Cutting Corners

Editorial Staff

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

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The ability to get shortcuts through Special Use Airspace (SUA) depends on its real-time activation status, which can be dynamic, or on the pilot's willingness to adjust altitude to bypass restricted segments.
Air Traffic Control's (ATC) flexibility in offering shortcuts is significantly affected by overall traffic density and facility procedures, with highly congested airspace areas rarely permitting route deviations.
Pilots seeking shortcuts should consider route complexity across multiple ATC centers, communicate politely, and be patient; equally, pilots have the right to decline offered shortcuts if they conflict with flight objectives, using flight plan remarks to specify training or navigation requirements.

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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.