AOPA supports new routes around St. Louis congestion

AOPA has filed comments supporting an FAA plan to create two new low-altitude area navigation (RNAV) routes around the congested Class B airspace surrounding St. Louis. Through an agreement between Kansas City Center and St. Louis Approach, pilots already have been vectored onto the new routes, T- 251 and T-272. Once all comments have been reviewed and the FAA has made a decision, the routes could be charted in as little as four months, allowing pilots to request the T-routes as part of their flight plans. AOPA has supported T- routes since 2000 as a means to help general aviation traffic avoid congestion in and around Class B airspace; the routes are currently used in North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, and California, and they are in development in Atlanta.

January 11, 2008