day.

Tmb

[HiFli]

Eckhard, your comment about South American "direct to" clearances is on the numbers. Only last week I briefed some of our newer crew members to be careful of that pitfall. They do expect yuo to remain on the airway.

[bfisk]

I guess a clearance "direct to xxx", no suffix, would give you a clearance limit of xxx, instead of whatever you used to have (your destination i.e.). I did my flight training in the US, and I'm used to "direct xxx, on course" or "direct xxx, flight planned route".