Editing Flight plan (section)

==Route or flight paths==
Routing types used in flight planning are: airway, navaid and direct. A route may be composed of segments of different routing types. For example, a route from [[Chicago]] to Rome may include airway routing over the U.S. and Europe, but direct routing over the Atlantic Ocean.

===Airway or flight path===
{{Main|Flight path}}

Airway routing occurs along pre-defined pathways called [[flight path]]s. Airways can be thought of as three-dimensional highways for aircraft. In most land areas of the world, aircraft are required to fly airways between the departure and destination airports{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}. The rules governing airway routing cover altitude, airspeed, and requirements for entering and leaving the airway (see [[#SIDs and STARs|SIDs and STARs]]). Most airways are eight nautical miles (14 kilometers) wide, and the airway flight levels keep aircraft separated by at least 1000 vertical feet from aircraft on the flight level above and below. Airways usually intersect at Navaids, which designate the allowed points for changing from one airway to another. Airways have names consisting of one or more letters followed by one or more digits (e.g., V484 or UA419){{citation needed|date=April 2019}}.

The airway structure is divided into high and low altitudes. The low altitude airways in the U.S. which can be navigated using [[VHF omnidirectional range|VOR]] Navaids have names that start with the letter V, and are therefore called Victor Airways. They cover altitudes from approximately 1200 feet above ground level (AGL) to {{convert|17,999|ft|m|0}} above mean sea level (MSL). T routes are low altitude RNAV only routes which may or may not utilize VOR NAVAIDS.  The high altitude airways in the U.S. have names that start with the letter J and are called Jet Routes, or Q for Q routes.  Q routes in the U.S. are RNAV only high altitude airways, whereas J routes use VOR NAVAID's the same way V routes do. J & Q routes run from {{convert|18,000|ft|m|0}} to {{convert|45,000|ft|m|0}}. The altitude separating the low and high airway structures varies from country to country. For example, it is {{convert|19,500|ft|m|0}} in Switzerland, and {{convert|25,500|ft|m|0}} in Egypt.

===Navaid===

Navaid routing occurs between Navaids (short for Navigational Aids, see [[VHF omnidirectional range|VOR]]) which are not always connected by airways. Navaid routing is typically only allowed in the continental U.S. If a flight plan specifies Navaid routing between two Navaids which are connected via an airway, the rules for that particular airway must be followed as if the aircraft was flying Airway routing between those two Navaids. Allowable altitudes are covered in Flight Levels.

===Direct===

Direct routing occurs when one or both of the route segment endpoints are at a latitude/longitude which is not located at a Navaid. Some flight planning organizations specify that checkpoints generated for a Direct route be a limited distance apart, or limited by time to fly between the checkpoints (i.e. direct checkpoints could be farther apart for a fast aircraft than for a slow one).