TEC Routings

NOTAM: The links to the TEC routing images are unavailable.  

Download  the Text document prepared by Mark Coldwell describing EVERY TEC routing out of ONT TRACON airspace. (RTF file format)

Southern California is littered with many airports.  TEC routings are used for a standardization of traffic between these small and large fields.  If your out for a good flight, feel free to pick one of many routes to our beautiful Socal Fields. 

From CCB, CNO, EMT, HMT, L12, L65, AJO, L67, RAL, RIR, RIV, SBD, F70, ONT and POC

All images are courtesy Gordon Ross.  The following explanation on how to fly and file these TEC routings is provided below, also done by Gordon Ross.  

HOW TO READ AND FLY A TEC. ROUTE:

 Assume that you want to fly from Burbank Airport to San Diego Lindbergh. You would use the link on the left to select the Burbank Area, which contains all routes from the Burbank, Van Nuys and Whiteman airports.

Next look up the row that contains your destination airport, SAN. If you're very careful, you'll notice that there are actually FOUR routes that go from BUR to SAN. The routes named BURL8 (pronounced "Burbank Lima Eight") and BURL9 go to SAN, but so do the BURL13 and BURL14. Notice that BURL13 and 14 have notes that say, "SANE". This means that these routes are only used when SAN is landing to the east (which is rare), and in normal cases you would use the 8 or 9 routing.

To determine which of these two routes you should fly, you need to look at the column on the right labeled "altitude". The FAA divides aircraft into many letter-categories, but for the purposes of TEC routes, you can think of only 4.

P-type aircraft are slower props.
Q-type aircraft are faster non-turbojet props.
M-type aircraft are turboprops such as King Airs, Brasilia's, etc.
J-type aircraft are all jets.

So in the case of the BUR-SAN route, if you were flying a C172, you would use the BURL8 route and file for 5,000 feet because the altitude box says PQ5000.

When you file your flight plan, you would enter the route as follows: BUR BURL8 SAN.

The Tower Enroute Control (TEC) route which corresponds to the BURL8 is "V186 V363 V23 MZB". ATC will normally also assign you departure instructions to get to your first enroute fix or airway - in thise case V186. So at Burbank, the standard ATC clearance would be, "Cessna 453, cleared to the SAN airport via the ELMOO5 departure, Burbank Lima Eight Routing, Maintain 5,000, sqk 4211". This means that the ELMOO5 departure route will take you from the runway at Burbank to V186, at which point your route will be V186, V363, V23 MZB". Of course, at the end of your TEC route, the last fix, in this case MZB, would always correspond to an IAF on an approach chart at your destination airport, so after MZB, you should be able to then fly one of the published approaches directly to the runway at SAN.

Notice that the bulk of this route involves flying along airways, and that intersections are not mentioned. Many, if not most TEC routes cannot be flown using an FMS, and instead require you to use VOR navigation to get from point to point. For example, the standard route from SAN to LAX for jets is: MZB293 SLI148 SLI. A plane departing SAN would be vectored from the departing runway, and given a heading "to join the MZB293 radial outbound". The pilot would continue to fly along this radial, using VOR navigation, until he intercepted the SLI148 radial inbound, at which point he would tune into SLI and fly the 148 radial toward SLI. On reaching SLI, the end of the TEC route, the pilot would (if no further instructions are received) fly an instrument approach which commences at the SLI VOR. For these reasons, TEC routes provide a great opportunity to brush up on your VOR navigation! Again, if you need help, have a look at the excellent TEC route charts by following the link above - as they will help you understand how to fly the route correctly.