Definition
Low-altitude federal airways in the contiguous United States, established between VOR navigation stations, extending from 1,200 feet above the surface up to but not including 18,000 feet MSL. Each Victor airway is 8 nautical miles wide (4 NM either side of centerline) and is identified by the letter V followed by a number, such as V23.
Plain English
Pre-defined highways in the sky at lower altitudes, drawn between VOR ground stations. Pilots fly along them by tuning in the VORs and following the route from one to the next.
Context Anchor
Seen on low-altitude en route charts and in instrument flight planning when choosing a route between navigation points.
Derivation
Named for the letter 'V' in the phonetic alphabet, because each route identifier begins with V. The 'V' was chosen to indicate the airways are based on VOR stations.
Why Pilots Care
They provide charted, protected paths that support navigation and traffic separation for most general aviation instrument flights.
Analogy
A Victor airway is like a marked highway in the sky: it does not physically exist, but it gives pilots a published path to follow from one point to another.
Intuition Check
Victor does not mean the airway is named after a person or place called Victor. Here, Victor means the letter V, used for VOR-based low-altitude airways.
Example Sentence 1
We filed V23 from Armel VOR to Casanova VOR at 6,000 feet.
Example Sentence 2
Weather along Victor 187 remained clear, allowing the flight to stay on the airway without deviations.