It might raise the question of where to intercept the airway, if you are off it and all of it’s waypoints are off your route.
ATC like to use their regular routes for low level (below FL200) GA stuff. So e.g. through Belgium you get KOK LNO or similar.
Well, it’s rather that the military don’t like you flying through their TSAs on weekdays.
In that case, why does Eurocontrol validate Achim’s route?
Let me guess…. Belgium, like half of Europe, has not supplied the restrictions to Eurocontrol 
Who knows ?
And what’s the point of distributing notams when nobody seems to read them ?
Notams are a side issue. The way Eurocontrol routing, and validation, is supposed to work is that a route which validates can be flown.
Notams are for human consumption. They are not generally machine readable.
A pilot should not be expected to read notams in order to sort out a validated Eurocontrol route.
Well yes, that’s the theory. But in practice it doesn’t work. Maybe it could work if the peepz at Eurocontrol would read the AIP and notams from time to time, just like the rest of us.
Peter, I’ve had similar issues in Germany where I got a rerouting with an airway ID in it.
I see your route is a listing of DCT’s. My experience is that you usually don’t get an alternate route assigned if you file via airways.
A couple of weeks ago I flew from LFQQ to EHLE and Autorouter found this route:
LFQQ
CIV4E CIV DCT BARTU/N0132F060 DCT RUPIN DCT GISEB VFR
EHLE
In the above example Eurocontrol validated OK even though it crossed borders via a DCT, which is forbidden.
As a consequence my FPL got binned further down the process. But I didn’t knew and got a startup clearance just fine.
It was an interesting flight. No radar unit had my route and were questioning whether I was VFR or IFR.
The eurocontrol validation process is designed to improve the quality of FPL.
It just means that a route which doesn’t validate cannot be planned. Nothing else.
But a route that cannot be planned may actually be flown.
It’s not because a route does validate means it can be flown.
I can easily hack the eurocontrol validation process (with en-route DCT) a file an IFR FPL through a P area.
When you plan a route with a DCT en-route like “A DCT B”, it’s the pilot responsability to check that the airspace between A and B is likely to be flyable.
However you may have filed an airway route and get a direct from A to B by ATC in controlled airspace. In this case, it’s ATC responsability to check that the airspace between A and B is available..
Airways are designed in such a way that you stay clear of non-flyable airspace.
That’s why it’s considered as good practice to file an airway route and get DCT while flying en-route rather than the other way arround.
En-route fuel calculation are also more “pleasing” in this way.
Personally, I always check the “Discourage use of DCT” checkbox in the autorouter.
Very good advice @Guillaume .
But yes, it is very questionable that a route which validates might not be flyable…
Guillaume wrote:
Personally, I always check the “Discourage use of DCT” checkbox in the autorouter.
I’ve had a couple of bad experiences with DCT too, so I try to avoid them unless strictly necessary. Tom and Achim claim it is the future. That might very well be, but it is not the present in most of Europe.
