Plain English Meaning

These are pre-published flight paths in the sky that you fly using GPS or another area navigation system, instead of having to fly from one ground radio station to the next. The route is made up of named waypoints, and you fly directly between them.

Full Definition

RNAV routes are published air traffic service routes flown using area navigation, which allows an aircraft to fly any desired path between waypoints rather than being restricted to navigating directly to or from ground-based navigation stations. On IFR en route low altitude charts, RNAV routes are typically depicted in blue and labeled with a 'T' prefix for low altitude RNAV routes () or a 'Q' prefix for RNAV routes (), with defined waypoints, mileages, and .