Indirect Flight Effects

Theres perhaps some confusion among pilots about how a direct route gets handled and, potentially, mutated, as illustrated in one IFR-readers question: If you file direct, is your route planned by some poor guy at the local TRACON or a regional computer? To what extent does putting in a few fixes affect the route ATC gives you? Lets see if we can clear up that haziness.

Editorial Staff

Friday, January 08, 2016 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

ATC's primary role is to control air traffic flow and manage conflicts, not to plan a pilot's route; they amend filed routes for safety and efficiency due to factors like airspace restrictions, traffic, or established procedures.
While pilots may file direct and controllers prefer to issue direct clearances for mutual benefit, routes frequently change due to the complexities of airspace, active military operations areas (MOAs), or established traffic flows.
Flight plan monitoring and amendment involve a collaborative effort between multiple human controllers (Clearance Delivery, Tower, Center, Approach) and sophisticated computer systems that identify conflicts and suggest or implement changes.
Pilots retain ultimate responsibility for their flight; they must know their aircraft's capabilities and advise ATC if a clearance cannot be safely complied with, and filing some fixes on long routes can aid ATC systems.

See a mistake? Contact us.

If there’s beauty in simplicity, then there are few things quite as pretty as a flight plan that’s filed, and cleared, direct from departure to destination, with nothing in between.

However, to paraphrase a 19th century German saying, “No plan survives first contact with implementation.” As many pilots out there find out on a daily basis, just because one files or requests direct, doesn’t mean one gets direct. Some days, you luck out. Others, a few ATC clearances can turn that sweet little route into a bloated monster.