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C172Heavy

Active member
Joined
Nov 26, 2001
Posts
36
I have a question about flying IFR and navaids.

Say you are putting along on a victor airway navigating towards a VOR. You are past the COP for the previous VOR on the airway. You are not in radar coverage. The VOR suddenly goes out of service and you loose your nav signal. So you are basically flying blind. What do you do?

Assume you can't receive a signal from the previous VOR on the airway and you don't have a GPS.

Second question - Is there any guidelines in the FAR/AIM about using a VOR signal past the published service volume? Let's say you are navigating from VOR 1 to VOR 2. The distance between the two VOR's is 85 NM. VOR 2 is out of service. Can you legally navigate using VOR 1 along this airway beyond 40 NM if you are still receiving a good ID from VOR 1?

Thanks and fly safe.
 
C172Heavy said:
I have a question about flying IFR and navaids.

Say you are putting along on a victor airway navigating towards a VOR. You are past the COP for the previous VOR on the airway. You are not in radar coverage. The VOR suddenly goes out of service and you loose your nav signal. So you are basically flying blind. What do you do?

Assume you can't receive a signal from the previous VOR on the airway and you don't have a GPS.

I would continue on the present heading. Assuming you were doing a good job of navigating, you should already have a wind correction angle established. You won't get off course that quickly (unless the wind changes dramatically at the very moment you lose the VOR)
This does happen occasionally, but usually the VOR will come back after a few seconds.

Second question - Is there any guidelines in the FAR/AIM about using a VOR signal past the published service volume? Let's say you are navigating from VOR 1 to VOR 2. The distance between the two VOR's is 85 NM. VOR 2 is out of service. Can you legally navigate using VOR 1 along this airway beyond 40 NM if you are still receiving a good ID from VOR 1?

The VOR "service volumes" are from the AIM. That means that they are recommended but not required. I fly for a 121 airline and we legally file routes over VORs that are hundreds of miles apart and have no GPS or FMS. Up in the flight levels, the VORs usually come in around 150 miles out, so the "service volumes" are really a non-issue.
 
You may not be in radar coverage, but you should still be talking to someone...

Advise center that the navaid has failed and they can start working on that problem and help you.
 
My 2 cents (and I could probably only sell it for $.01)-

The VOR service volumes in the AIM are only for off- airway navigation. Many airways (both victor and Jet routes) routinely excede those limits. The difference is that the FAA has flight tested the routes and found them to be acceptable and can guarantee coverage as longas the equipment is working correctly.
 
"The VOR service volumes in the AIM are only for off- airway navigation. Many airways (both victor and jet routes) routinely excede those limits. The difference is that the FAA has flight tested the routes and found them to be acceptable and can guarantee coverage as long as the equipment is working correctly."

...... and at published MEA.
 

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