A computer needs algorithms and rules. In the beginning we just went for the shortest path in UK. This brought a lot of critics. Now we have a very strong bias for airways and standard routes (SRD). If you want to fly more OCAS, then you will have to hand optimize the route which we intend to make easier in the future. It will be possible to specify arbitrary waypoints/navaids as “SID” and “STAR” and you will be able to store your manually modified flight plan. We are also considering to add another configuration option for the DCT strategy. Right now the UK DCT avoidance is not configurable. However, I hate cluttering software with options that are either rarely needed or that a large percentage of users won’t understand and use inappropriately. Those are tough choices.
9.9 out of 10 German pilots will not understand the CAS/OCAS implications in the UK and if you tell them you can fly legally in clouds without a flight plan and perform an instrument approach into your backyard, they will tell you to stop spreading BS. We need a solution that gets experienced UK pilots what they want without bringing visitors who think IFR is IFR no matter where into trouble.
Achim, a few hours ago I noticed a strange behaviour of the autorouter. Some routes stored in my Autorouter account, which were created and successfully validated just one or two AIRAC cycles ago, looked totally different and failed validation when I retrieved them yesterday – they suddenly sprouted doglegs to unrelated intersections and back. LKPM-EDNY and EDNY-LKBU had TIGNU in them, and LKBU-LDLO included XOLTA. Initially I thought these intersections used to belong on the routes but were deleted in the current AIRAC cycle and their namesakes created elsewhere. However, Tomjnx told me the intersections stayed where they were, leading me to a suspicion that something may be wrong with the route storage in Autorouter accounts. Unfortunately, I had already deleted these routes from my account before that.
A quick update on what has happened lately on the autorouter site.
A more detailed changelog can be found on the site.
Busy trying to try out the Autorouter but it simply wont let me in. Every attempt to log in, register, or connect via EuroGA account gives the message
The reCAPTCHA was not entered correctly. Try again. Error message: incorrect-captcha-sol
Help. Not the most transparent of interfaces!
Thanks
Steve
If you have trouble reading the captcha image, you can request new images until you can read one and enter the two words you see. This is a vital step to protect the site from vandalism through automated scripts.
Update: taking a closer look I noticed that the captcha library on the signup screen used a non encrypted URL. Some browsers would block that (loading unencrypted external data into an encrypted page). In case you have not seen the actual captcha image, this was most likely the problem and should be fixed now.
That was it, thanks very much. There was no image there, nor associated message before, but it now appears, and connects appropriately.
Thank you for the swift response.
Steve
That error when mixing SSL/non SSL content is actually a very good thing. Current Google Chrome blocks it.
However, no browser should just block stuff without telling you what it blocked. I used to use Chrome but it is so bloated now…
Back to the autorouter… just a little note on the altitudes:
I have often said that for UK airspace you should never use the default FL040 minimum. And that remains my view. But it pays to play with the lowest figure a little. For example, EGKA-LFGC (this is a very typical departure from southern UK to the east or south-east) at FL110, TB20, you get this
but if you use FL090 you get the level modified to FL080 (so the flight plan would be “filed for FL080”)
In reality London Control will expect you to fly EGKA SFD and then get a climb into CAS on that track (about 090-100) so none of this means anything, but there is no point in filing a huge dogleg because you just might be asked to fly it
Also worth noting that if you use the “preferred levels” mode, the route is still optimised for minimum time. So e.g. to get the really scenic route to Mali Losinj
I would use
Autorouter now offers flight plan filing
We’ve just added two major new features to the autorouter: flight plan filing and multiple route suggestions.
Flight plan filing requires you to request filing privileges which is dependent on us verifying your identity. In most cases this means we’ll give you a phone call or ask you for a scan of your pilot license. This stems from a Eurocontrol requirement.
Your flight plans get sent to Eurocontrol immediately for which you get confirmation (email and optionally SMS). You can cancel, delay and bring forward your flight plans. We also support Z/Y flight plans and perform the required addressing to the VFR units per the relevant AIPs. At this time, you cannot file pure VFR flight plans or flight plans that do not have an IFR portion in the Eurocontrol region. This feature might be added later.
You can find some documentation on flight plan filing here.
The next time you logon to the system, you will find a button to request filing privileges. In case you’re impatient, you can logout and login to get the button.
Additionally, we now present multiple route suggestions of which you can choose one. The difference is usually in the use of SID/STARs vs DCT and VFR departure/arrival.
After Achim moved the router to SSL I had to flash my Nokia 808 with new (
