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The complete charade of Eurocontrol IFR routings

One usually gets shortcuts if one asks for them, but I have had many flights where it was quite obvious that if I didn’t push for them I would not have got them; well not in any significant way.

One fairly common one is when routing to the east of or to the west of Paris. Below FL200, one has to push really hard for any shortcuts, and quite often I get one (a little one) and then somebody gives the ATCO a bollocking and he tells me to fly to another waypoint which wipes out the earlier gain. That area is packed with military zones.

One of the most atrocious ones was here – Canakkale (LTBH) to Lesbos/Mitilini (LGMT).

OTOH it would be potentially disingenuous of me to give some of these as examples, because filing some hack through these areas is still not going to result in a route on the day – unless I just happen to know that the mil airspace is inactive but the said country didn’t tell Eurocontrol, and this is probably very common.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

you pay airways charges .. based on GC distance within each FIR

you pay based on filed not flown route.

I am still confused. Sorry.

EGKB Biggin Hill

Timothy wrote:

I am still confused. Sorry.

Timothy
EGKB Biggin Hill

Ok, well I will try one last time. If you end up with a convoluted route that means you file more nm as a result of great circle distances within each FIR, you will pay more.

EGTK Oxford

So, you are saying that a glitch within an FIR will not make any difference, but if the route takes you through more FIRs, or if the entry and exit points are further apart than required by the great circle from DEP to DEST, then you pay more.

So, in the use cases below, (1) and (2) are the same, but 3 and 4 are more?

EGKB Biggin Hill

(3) would be more.

It is not clear to me what example (4) is about? If FIR B and FIR D are in the same country, it would be the same as (1) and (2), although if the route is meant to be a great circle, they would be in the southern hemishpere.

Biggin Hill

In my mind B and D are different countries, and I thought I’d be inclusive

EGKB Biggin Hill

Timothy wrote:

So, you are saying that a glitch within an FIR will not make any difference, but if the route takes you through more FIRs, or if the entry and exit points are further apart than required by the great circle from DEP to DEST, then you pay more.

Yes.

EGTK Oxford

From here

@Emir if you get chance could you try La Rochelle LFBH to Calais LFAC, Autorouter wants to take you to Dover via a water crossing from Cherbourg and then again crossing water to Calais.

France

Sometimes Autorouter provides a simpler route than FF

Oxford (EGTK), United Kingdom

gallois wrote:

@Emir if you get chance could you try La Rochelle LFBH to Calais LFAC, Autorouter wants to take you to Dover via a water crossing from Cherbourg and then again crossing water to Calais.

Same with ForeFlight. The problem is that many airways that go over mainland don’t exist in range 0…195 according to Eurocontrol routing errors received when trying to route manual.

LDZA LDVA, Croatia
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