Images of airspace in flight planning with various circles

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Hello,

So I am not sure if this question will make sense at all, because I don’t know really how to describe it very clearly. In the IF manuals, under the Pilot User Interface, in the sub-category (or topic) of flight planning, there is an image of a tablet or iPad that is displayed to show what the layout of flight planning will look like. My question, is about the image that includes various circles - some large (they look like soap bubbles…at least thats how I would describe them at the moment) and some that are more just small round discs. What do they mean in terms of the greater context of aviation? Is there a way to understand their importance in simple terms? I couldn’t find anything directly in the manuals that talked about it, and I didn’t know how to express the terminology to read up on it.

Thank you for the assistance, as I continue to read and try to figure all this stuff out.

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Hello,

What you are seeing are outlines for different airspaces and VORs along the route of flight.

Airspaces can have several different colors, which represent different types of airspace. In IF, most types of airspaces are ignored/not used. The most important airspaces to know are the red circles, which means there is a TFR or NOTAM at the airport. Clicking inside the red circle will allow you to read the information (make sure to follow it). Additionally, if there is an approach controller active, you can contact them when you descend below 18,000ft. Other than that, you don’t need to know much more about airspaces. If you are interested in learning about them for fun, you can read official publications from the FAA which go into great detail.

The other circles you would’ve seen would be the gray ones, which surround VORs. VORs are ground based navigation aids which are used for en route navigation and approaches. There is a section in the user guide dedicated to VOR approaches and how to fly them. It is good to know what they are, but VOR approaches are rarely used in real life these days.

Hope this helps!

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Its a much better starting point than ‘soap bubbles’ for sure. :flushed_face: :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: Thank you for the explanation. This gives me a direction of travel for more understanding. (Oh and thanks for the additional alphabet soup. :rofl: I can always use more letters in the “scrabble” of aviation).

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It’s all about how many acronyms you can memorize!

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(Gets out his 3x5 cards as cheat sheets…just like in school).

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