Smarter Than Direct

Dont you hate it when this happens? November 12345, I have an amendment to your clearance...advise when ready to copy. Then ATC gives you the barely pronounceable name of a waypoint you never heard of. Youre given a re-route around restricted airspace or a military operations area (MOA) that just went hot. Or youre making a short positioning flight in IMC, and have to make rapid-fire GPS flight plan updates and heading changes when youre cleared for a approach just as youre leveling off from climb.

Tom Turner

Thursday, July 26, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilots should plan IFR routes smarter than simply filing "direct" to minimize ATC re-routes, avoid restricted airspace, and reduce in-flight workload, especially in busy terminal areas.
Strategies for smarter planning include routing around known restricted airspaces or MOAs, and incorporating Standard Terminal Arrival Routes (STARs) into flight plans for more predictable arrivals.
For short IFR flights into non-towered airports, pre-planning and filing direct to an Initial Approach Fix (IAF) of the desired approach reduces critical phase workload.
Utilize FAA IFR Preferred Routes and route advisor functions in flight planning apps to anticipate ATC's preferred routing, especially in high-volume airspace, increasing the chance of receiving "cleared as filed."

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Don’t you hate it when this happens? “November 12345, I have an amendment to your clearance…advise when ready to copy.” Then ATC gives you the barely pronounceable name of a waypoint you never heard of. You’re given a re-route around restricted airspace or a military operations area (MOA) that just went hot. Or you’re making a short positioning flight in IMC, and have to make rapid-fire GPS flight plan updates and heading changes when you’re cleared for a approach just as you’re leveling off from climb.

The tremendous utility, accuracy and repeatability of GPS allows us to file and fly direct routings much of the time. But if you’re a fan of airport-to-airport, point-to-point flight plans and routings, chances are good you’ll have to deal with attention-grabbing updates from ATC. To reduce your workload and limit the number of revised routings—to “plan your flight and fly your plan” with greater predictability—sometimes it helps to plan and file more smartly than simply hitting the Direct button.