Hi all!Those who have been a member here for a long time will perhaps remember we used to have some kind of flight plan challenge on this board. So I was just thinking: why not put up another one?In the past years, more and more tools have been made available to the flight sim community, so I guess it's easier today than it was back then. :)The rules are very simple: someone posts two airports between which a valid route has to be found, at a specific altitude. For each route, there will be a minimum distance that should be beat (i.e. posting routes longer than the minimum distance is considered useless).All flight plans have to be within the EU, so they can be checked with Eurocontrol's IFPUV: http://www.cfmu.eurocontrol.be/chmi_public...sp?serv1=ifpuvs for validity.The person who finds the shortest route within, say, one week, wins the challenge may think of the next route. :)As an optional, people may also add one extra rule to the flight plan route, for example not to use more than two directs.Distance calculations have to be made with the same tool, because they have found to be software dependent in the past. So I suggest everyone checks their route's distance with http://rfinder.asalink.net/free when flying over airways, and for directs use http://gc.kls2.com (make sure you set path distance units to nm).And don't forget the distance between an airport and the first/last enroute fix (in case of a SID/STAR, take the distance RouteFinder gives you...) ;)So, lets see who's up for a challenge now.The first one isn't too difficult, but might pose a real challenge if you haven't planned much flights before. :)Departure airport: LIMZArrival airport: LKKVAltitude: FL190Minimum distance to beat: 530 nmGood luck!http://home.planet.nl/~duijn181/cu2/koen.jpg

(FPL-PATRICK-IN-A388/H-SHIRWXY/S-LIMZ0730-N0497F180 DCT TOP M730 GEN A9 SRN B4 OSKOR M985 SUMIR M726 MAH L132 BADUG-LKKV0057 EDFH - )it's 525.2nm

Hey Patrick,dont you think Frankfurt-Hahn is a "little" bit to far away as Alternate? :DBut the route is fine ;)I think your are the next one ;)

I know at least two shorter routes for LIMZ-LKKV at FL190, so lets see if anyone can come up with a shorter one!And btw, I forgot to add to the rules you can post as many routes you wish.So you still have a chance Patrick... ;)Cheers,http://home.planet.nl/~duijn181/cu2/koen.jpg

hey,here on which I have created:(FPL-DLH1AW-IN-A320/M-SDEIRWY/S-LIMZ0730-N0315F130 DCT TOP M730 GEN A9 SRN/N0445F170 B4 OSKOR M985 SUMIR M726 MAH L132 BADUG-LKKV0126 LKPR -DAT/S )

That's the same routing as Patrick, so that doesn't count. ;)Just to be sure, the challenge is only about finding the shortest route - not the fastest one, or the best plan. So Patrick still has the shortest route so far, but I'm sure someone can do better... If nobody finds another route within a few days, Patrick can think of the next route we have to solve. :)By the way, I should have said this before, but I just realized that there might be a few portions of the route where you want to fly an even altitude. If you do so, make that FL180. So use only FL180 and FL190 for this route.*Cheers,http://home.planet.nl/~duijn181/cu2/koen.jpg* As a side note, it would be possible to create an even shorter route below FL125 or above FL195, but that's one for later perhaps...

>Hey Patrick,>>dont you think Frankfurt-Hahn is a "little" bit to far away as >Alternate? :D>But the route is fine ;)>I think your are the next one ;)yeh I had to go into work with my Dad so I decided to do this as something to pass time, I didn't have any enroute charts with me, so I only used rfinder.asalink.net/free and some things I found from googling (I didn't want to download charts). I really didn't know how far away they were(LKKV and Hahn) so I just figured out that LIMZ is near LIMC and just worked from there. I don't even know where LKKV is lol.

Hmm Koen....the shortest route is an direct from LIMZ to LKKV and flying VFR over the alpes :D

How do you use http://rfinder.asalink.net/free to get the route length from a given flight plan?Off topic, Route Finder uses the Biggin SID for a flight from Gatwick to Edinbugh. This SID is for traffic to Heathrow and Northolt only. Edinburgh flights generally use the Lambourne SID.

If you enter two points in RouteFinder, it will give you the shortest airway distance between those points. So if it doesn't give the route of your plan directly by entering the origin and destination airport, try splitting the route in a few parts and add the distances you get for those together. If you need any more details, let me know...>> Route Finder uses the Biggin SID for a flight from Gatwick to Edinbugh.True, so then it's useful to have some charts and see there's another SID available for your flight. :)@Samy: yes, I forgot to add it has to be an IFR route. ;)Cheers,http://home.planet.nl/~duijn181/cu2/koen.jpg

Hmm...I have no further idea. Maybe fly along the south alpes to city of Klagenfurt and then to the north?

Koen, can you give us a hint about the routing? Entry to LKKV via the L984 to OKG or via the L132 to BADUG?Jasper :-wavehttp://online.vatsimindicators.net/820020/2926.png

Hello,Here is mine:(FPL-BOE737-IS-B737/M-SIRWY/S-LIMZ1000-N0363F180 DCT TOP A1 SPR Z64 MOLUS N871 KUDES N851 TGO N624 NIKUT Z94 OLIXA Z12 SULUS L984 OKG-LKKV0127 LKPR - )Distance from TOP to LKKV via the OKG star is 495.4 nm. Distance between LIMZ and TOP is 25 nm. So that's 520.4 nm.Not sure about the flight level though.CyaStarr

Ok, it seems Starr has found the shortest route! So now he can think of the next challenge... :)Another possible route was: TOP M730 GEN M985 MONEB N851 DESIP B4 OSKOR M985 SUMIR M726 MAH L132 BADUG, which is 522.6 nm.>> Not sure about the flight level though.The exact flight level doesn't matter, as long as you use one (or both) of the two given levels (in this case FL180 and FL190). The only reason for this constraint is that an even shorter route is possible below a certain FL, and in upper aispace (> FL195) as well...@Jasper: I'll only give a hint when it seems nobody is able to find a route... :)Cheers,http://home.planet.nl/~duijn181/cu2/koen.jpg

ok, here is the second challengeDeparture: LFMHdestination: EPPOAltitude: between FL200 and FL240Minimum distance to beat: 740 nmGood luck!:-smile12