Search the Community

I apologize upfront for the length of this post. I'm curious to figure out how ATC determines routing in the northeast U.S. for /G airplanes and hope that any controllers who frequent this forum may be able to give some insight to the process or at least the logic. Some background information. I've been IFR rated since the early 1990s. Until December 2012 I have been exclusively a /A filer. Back in the 90s it was fairly common that you were stuck on the airways and corners were cut occasionally when VORs were close enough. When VFR portable GPS units became available, I learned that putting "VFR GPS" in the remarks section would often give/result in something like "Marauder, fly heading 310, when able proceed direct XXX". "XXX" was a VOR in my flight plan but was usually so far away that I would never receive it for quite a while. Since I was in radar coverage the whole time, I figured that the controller was throwing me a bone. Fast forward to 2013. Equipped with the new /G hardware I started to file direct routes. I learned quickly there is no such thing as a direct route in the northeast. In fact, it doesn't appear to even be a standard route in the Northeast. I fly to western NY several times a year. The route I filed as a /A wouldn't be assigned. In fact, routes that I accepted and flew would usually be changed but now with the added feature of some bizarre spelled waypoint, sometimes on an airway, sometimes an RNAV waypoint. When Bob Belville came visiting, I gave him a route I had filed /A only to see the poor man being given a route that appear to have been created in a random route generator. Sorry Bob! Which leads me to Saturday's IFR flight to Orange County (KMGJ). I have filed part of this route in the past as a /A when going to Maine, so I thought it should be fine. Sparta VOR is the IAF for approaches going into Orange County. When I picked up my clearance at N57, I was given this gem: N57 MXE PTW FJC LAAYK PRNCE FILPS KMGJ As I was flying this route, Allentown tells me that if I am willing to go to 5000' I can have a more direct route. I accepted and was given this prior to getting to FJC: SCOUP V162 HUO DIRECT I know there are Letter of Agreements between Center and Approach facilities and I am sure this is what happened with the re-route. But I also know that depending on when I'm flying I can and have seen different routing issued from something I have flown before. All of this seems linked to the /G capability. So... for those who are in ATC or those who have more /G experience, what is the key to filing a route /G and getting something close? I would think in the world of today's automated systems these are stored as preferred routes. I tried fltpln.com to see if I can see a trend but unfortunately it doesn't seem to cover many flights from my airport or even the surrounding ones. I will say that the new GTN series makes it a lot easier since the predictive entry finds waypoints close to my route. My biggest gripe is that in a high workload situation, loading up a series of waypoints adds to the workload. Interesting in reading what others have experienced.