UK IFR outside Controlled Airspace routing anomaly
As an IR rated owner of a P28A based at Chester I often want to leave controlled airspace and then rejoin it further down route. Apart from the time advantage it keeps me out of the way of CAT in terminal areas. However on three occasions now I've noticed an anomaly that is proving an inconvenience for the controllers and increased workload for me.
Namely it seems that despite me filing a route that is accepted by the system and having an ACK message without manual change I find that ATC are expecting me to remain in controlled airspace at all times and that on 'the strip' the routing has defaulted to the 'Standard Route Document' (SRD) shown in the AIP. Examples this week were a trip from Chester to Perth. My route was to leave via the WAL4 and then leave CA to the north routing towards DCS. Rejoin towards TLA and then follow the SRD as TLA-EDN-EGPT (Well actually Dundee but I did phone Edinburgh ATC and asked to cheat). What actually happened was that after WAL I got vectored to POL and only on questioning it did it come to light that what the controller had in front of him was the standard route and nothing like what was filed.
The same occurred on the way back. I filed according to the SRD outbound PTH-GRICE-FENIK-DCS with the intention to leave and head south to WAL only to find that the controller was looking at DCS-LAKEY-CROFT no doubt to join the STAR into LPL and onwards to KEGUN.
Last year I really had to scratch my head when filing IFR completely outside CA from Turweston to Chester when the FISO came up with a clearance from London that routed me SAPCO-NANTI-KEGUN at FL080! I enjoyed the flight but it was actually longer than planned and wasn't even requested.
I'm under the impression that you cannot file IFR outside controlled airspace on the continent but I thought you could in the UK. Is the problem occuring because Brussels are defaulting to the rules of SERA and not the ANO?
Thanks for any help.
Confused of Cheshire....