RNAV Airways - Due to recent workgroups designing Q and T routes,
discussions have come up about the width of these routes and the lateral protected
airspace criteria for RNAV En Route Segments. Under the current guidance contained
within FAA 7400.2K, paragraph 20-5-3, the basic width of an RNAV route is 8 NM (4 NM
on each side of the route centerline). We are working with the FAA to determine why the
criteria is written this way when aircraft using these routes must be operating under
RNAV 2 criteria. Under AC-100A, RNAV 2 requires a total system error of not more than
2 NM for 95 percent of the total flight time and the aircraft must correct to centerline as
soon as they start to drift, so protecting 4 NM either side of the route doesn't make
sense. We hope to have a resolution on this soon.
VOR MINIMUM OPERATING NETWORK (MON): John Vogelsang (P31) is the Article
48 Representative on the VOR MON project. His update is below:
The VOR MON program cleared a big hurdle this week when the Final Policy
Statement was published in the Federal Register. This is the official notice to the public
about the program and will allow them to make comments. So far in just a week the
notice has received quite a few public comments. As expected a lot of folks think the
program is a good idea they just don't want "their" VOR to go away. We also expect to
receive quite a few Congressional Inquiries based on these comments as time goes on.
Here is the link to the notice;
https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2016/07/26/2016-17579/provision-of-navigation-
services-for-the-next-generation-air-transportation-system-nextgen
In July the following VORs were discontinued:
BUA
PNN
EDS
The next three will be completed on the next charting date, which is 9/15/16:
POB
AOH
BTL
SYO and RIS have had their discontinuance dates pushed back due to several
issues and will have new dates sometime in the future.
