The wider picture is that Eurocontrol made the filing of an IFR FP incredibly complicated. So complicated that it took a massive number of man-hours to develop software to generate acceptable routes. My estimates are
The above are wild guesses although I was involved in some of them to some extent.
You are talking about hundreds of thousands of €/£/$/whatever of work done, for GA, which will never be recovered commercially. The Autorouter is still running although seemingly no longer developed. Foreflight have probably de-allocated resources from this project due to the likely negligible returns. That leaves Rocketroute at some €200/year (used mostly by TP/jet pilots).
And WHY? Because Eurocontrol created a massively complicated route validation system and then deliberately failed to expose an API for route validation. The API is absolutely necessary because the system is so complicated, and Eurocontrol’s primitive “route suggest” facility works only at a single level (mostly useless for GA), that the only way to get a valid route is by iteration. And iteration is readily detectable by the Eurocontrol servers, and they used this to block route generator applications from working, to protect the original commercial (bizjet flight support) cartels.
It’s a scandal.
Peter wrote:
Any many countries still refuse to supply Eurocontrol with a complete and current list of restrictions, for various domestic political / job protection reasons.
Not all bad administrative routines are for “job protection” reasons. In fact I’d wager most are not.
dutch_flyer wrote:
In fact, on further reflection I realise the European system is actually easier to deal with than the US one for precisely this reason. It is really easier to file a silly route then get simplified stepwise instructions, compared to filing direct only to be surprised with 15 unfamiliar waypoints when receiving your clearance.
I really don’t know what you’re talking about. I file IFR all the time and 90% of the time use the route advisor in ForeFlight. It’s VERY rare not to get that route cleared. Once in the air you sometimes get shortcuts (mainly on departure / arrival in and out of the L.A. basin), but mostly you fly the clearance. I can count the occasions where I got an amended clearance once in the air on the fingers of one hand and then it always was for some flow issues, again usually in connection with the heavy traffic in the L.A. area.
Also, if you file direct in FF you typically get the actual route back long before you launch.
But I never had a problem before Autorouter, I just made a plan phoned Nantes and when that closed phoned Bordeaux and filed my flight plan. I had one time when it wouldn’t verify andbI couldn’t see why so I asked Bordeaux what the problem was, they spoke with Eurocontrol and came back with a revised route and the explanation that a small section of the airway I had filed had a MEA of 12000ft. I had wanted to keep below FL 100 because I I didn’t want to carry oxygen.
The great thing about autorouter is you can almost file and.go on many occasions instead of.needing to file the regulation hour in advance.
I don’t think about how long it took the creators to develop Autorouter I am just grateful they did.
I use Garmin Pilot first and Autorouter as backup to make IFR plans, before this I used Rocket route. All three systems are able to create valid routes most of the time. And 95% of the time I have been given waypoints in the filed route by ATC. ATC in my experience almost allways nice and helpfull offering shortcuts from the filed route. The departure and approach is usually where things differ somewhat depending on runway and trafic ect.
Now the problem that I have seen with IFR routes, is that sometimes routes that have validated say 24 hours before departure but hasn’t been filed yet suddenly doesn’t work anymore. Its hardly things eurocontrol can be blamed for since I think it’s some restricted/MIL area becoming active on short notice, and you get the rejection the moment you want to file it.
But comparing US and Europe in this digs much deeper than just eurocontrol. Things in GA generally work better in the US because it’s one single country with an overall positive mentality toward GA. We have this some places in Europe in others not so much. Just see how different Europe still is across the individual counties including GA in anything from airspace structure, procedures, rules and regs, ect ect. Its also the charm of Europe of course when visting new countries that things differ much more than in the US where there is little variance in how things are from east to west. In the US things have been aligned in a common understanding long time ago, which makes it much more easy to implement new things, because your dealing with a single country. It’s a single administration decision on how to do flightplanning, ATC, free satellite weather (still missing that in EU) and so on. Everytime there is a push to unify things more in EU there is a political pushback from the individual countries wanting things their own way, which overall complicates things making progress slower. That being said I think the situation still is much better now than say 10 years ago in 8 out of 10 places.
gallois wrote:
they spoke with Eurocontrol
Generally speaking, there’s no point in banging your head if Autorouter doesn’t come up with a reasonable route. Call the Eurocontrol help desk instead. They’re quite accommodating.
THY wrote:
I use Garmin Pilot first and Autorouter as backup to make IFR plans, before this I used Rocket route. All three systems are able to create valid routes most of the time.
You know that Garmin Pilot uses Autorouter to find routes? Any differences between using GP or AR directly is due to different parameters given to AR by GP.
Of course Eurocontrol help desk would bypass some of the restrictions, at least that is how someone I know could file valid EC routes on his EIR but ATC would not let him get away with it when he calls at runway threshold before departure (on arrival he has more leverage), it’s take it or taxi back as they are not in the buisness of understanding instrument rating restrictions 
Also, if your routing through Poland is terrible (because they have activated some of their huge TRAs/TRAs), then Eurocontrol helpdesk will help you very little. ATC will not let you in.
172driver wrote:
I really don’t know what you’re talking about. I file IFR all the time and 90% of the time use the route advisor in ForeFlight. It’s VERY rare not to get that route cleared.
I have a feeling this is a regional difference, as I flew on the other coast. I never used ForeFlight, but just filed using the phone (earlier) or FAA tool (more recently), and always direct KABC. 90% of the time my clearance was all the way to destination with some combination of airways (earlier on) or a long series of direct-to waypoints (more recently). Then most of the time that route was discarded before the first waypoint and I was given vectors followed by direct to my destination or via a much simpler route. But the US is a big place, and I recognize the experience varies regionally.
Airborne_Again wrote:
Call the Eurocontrol help desk instead. They’re quite accommodating.
I’ve actually never tried this. In what sorts of circumstances would they be able to help?
