Cutting Corners

Editorial Staff

Friday, August 01, 2014 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Getting a shortcut through Special Use Airspace (SUA) or complex ATC environments depends on factors like SUA activation status, time of day, traffic levels, and controller discretion, with altitude changes sometimes enabling a more direct route.
Successful shortcut requests require pilots to consider airspace complexity, file sufficient fixes for multi-center routes, and interact courteously, understanding that highly structured or busy airspace (e.g., Northeast US) rarely allows direct routing.
Pilots may have valid reasons to decline an offered shortcut, such as flight training requirements or equipment limitations, and can communicate these specific routing needs through flight plan remarks.

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It’s Food Network’s fault. You and your buddies from Jacksonville have a hankering for some Cajun food from New Orleans. Hundred dollar gumbo, here you come.

Your Saturday morning flight from Florida’s Atlantic coast to Louisiana traverses two hundred miles of military Special Use Airspace from Tallahassee to Mobile. You file a route inland—KJAX..SZW..MAI..CEW..SJI..KNEW—that takes you north of all that SUA via Victor 198.