So you know how sometimes you take a really long trip, like driving across the country with your family? Well, sometimes people need to travel really far, but they don't want to take a whole week to drive or take a boat. That's where airplanes come in!
A long, long time ago, people started using airplanes to fly from one side of the country to the other. But, they needed a good way to make sure that the pilots knew where they were going and that they were staying safe. That's when they came up with the transcontinental airway system!
The transcontinental airway system is like a big map in the sky. It helps the pilots figure out where they are and makes sure that they don't run into any trouble. The system has special markers called beacons that the pilots can pick up with their radios. The beacons tell the pilots where they are and which way they should go.
There are also special towers called control towers that watch over the planes as they go along the airways. The control towers tell the pilots if they need to go up or down or change direction so that they can avoid other planes and stay safe.
The transcontinental airway system is really important because it helps people travel across the entire country in just a few hours. And, because the system helps keep the planes safe, people can trust that they will arrive at their destination without any problems.
So, in a way, the transcontinental airway system is like a big road map in the sky that helps keep everyone safe and makes sure that people can get where they need to go really quickly.