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Diverse Vector Area

Asked by: 7767 views Instrument Rating

What is diverse vector area? Aim?

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2 Answers



  1. KDS on Nov 14, 2017

    Google “Diverse-Vector-Areas” site:ifr-magazine.com for a nice long explanation.

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  2. John Scarry on Nov 17, 2017

    Reading through the Instrument Flying Handbook (p 1-38) I ran across something that I had not seen before—Diverse Vector Area.

    ATC may establish a minimum vectoring altitude (MVA) around certain airports. This altitude is based on terrain and obstruction clearance and provides controllers with minimum altitudes to vector aircraft in and around a particular location. However, it may be necessary to vector aircraft below this altitude to assist in the efficient flow of departing traffic. For this reason, an airport may have established a Diverse Vector Area (DVA). DVA design requirements are outlined in TERPS and allow for the vectoring of aircraft off the departure end of the runway below the MVA. The presence of a DVA is not published for pilots in any form, so the use of a textual ODP in a DVA environment could result in a misunderstanding between pilots and controllers. ATC instructions take precedence over an ODP. Most DVAs exist only at the busiest airports.

    Even though the book states that The presence of a DVA is not published for pilots in any form… this is no longer true.

    Check out KRNO-Reno Tahoe in the Chart Supplement for an example.

    In ForeFlight they show up in the departure procedures section.

    Fred Simons has an article that explains it well. http://fredonflying.com/Articles/IFR_Refresher/0906-Diverse-Departures.pdf

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