Airport Master Plan - City of Weslaco
Airport Master Plan - City of Weslaco
Airport Master Plan - City of Weslaco
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depicted on Exhibit 1C, Area<br />
Airspace, as taken from the<br />
Brownsville Sectional Air Chart, May<br />
2000.<br />
As can be seen from the exhibit,<br />
<strong>Weslaco</strong> Mid Valley <strong>Airport</strong> is located<br />
within Class E airspace. The Class E<br />
airspace surrounding <strong>Weslaco</strong> Mid<br />
Valley <strong>Airport</strong> encompasses airspace<br />
700 feet above ground level (AGL) to<br />
1,200 feet AGL. The Class E airspace<br />
extends outward from the center <strong>of</strong> the<br />
airport to a radius <strong>of</strong> seven nautical<br />
miles. The Class E airspace has been<br />
extended outside the seven nautical<br />
mile radius to include the instrument<br />
approaches to Runway 13.<br />
At the southern edge <strong>of</strong> the seven mile<br />
radius <strong>of</strong> the Mid Valley <strong>Airport</strong> control<br />
area is the US Air Defense<br />
Identification Zone (ADIZ), a continuous<br />
zone for control <strong>of</strong> United States<br />
boundaries. To the east is the edge <strong>of</strong><br />
the Harlingen Valley International<br />
<strong>Airport</strong> Class C Airspace.<br />
Aircraft enroute or departing <strong>Weslaco</strong><br />
Mid Valley <strong>Airport</strong> may use VOR<br />
navigational facilities. The VOR or<br />
VORTAC facilities, as depicted on<br />
Exhibit 1C, Area Airspace are a<br />
system <strong>of</strong> Federal Airways, also referred<br />
to as Victor Airways. Victor Airways<br />
have been established to allow assured<br />
navigational capability along corridors<br />
<strong>of</strong> airspace eight miles wide and<br />
extending upward from 1,200 feet AGL<br />
to 18,000 feet MSL between VOR<br />
facilities. For further discussion <strong>of</strong><br />
Victor Airways refer to enroute<br />
navigational aids below.<br />
TERMINAL AREA AND<br />
ENROUTE NAVIGATIONAL AIDS<br />
Navigational aids are electronic devices<br />
that transmit radio frequencies which<br />
are received by pilots <strong>of</strong> properly<br />
equipped aircraft. These transmissions<br />
are translated into point-to-point<br />
guidance and position information. The<br />
types <strong>of</strong> navigational aids available for<br />
aircraft flying between airports include,<br />
the very high frequency omnidirectional<br />
range (VOR) facility which can also be<br />
equipped with Distance Measuring<br />
Equipment (DME); nondirectional radio<br />
beacon (NDB); and the global<br />
positioning system (GPS).<br />
The VOR, in general, provides azimuth<br />
readings to pilots <strong>of</strong> properly equipped<br />
aircraft by transmitting a radio signal<br />
at every degree to provide 360<br />
individual navigational courses.<br />
Frequently, distance measuring<br />
equipment (DME) is combined with a<br />
VOR facility to provide distance as well<br />
as direction information to the pilot. In<br />
addition, military tactical air<br />
navigation aids (TACANs) and civil<br />
VORs are commonly combined to form a<br />
VORTAC. A VORTAC provides<br />
distance and direction information to<br />
civil and military pilots. VORs can be<br />
positively identified by a series <strong>of</strong> Morse<br />
code transmissions that spell the three<br />
letter identifier.<br />
Mid Valley <strong>Airport</strong> is situated between<br />
two VOR facilities. The McAllen VOR-<br />
DME just west <strong>of</strong> <strong>Weslaco</strong> Mid Valley<br />
<strong>Airport</strong> is identified by the three letter<br />
identifier, MFE. Harlingen VOR is<br />
located to the east and identified by its<br />
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