euskaldun,
as FD has replied to most of your questions I'll just fill in on a couple more details.
How do I know I have the same vesion as people in IFPFS ?
Just make sure you have the current one. I can garantee that I have the exact same copy next to my workstation at work.
As far as I can remember from the document I saw , we can only find portions of routes that are not allowed to be used or that are compulsary . If I have to check every portion of my flight against this document , it will take me ages to file a PFL and we don' t really have time to do so .
Ah, the recurring problem. Of course I do not know what type of operation you are involved with, but from your remark I can only assume it's a small one. Major/medium operators have a backoffice with people who just come up with valid routes adapted to their carriers lines. Front line Flight Ops have a wealth of options to choose from. Then again, when European airspace goes tits up (ATC strikes come to mind), they are in as much trouble as everyone else.
-If you fly the same sectors day in, day out, there is absolutelly NO excuse for filling incorrect FPLs.
-If you occasionaly have a charter fying a new route, usually this is know well in advace by your Ops manager, so a correct routing can be sorted.
-If you are in the military, theres no hope for you
(but they are geting beter
)
-If you work for a Air Taxi/executive outfit then you are in a world of pain. Never know where the next flight is gonna go to and the FPL is usually needed for 5 minutes ago.
Do try to come up with a correct route. If possible run it trough the IFPUV
http://www.cfmu.eurocontrol.int/chmi...sp?serv1=ifpuv .
The error messages you get there are the same ones that pop up in the IFPS consoles.
Example:
-ERROR PROF: RS: ON FORBIDDEN ROUTE:LI LEVELS:F325..F999 REF:APPENDIX 3 LEVEL CAPPING UNIT:LI 4005A BETWEEN:LIEE LIMF
If you read this error line carefuly It's kind of clear that you should check Appendix 3 of the RAD and look for the max altitude allowed between LIEE and LIMF.
If you look at it even closer, you don't even need to open the book, because the error mentions the FL band thats raising the error (F325..F999)
If you cannot get it right then give us a call and ask for help. Theres nothing as annoying as seeing the same FPL filled with the same errors again and again and again. It's almost as if we could hear the guy/girl at the other end of the SITA/AFTN line saying "FIX IT !!".
Why can't we simply file our FPL's with no route and IFPS people find one for us ?
Because the very same day that we allow you to do that, the people behind Jeppesen, SITA, LIDO, SABRE, NAVTECH and all the other names I can't remenber right now and who make money out of flight planning, are going start asking for blood. Also we don't have the man/girlpower to do it.
PS : by the way where do you get your infos from ? Are you a reliable source that I can quote ?
Well it depends what time it is. Some late nights after liberal amounts of Grey Goose have been consumed, rumor has it that my opinions become "special".
I'll lift the veil a bit higher than FD did. I'm one of the 17 active IFPS Supervisors. However some people might say that that does not make me a reliable source
.
rgds