Here's a question I'm trying to answer. Here in the north, we always hear Cree flights who are cleared to fly Victor 37 from Timmins to Moosonnee. The clearance is read back as Moosonee via Timmins Victor 37 or Moosonnee VOR via Timmins direct. Is there a technical difference of the flight's route direction? I know the VOR is a distance and radial from a fixed spot on the ground, just not sure if the heading to the VOR is the same as the Victor airway.
Does this apply to flights who are cleared to smaller airports to the airport's NDB or Beacon? Again, here we have Bearskin flights to Kapuskasing who are cleared via Victor 5 or, to the Kaysing (K-sing) beacon via direct.