Military airways

[uncertifiedpilot]

Hi aviators,

South of the Mountain Valley airport (L94) several IR and VR airways seem embedded in a grey-colored (military?) airspace. Does that mean I can expect those airways to be bound to the floor/ceiling of that grey airspace?

Thanks,
Tim

[ridikamus]

Routes starting with IR or VR are military training routes which are depicted as grey lines on VFR sectionals or gold lines on IFR charts. As the name indicates, they are used by military flights for training, so you do not ever want to follow one of these routes. If you are near one, you should keep your eye out for extremely fast moving objects. Routes starting with IR are instrument routes, and VR are visual routes. The 4 digit numbers are all below 1500 AGL, 3 digit numbers include segments above 1500 AGL. Full info in AIM 3-5-2, and Keith definitely devoted some time to MTRs in one of the free (and excellent) VFR workshops linked in the training section of the PilotEdge website.

[uncertifiedpilot]

Thanks David. Did not really answer my question though. I'm aware of the 3- and 4-digit altitudes associated with the IR and VR airways. However, especially because of those, I get confused by the grey airspace that the IR and VR airways are embedded in ... Are those particular IR/VR airways confided to the floor/ceiling altitudes of that grey airspace or not, irrespective of their digit count?

[ridikamus]

My fault, I misinterpreted your question. What you're looking at is probably the symbology for Special Military Activity Routes (SMAR). As with most features on VFR charts, information related to them is depicted nearby in the same color - in this case, southwest of the airport you can find an example: a black box indicating what authority to contact for information about the area, and altitude boundaries in black text either pointing (with a black dotted arrow) into the corridor or contained within the corridor.

I'm no expert here, but my understanding is that you can freely navigate through the area but it's highly advisable to talk to the controlling authority and to keep your eyes extra peeled for military traffic.

[uncertifiedpilot]

... I give up :p Never mind

[Peter Grey]

Hello,

While the number rule stated above is true it really doesn't help when trying to answer the question of what altitude a MTR is at.

The comments above about SMAR are also correct but once again doesn't directly answer the question.

To determine the exact route dimensions and altitudes of a MTR you have to look at DOD document FLIP AP/1B which is available at https://www.cnatra.navy.mil/tw4/vt27/docs/ap1b.pdf

Based on that I can tell you that the gray altitudes do match the MTR altitudes.

[uncertifiedpilot]

Thanks, Peter!