Filing Direct?

Since Eric is a working controller, I respect his advice. I was a little surprised when he stated that filing direct grinds controllers gears. With GPS capability, filing direct has saved me a lot of time and money. It was never realized that doing so was creating a problem for anyone. It was not done as a sign of laziness or to engage in a bad practice, but to get in and out of the ATC system as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Editorial Staff

Wednesday, October 30, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

Filing an IFR flight plan that proposes a direct route from departure airport to destination airport *without any intermediate fixes or airways* can create significant workload for air traffic controllers, forcing them to manually plan a legal and safe route around obstacles like restricted airspace.
This "direct airport-to-airport" filing can cause delays and frustration for controllers, as they must take time to establish a detailed route that the pilot should have provided.
To streamline operations and minimize delays, pilots should file a desired routing that includes Q-Routes, waypoints, Victor airways, or a combination thereof.
Conversely, flying direct *between specific fixes or waypoints* as part of an established route, or accepting a "direct to destination" clearance once en route, is generally acceptable, efficient, and welcomed by controllers.

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Aviation Safety is greatly appreciated. I normally read it cover-to-cover, and it helps me not make too many dumb mistakes. The August 2019 article “IFR Route Changes” by Eric Lyn raised a question. Further clarification is requested.

Since Eric is a working controller, I respect his advice. I was a little surprised when he stated that filing direct “grinds controllers’ gears.” With GPS capability, filing direct has saved me a lot of time and money. It was never realized that doing so was creating a problem for anyone. It was not done as a sign of laziness or to engage in a “bad practice, but to get in and out of the ATC system as quickly and efficiently as possible.