How are flight paths determined?

Question

Say between city A and city B, is the flight plan pre-determined and the pilot simply follows the map going up or down and turning left or right? Or, is it that at every point during the course after takeoff the pilot is guided by the ATCs about the altitude and direction: left, right, up & down to take to reach the destination?

Answer 1

This actually a more complicated question than it seems. Many factors affect the normal routes; ie, weather, other traffic, etc. Most commercial flights are pretty much the same route, though they can be vectored around weather, temporary restricted flight zones etc. Flights at lower levels (18,000 msl & below) are much more susecptable to changes and are more likely to be vectored to different headings/altitudes by ATC. We could go on and on about how flight plans are affected and/or changed, but this is pretty much it in a nutshell. Hope this answer helps.

Answer 2

All of the above. The most basic is VFR... Visual flight rules. Like taking a bout out on a lake and just motoring around, although you can still plot a direct course if ya like. Then there is both low altitude IFR...Instrument Flight Rules and High altitude IFR, known as Victor Airways (not vector). These are literally straight line plots from city to city or to navigation aids and checkpoints and are flown by these rules regardless of weather and are under constant ATC. High alt is determined by flying above 18000 feet. Altittude separations are in even or odds depending on direction of travel.

Answer 3

If the pilot is not flying in controlled airspace and going VFR (which means he has a 18k ft ceilling), then there are no set flight paths. Many pilots who fly VFR use roads and other visible landmarks to navigate.

IFR, however, is a different ballgame. Under IFR rules, pilots follow predefined airways (which are published in charts known as "Sectionals"), which are lines whose startpoints and endpoints center around a radio navigational aid known as a VOR. Also, there are two types of airways, one is low-altitude, the other, high altitude. Low altitude airways are connected by low power VORs (typically have a range of 50-60 nautical miles), while high altitudes are connected by (you guessed it) high power VORs (range: 120-220 NM). If a pilot files an IFR plan (which he/she must do if flying above 18,000 ft or is carrying passengers), then he specifies to clearance these waypoints he plans on flying. During the departure and arrival phases, pilots going into controlled airspace will usually stop following their flight plan and begin taking radar vectors from the ground controller (who will bark out headings to follow which will either start the flight onto the preset flight plan or guide it into final approach at the destination). Usually these departure and arrival controllers will also use pre-determined flight paths known as STARs and SIDs (Standard Arrival and Standard Instrument Departure) which have their own waypoints (five character IDs), sometimes centered around a VOR, sometimes a landmark (there is one around St. Louis that centers around a chicken restaraunt and is shown on maps as (CHIKN).

Answer 4

flight plan is submitted by the operator or pilot and approved by area control adding the altitude he has to stick to depending on the type of aircraft and navigational aids he has on board.so that he / the plane reaches safely. here it is : pilot reports to the ATC with his need to go to say Delhi from chennaim
if he has long range navigation he will be allowed to fly direct with communicating to stations enroute at a certain height[altitude].if it is a smaller aircraft with short range navigation he has to go point to point reporting over head each air filed on the way. the ground radars keep tracking whether the aircraft is following the correct height and course. there are a lot of navigational aids in the aircraft as well as on ground for the safety of the flight.
if you need more details you can mail me at [e-mail]

Answer 5

Pilot proposes IFR plan and ATC approves that plan. From then on there are no changes to altitude, dircetion or speed without permission of ATC.

Answer 6

Aviation charts indicate where signal beacons are positioned. This helps ATC get you from A to B without any unexpected stops.You submit your origination point and your destination,they guide you through the rest.

Answer 7

There are designated Jet Routes. If you file an IFR Flight Plan, then you state how you wish to go from A to B. There are many other options out there, but the commercial jets pretty much fly the same route each time.

Answer 8

actually it is not the pilot but the person at the ATC(air traffic control)
that manages all the chores.........
this person has all air routes displayed in front of him on the PC...
in the form of roads.............
the aircraft is under the control of the take-off airport ATC for half of the journey...and rest under the survilience of the destination ATC...
ATCs have a major role to play in the aircraft control.........

Answer 9

With a few notable exceptions (i.e. deviations for weather, turbulence, and traffic) most routes are pre-determined by dispatchers prior to departing. These proposed routes are put down as a flight proposal and either accepted or altered by an Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC). This "clearance" is then passed on to the pilots.

Typically, the routes go from radio nav stations (known as VORs) to other VORs. The straight lines between them are known as "Victor Airways" or above 18,000 feet, they are known as "Jet Routes." At points along the way there are intersections (Kind of like exits on a freeway). These intersections are defined by the crossing of two jet routes or sometimes simply by a distance from the previous VOR. These intersections are given 5 letter names that may or may not make any sense.

So a typical route might consist of a flight along J.518 from ABC VOR to XYZ VOR to GRASH intersection that crosses any number of points in between. It is up to the pilots of the airplane to determine that they are on the right course. This is sort of like taking I-94 from Chicago to Minneapolis. There are plenty of points in between and lots of turns, but the road goes from Chicago to Minneapolis. It continues off in both directions, but you are only navigating on the part that goes between your origin and destination.

There is a "point-to-point" Navigation system that is known as RNAV (short for Area Navigation) that allows pilots to navigate directly to any VOR or 5 letter intersection in the world using GPS or other nav systems, but it tends to be more complicated than most people realize to implement.

The advantage of Jet routes is that every plane is on the same highway going the same direction. If free flight were allowed at all altitudes, aircraft would be crossing the skies ***** nilly and there would be constant traffic conflights. Think of that would happen if the entire country was paved and people didnt have to drive on roads any more, they simply went straight at their destinations. Cars would collide constantly. The same thing would happen if airplanes wsere allowed to do the same thing. Currently, there are many proposals to integrate computer tracking systems into the system to monitor aircraft for potential traffic conflicts and assign speed or routing changes as necessary to avoid them, but that is years away from implementation.

As to ATC giudance, aircraft are frequently assigned headings to fly. these "Radar Vectors" allow pilots and controllers to expedite routing when there are no traffic conflicts, or to avoid traffic conflicts if they do happen. The important thing to know is, that at no time does either the pilot (on an airliner anyway) or the controller have absolute control. They both share responsibility for navigational guidance. If the pilot is assigned a heading that takes him/her toward a potential traffic conflict he/she must not accept the vector. At the samr time, if a pilot requests a heading or direct nav to an intersection or VOR and it creates a potential traffic conflict, the air traffic controller must not grant it.

Answer 10

ya i agree with all of the people above me!!