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08-06-2010, 10:33 AM

FliFast

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Ops Spec Question

Anyone know what RNAV 2 Q Routes (domestic) are and where to get info on them.

Also, A012 in our Ops Specs allows us to treat certain foreign airports as domestic airports for flight planning.

Why wouldn't Anchorage and Hawaii be included in that provision.

TIA,
FF

08-06-2010, 01:18 PM

MX727

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More conservative with Anchorage and Hawaii because you don't have as many options for diverts and marginal weather patterns at destination would tend to affect your alternates also.

08-06-2010, 02:33 PM

CactusCrew

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Quote:

Originally Posted by FliFast

Q-route Evolution – The first group of Q-routes was developed along the west coast from Seattle southbound to San Francisco and the Los Angeles basin and in Minneapolis Center to connect with the Canadian RNAV routes within Toronto Center’s high-activity, east-west corridor. A major focus of the next group of Q-routes was on minimizing the impact of Special Use Airspace and ATC areas. As a result, Q-routes were established in the Southwest and along the Southern United States (U.S.) border. Routes also were published for high-activity flows within Texas, Florida, and Tennessee. Currently, 43 Q-routes exist in the contiguous U.S., and another route between Seattle and Phoenix is scheduled to be published later this year. An additional eight Q-routes have been established in Alaska under the Capstone Program.

The Benefits of Q-routes – Today, more than 85 percent of the U.S. air carrier fleet is RNAV-capable, and the percentage of aircraft operating in the turbojet cruise environment that can fly Q-routes is even higher. Q-routes provide more direct routing compared to conventional routes and allow creation of parallel routes where a single route existed before. Direct routes improve airspace capacity and relieve congestion while reducing direct operating expenses, such as fuel costs, to the aircraft operator.

I used Q-routes at brand X, wasn't much to it. There was a notation on the flight plan, we were discouraged fom accepting directs if filed on a Q-route. The primary benefit was on east-west routes.

The routes consist of those odd coded waypoints (KP66C). These waypoints are a grid pattern every 30 minutes of lat and 2 degrees of long.

As for the AK/HI "domestic" rules ... problem with both of them is lack of alternatives within reasonable distances. Even ANC can be considered an "island" destination, considering the lack of alternates when serious weather affects the area, everyplace in the area goes down.