Departure east from EGSC

[bookworm]

Departing Cambridge in a piston twin looking to cruise at FL90 or so on L620 via Amsterdam, which of the following work well or badly for you folks who have to fit me in to the flow?

1) Join at BKY then CLN L620...
2) Join on track CLN then L620...
3) Join on track REDFA then L620...

I'm tempted to think that the further east I join controlled airspace the easier it should be, but that might be a dumb assumption.

Presumably in case 1 Essex will look after me on departure. In cases 2 and 3, what's the best agency to coordinate the join? Can Wattisham do it easily?

Can I even route direct TULIP, in which case who can coordinate with Amsterdam?

Thanks for any hints.

[TC_LTN]

The new addition of the Standard Routes Document, incorporating the Clacton CTA airspace changes, suggests that you should file EGSC DCT BKY DCT CLN L620 REDFA. The routes are published to facilitate the easiest possible access to controlled airspace and should always be accepted by IFPS. The guys and girls on Essex would agree with you that joining further down the line would keep you out of this particularly complex bit of airspace however, the procedures are in place to accommodate departures via all SRD routings in the LTMA and you will be accommodated via this routing with the minimum possible delay. We have an obligation to accommodate joins from airfields in the FIR via routes specified in the SRD and gaining a joining clearance further down the route via another agency with no agreed procedure MAY prove more problematic.

Perhaps I should have mentioned that L620 is not available between CLN - REDFA above FL215 for traffic inbound to EHBD/BK/EH/GR/MZ/RD/SE/VK/WO. Not likely to worry you in the Twin Comm though;)

[eyeinthesky]

As TC LTN has said, the easiest point from a practical point of view is CLN. Via BKY you mix it with the SS/GW ins and outs, and if you try to go further east (say REDFA) then you get issues of computer transfer of data (REDFA being on the boundary of UK/NL airspace) and whether London can clear you to enter AMS's airspace without multiple coordinations.

Direct TULIP is OK, but you will need to contact London Info with a time for a point on the FIR boundary and get them to get a clearance from Amsterdam.

Of course, the new Clacton Airspace (which started on Thursday) makes all this a Terminal Control problem now...

[bookworm]

Thanks for that TC_LTN.

I have absolutely no doubt that the guys and girls of LATCC would, as always, do the very for me whichever I filed, and noted that the SRD offers BKY CLN L620.

However the SRD usually offers routes that are intended to get you into controlled airspace asap and keep you there -- as you'd expect. If I relax the criterion of wanting to be in controlled airspace as much as possible, the best route may be different. And I'd appreciate advice on whether the DCT REDFA possibility, joining which is considerably shorter, is convenient for ATC.

It seems to fit OK with the EGSS SID, which is 6000 ft 13 west of CLN, so presumably climbing well above my level by CLN. Similarly the NEly STARs into EGSS (BARMI DITOB LAPRA) are not below FL120 by LAPRA, so again I'd be well below. Thus my hope is that once east abeam CLN I'd have the lower levels of L620 pretty much to myself.

(BTW, I think the distinction of BKY CLN and direct CLN was a bit of a red herring. In either case I'd expect vectors from Essex after departure from EGSC to fit me in best with the flow.)