Question about TEC routes

[Lorenh]

Here in the midwest we don't encounter TEC routes. My understanding from reading the AIM is that ATC is provided by control towers along the route so as to relieve congestion on ARTCC frequencies. Whenever I fly a TEC route on PilotEdge, I get passed to SoCal Approach on various frequencies as I fly. In the real world, would I be passed from tower to tower along the route, or am I misunderstanding what SoCal is?

Loren

[Keith Smith]

That is an incorrect interpretation of the TEC route system. It's a common misconception that you're handed from tower to tower.

In the real world, it would work the same as here, but with about 3x as many freq changes.

[Keith Smith]

See the last paragraph in this forum post for more detail: viewtopic.php?f=26&t=4788&p=30773#p30773

[HRutila]

Piggy-backing off of Keith's linked post:

Michigan's airspace layout is an example of the old system that used to be in place throughout the country. The entire southern half of the state is covered by approach control airspace to 10,000 feet: Muskegon, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Flint, Detroit, Selfridge, and Kalamazoo. With the exception of Detroit, all of the approach controls are located in towers at their respective airports; they are referred to as up/down facilities, where controllers work both tower (upstairs) and radar (downstairs) positions. The facility is collectively referred to as a tower (ie. Flint Tower).

That said, we never had TEC routes in Michigan. But if you could imagine how this model would have worked in California before SOCAL (or its predecessor Bay Approach) came to be, this is where the idea of a TEC route came about. Keeping aircraft low enough to remain within the tower's approach control airspace to alleviate the center's workload was the name of the game.

As an aside, the FAA is finalizing plans to replace the relic system in Michigan this summer. They're planning to take the approach control functions out of the local towers and moving them to a consolidated TRACON in Kalamazoo.

[Lorenh]

Thanks. That clears it up. It would seem that the FAA needs to find another name without "Tower" in it. Especially when the AIM still has a listing for "Tower to Tower" in it's index that references TEC.

Loren

[Keith Smith]

Loren, I couldn't agree more.