General

Will I have to pay for autorouter?

No. Ever since we got involved in IFR, we have felt that something as vital as finding a route should not require a pilot to pay money. In the rest of the world, pilots just take a map and connect waypoints and navaids to find a route and then file it but for various political and organizational reasons, Europe chose the most complex model imaginable, making it impossible for a human to find an accepted route without the help of a computer.

Having said that, we do intend to provide additional services in the future for which we might ask a fee but we intend to keep the core IFR route generation capability free of charge.

How can I file a flight plan for my route?

Make sure to define your own aircraft with all correct data regarding its equipment. Then when you are happy with your route and all details are provided (including search & rescue), just hit the File button. Please keep in mind that you are not allowed to file test flight plans, everything goes into the official flight plan system and abuse could be punished.

Do you offer VFR route planning?

It is possible to define VFR routes using IFR waypoints, navaids, airports and geographic locations and you can file such flight plans for most parts of the world. However, autorouter is not a VFR centric tool and support for VFR remains basic.

I have an idea how to improve the site. Are you interested?

Yes we are! Please open a support ticket and let us know. No promises of course but it is our goal to remain the innovator in the European IFR routing business.

Can I use your technology in my own application?

We have built a complete programming interface into our platform and we are interested in working with third parties to add IFR route generation into their products. Please contact us for details and have a look at our API documentation.

Route Generation

Why does it sometimes take rather long to generate a route?

Generating a valid route is a very complex task. There are literally millions of combinations how to get from A to B and we have to look through a large number to find the optimum route. The Eurocontrol system comes with a database containing route restrictions (ADR) but unfortunately this document is not always complete or correct in every detail. Therefore we have to validate our routes with the Eurocontrol server and sometimes get back errors which we then have to correct and validate again until we have a valid routing. The validation process with Eurocontrol takes additional time.

In more than 98% of the cases, we are able to present you with the best possible route in just a few seconds.

The generated routes use DCTs (directs). Is this allowed?

Of course it is, every route that is validated by the Eurocontrol server is a valid route. For most airspaces, there are specific rules about what kind of DCTs are allowed. Making use of them requires significantly more complex algorithms and more computing power which is why most other tools do not generate DCTs. However, they allow for significantly better routings which is why we are proud to offer all possible DCTs. You can find additional background here.

What is the deal with DCTs in UK airspace?

The UK airspace layout is different from other countries in that it is mostly uncontrolled airspace (G) and only around the airways there is a small corridor of controlled airspace (A). Once you leave controlled airspace, your IFR flight plan can be dropped and you’re on your own in uncontrolled airspace with own navigation but still IFR. This is usually not desirable and therefore it is better to remain on airways and only use DCTs which are known to be acceptable to UK ATC. These are contained in the SRD (standard route document) published by NATS which autorouter makes extensive use of. Additional background can be found here.

The routing I get is not the shortest possible. What can I do?

Make sure the route constraints are correct. Sometimes a different system gives you a shorter routing because you allow it to use a higher flight level or you specify different navigation equipment. In case you are certain that our router gives you a longer route than it should, please open a support ticket and tell us how the routing could be better. We want to always present you the best routing possible and want to know about all cases where we fail to do that.

When should I enable the GFS wind forecast?

As a unique feature of our solution, we can take exact wind forecasts into consideration when searching for the best route. This feature relies on the GFS (Global Forecast System) and always makes use of the most recent forecast data. It helps us to find the best altitude and route at the time of your planned flight. By default, it is turned off because we noticed that most users would wonder why we present a route that it seemingly longer than with another solution and don’t notice that it is actually the quicker route based on current wind forecast. Also, the accuracy of the GFS wind forecasts varies and there can be weather situations where you don’t want to take it into account. Just play with it and see what it does for you, also hover the waypoints to see which wind values we assume.

Aircraft Data

There are aircraft templates when creating a new aircraft. How can get my aircraft to show up as a template for others to use?

Just open a support ticket and request us to do it. We will then inspect your aircraft and if we think it meets our quality standards, we will be more than happy to add it to the template library.

The aircraft I fly was already created by another user of autorouter. Can we share the profile?

Of course you can. Ask the other user to share his aircraft (click on the share icon in the aircraft list). This will generate a code which the user should tell you. When creating a new aircraft, enter that as the “share code” and you will get the complete definition of the aircraft. Note that the share code system was designed to protect data privacy of other users so you have to obtain the code from the user. More information here.

Why do I have to provide such great detail about my aircraft?

First of all, we want to determine the best routing and altitudes for you which means we have to know how your aircraft performs at given altitudes and power settings. Sometimes we can give you a nice shortcut in case you climb higher and it makes a big difference if you have a Cessna 172 or turboprop. Also, certain airspaces require certain aircraft equipment to be carried which is why we need detailed information about your equipment and its approvals. Lastly, we want to give you a flight plan that you can directly file and this requires additional information that is not directly related to the routing.

My aircraft manufacturer/model/ICAO type is not in your list. What can I do?

We use the official ICAO list of aircraft. If something is missing, please open a support ticket and report the issue. We will then add your aircraft to the list. We have a more user friendly searchable list of all available aircraft types here.