After recently passing my IR and finally receiving my licence last week, I’m planning my first IFR flight for the end of this week. Planning EGBT (Turweston) to LFRD (Dinard). I have looked at several route options with Autorouter and RocketRoute. I’m a little confused with DCT’s or not. These are the options……
AutoRouter with DCT’s (212 NM)
EGBT N0150F100 COWLY Q41 NEDUL DCT BOLRO DCT KETIK/N0137F030 DCT DIN TUPUX1C LFRD
AutoRouter without DCT’s (293 NM)
EGBT N0150F100 MALBY L9 BCN N864 BHD N862 SKESO A25 LERAK/N0143F060 A25 DIN TUPUX1C LFRD
RocketRoute as it comes (259NM)
FINMA M605 WOD L612 MID DCT GWC DCT NEVIL G27 LERAK A25 DIN
I there a best route here, or does it not matter using DCT’s. I’ve read some people don’t like them. Is one option better than the other in the context of a first IFR flight? Would I be better off using or not using DCT’s for my first trip.
You should claim your money back from the flying school.
boscomantico wrote:
You should claim your money back from the flying school.
Thanks for the advice
That was obviously tongue in cheek! But there is a grain of seriousness in there.
I would take the shorter route if it will validate. You may not fly all of it. Key is if you are given a way point on your route not familiar, say not in flight plan, please spell it. New IFR pilots sometimes are not assertive enough with ATC.
RR takes you too far via MALBY.
I’ve read some people don’t like them.
I’m probably one of them. But sometimes there is hardly any other solution, and around the Channel Islands is one such case.
Just file and go for it. The worst that can happen is an awkward moment with a question about your routing. You’re not doing anything wrong. Most of the time the autorouter routes with DCT will work out really well.
As a matter of personal preference I will rather file IFR routes than DCTs because there may be some very good reason why there is no shorter route. Sometimes the routes are somewhat horrendous and you get some nice shortcuts like here:
There is often not one single, “right” way of doing things. Try things out based on what you read, apply common sense and build your own “style” and experience.
Bosmantico, whilst your comment did make me laugh out loud, I think you were being just a little harsh!
Asking the school for a refund is a frequent comment but if you did it, the whole IR training business in Europe would go bust because – as far as turning out pilots who can fly from A to B – they all teach mostly useless crap. Anyone doubting that can read this. The FTOs get away with it because nearly their entire output goes for airline jobs where (a) somebody else plans the routes for you and (b) you end up RHS with an old hand who can do it all himself so you gradually learn the tricks. Plus (c) the planes are very high performance, deiced, radar, etc, so short of doing an AF447 or some such, it is almost impossible to crash them. Private pilots get a rubbish deal, but we have what we have and it will never change – hence they should all read EuroGA 
Same as the PPL will never change because introducing GPS into it would force the schools to fit GPS, but which one??
Firstly, Rob, you need to decide whether you want oxygen or sub-oxygen. The latter complicates Eurocontrol IFR, because (in general) it needs to be in CAS, and UK CAS is sometimes very high (e.g. FL150). The twin turboprop flights which do say Gatwick to Newquay, and which are apparently in Class G for a lot of it, fly specially pre-agreed routes at FL200 which is Class C (all of the UK) and that is how that “works” (I got this from a senior NATS ATCO).
In the case of your specific requirement, it works out OK sub-oxygen. The first route I get from the EuroGA router is this and you should file that and hope to fly it. There are LTMA crossing levels of FL090/100 so the initial filed level of FL100 should work. London Control will send you off somewhere else anyway but no autorouter can know what that might be because NATS don’t publish that sort of stuff. Expect to get vectors all around the place.
A further subtlety is that because you are leaving UK airspace fairly quickly, London Control is going to be very relaxed about the whole thing because pretty soon you will not be their problem.
Turweston has a man in a tower who should phone up London Control and get you the initial departure clearance (squawk, climb to xxx, remain OCAS, call up LC on xxx.yyy) and you just do that.
You will see that once you’re in the air it will be very much the same anyway. If RR or eurorouter validates the route i fly it, and i don’t care much what kind it is.
I did not learn much about routings either. Once you realize what they didn’t show you you’re already out of the school … It’s simply a licence to learn
a bit harsh
…certainly not with the OP – sorry if that wasn’t clear. He is to be blamed the least.
The comment was in the context of many threads here in the past about the adequacy of training.
But it’s sometimes difficult to make any jokes here. There will always be someome who won’t grasp it and then “complains”.
