Autorouter updates (merged)

how do you tell autorouter to take wind forecast into account?

In the advanced tab under the basic information for requesting a route: use GFS wind forecast

Ok I see it.

Can I activate that for an existing flight plan in the system that I created previously or do I need to start over again?

Read WiKi and FAQ which contain the answers to quite a few questions. I cannot remember having struggled finding out these things.

For me the router took a little getting used to because I came to it from EuroFPL and there were some features of the router that I found limiting my freedom to edit routes, speeds etc. But with a little experience I have now figured out these things and would now not even be able to tell you exactly what they were.

One thing that took me a little time to figure out was that in order to edit some parts of the flight plan I needed to uncheck the “Show route only” checkbox.

There are lots of ways to tune the router in the advanced parameters, including fly-by waypoints if you want to force route over a specific point. I’ve used that to avoid areas of forecast convection.

In order to make the most out of the autorouter you really need to enter the W&B and performance data of every aircraft you fly, but you can share these profiles with others.

One weakness is in the computation of alternates. It always assumes a direct route to the alternates so the fuel required ends up (in my examples) significantly lower than it should. You need to make up for that by bringing additional fuel.

I once signed up for the AeroWeb app and played around with it a little bit, but do not have any practical experience with it.

Cirrus_Man wrote:

Can I activate that for an existing flight plan in the system that I created previously or do I need to start over again?

Wind forecasts are always applied for briefing packs etc. The checkbox enables wind forecast to be considered during route finding.

It look like autorouter have a coverage until Mauritania. Is there any chance it’s cover Senegal one day ?

Romain

I’m going there next week.
It’s not to use it as filing solution. (we are going VFR) but i’d like to have the possibility to get a briefing pack it’s really useful…

Romain

Autorouter & Telegram make the job easy

Flew to Carlisle (EGNC) yesterday. Filed IFR through Autorouter. Immediate confirmation of filing-absolutely brilliant. Now all I had to do was get to the airfield and get everything ready for my EOBT. This was a problem in the past but not now with Autorouter linked to Telegram instant messenger. Delays and cancellations can be initiated at will. As I operate from a non towered airfield, I normally telephone Essex radar to confirm they have the flight plan, and get a sqauwk code assigned before take-off. After getting the aircraft out of the hangar I got a message via Telegram informing me that my code was xxxx- brilliant. Now I didn’t need to phone them, but I did anyway as I couldn’t quite believe this technology was that good. I needn’t have bothered, they confirmed the flight plan and sqauwk. After takeoff and initial contact with Essex Radar I was told to “climb flight level 070”. It was just as if I had switched to departure from a towered airfield.

Afterwards it was London control and climb FL100. The only thing that surprised me was that when I was north of POL vor, abeam Morcambe, London control informed me I was leaving controlled airspace and switch to Warton Radar. They had all the details and retained the same sqauwk so we continued as though with London. Once again I cannot praise the Autorouter team enough for making the filing and instant messenger service through Autorouter, such a user friendly tool. It makes AFPEX a nightmare!

Completely agree. It’s one of those things (like a Mac), that works so well that you easily forget all the trouble of using what was there before.