VFR Corridors

Many Class B or C airport have special VFR routes charted to help us get around or through them. Sometimes, IFR is easier.

Jim Wolper

Sunday, May 26, 2024 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By: Omar Filipovic

The transition routes for the Portland International Airport (KPDX) are shown within the black-bordered rectangles in this chart excerpt. All three of them—Timbers, Blazers and Thorns, from left to right—provide an organized way to get from the top portion of the chart to the bottom, and vice versa, but do nothing for an east/west transition. Also, the Portland-Hillsboro Airport, at the south end of the Timbers Transition, has its own Class D and an entry in the Chart Supplement’s special notices section for “intensive flight training.” And if you’re planning to use the Pearson Field Airport (KVUO) across the river in Vancouver, Wash., it has its own special flight rules area, thanks to its proximity to KPDX.

Key Takeaways:

VFR flight through or around busy Class B/C airspace can be challenging and stressful due to high traffic and complex navigation requirements.
To enhance safety and ease, many Class B and C airports offer charted VFR transitions and flyways, providing organized routes and facilitating communication with ATC.
Pilots should utilize current charts for these transitions during preflight planning, but filing IFR can sometimes be a simpler alternative for particularly complex VFR routes.
Special Flight Rules Areas, such as the Washington D.C. SFRA, have unique and stringent rules requiring specific training and precise adherence to charted procedures.

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It seemed like an easy flight, ferrying a King Air B200 from Mesa, Ariz. (KIWA), to Scottsdale (KSDL), two airports near Phoenix (KPHX). It was a beautiful VFR day. I’ll fly VFR! With a little work I picked a route that went outside of, and then under, the Phoenix Class B airspace. There were some Class D areas to avoid, too. I programmed some waypoints, double-checked the altitudes, and, in the only good decision of the morning, decided to fly at a much slower airspeed than the airplane’s capabilities and the regulations allowed.

There were airplanes almost everywhere. The places with no airplanes were filled with helicopters, balloons and mountains. I did not have enough eyes. I needed to look outside for traffic. I needed to look at charts inside to make sure I avoided the airspace. I needed to look into my soul to try to understand how I could have made such a poor decision: I should have filed IFR.