Peter wrote:
It probably works in Germany, where you can submit a FP with a bullsh1t route and their taxpayer-funded DFS will fix it for you.
DFS is not taxpayer funded, it’s funded by airway fees and for VFR stuff (FIS) they get 6m€ a year from the extra tax on 100LL (it’s more than car gasoline). It’s true that AIS in Germany still offer the 5 star service for lazy and uneducated pilots. You can literally fax them “I want to fly from Egelsbach to Mallorca in my Cessna 182” and they will do everything they have to turn this into a valid flight plan. You can still exist as an IFR pilot in Germany without knowing anything about IFPS and Eurocontrol. They even help you outside Germany.
It’s only a matter of time until this service ends…
Actually, I have a counterexample. When no one at Leverkusen EDKL happened to…
It probably works in Germany, where you can submit a FP with a bullsh1t route and their taxpayer-funded DFS will fix it for you.
It used to work in the UK until about 5-7 years ago. It never worked in France, IME (since 2003).
People who can quote
EDKL DCT WYP IFR DCT FUL DCT OKG DCT RAK VFR DCT LKBU
from the top of their head should not meddle with mere mortals. SO frustrating…. ;)
Peter wrote:
But without internet, there is no way to fly anywhere IFR. Bigger airports may accept a handwritten FP form but the route has to be valid.
Actually, I have a counterexample. When no one at Leverkusen EDKL happened to know the password to the local WiFi, I called the ATC on the phone (I think it was Frankfurt) and asked if they could provisionally accept a VOR-to-VOR IFR route I quoted off the top of my head (EDKL DCT WYP IFR DCT FUL DCT OKG DCT RAK VFR DCT LKBU) if I promise to accept any rerouting. The nice lady on the phone said she would try to get it into the system; on top of that, she accepted an EOBT of mere +15 minutes. As I was already warming up the engine, she called me back and said everything was fine. No rerouting was given – in fact, they even let me skip OKG.
With regard to the original question, yes, it was a DDOS attack. I won’t go in to details here, but if any long-term users need to know more they can get in touch.
DDOS is a bummer and mitigating it properly is very expensive.
The autorouter session cookies are valid for one week. Therefore the likelihood of EuroGA being down and your session having just expired is very slim.
Let’s hope autorouter never becomes a target of DoS attacks. It does create a lot of workload at the hosting company and if a certain site tends to be a prime victim, hosters often cancel the hosting agreement just to save themselves the hassle. In our system design, we explicitly chose to run the frontend tier (web server) with a large and competent hosting company, as a virtual machine allowing fast recovery and only operate the redundant backend on machines we administer ourselves and which are not accessible to the outside world.
The internet can always be down… and that will definitely affect your operational flying 
The router may not generate a route. Rare but possible. So you need a Plan B anyway. I use the FlightPlanPro tool (which also sometimes doesn’t work). And for filing the FP I use EuroFPL, with AFPEX as a backup. But without internet, there is no way to fly anywhere IFR. Bigger airports may accept a handwritten FP form but the route has to be valid.
lenthamen wrote:
A side effect of www.euroga.org being down is that the Autorouter is not accessible as well…
That might affect your operational flying ;-)
Check this thread: http://www.euroga.org/forums/website/4571-converting-autorouter-account-from-euroga-to-autorouter. You can convert your autorouter account so that you can access autorouter even when euroga is down.
A side effect of www.euroga.org being down is that the Autorouter is not accessible as well…
That might affect your operational flying ;-)
Yes – DOS attacks on the server (which hosts a number of websites). An increasing problem these says. Millions of PCs are infected and remotely controlled and you buy time on the botnet; pay by Paypal
