Originally Posted by
Regularguy
OK
First if any of you are doing Class II Nav you'd better be using the Flight Plan and not the how gozit. Read your Class II Nav procedures. I also believe there was a memo recently about such a thing.
Second
" but when given a direct the first thing I do is pull up the progress page on one side and put the direct in the legs page on the other side, before accepting and executing I see what the new computed ETA and Fuel remaining numbers are."
Very bad idea, even domestically. A direct route is NOT always better and just plugging it in the FMC will not give you a correct or even close estimate of fuel. Why? Because it doesn't know the winds, especially on the coast to coast flights.
There has been more than one coast to coast which went direct and got a bit low on fuel.
The SOPs were/are written because someone made a point, probably using "technique" which caused them to be put in writing.
I fly 10+ hour trips and we rarely vary from the plan and normally arrive within minutes and with the fuel planned.
When you fly your 10+ hour trips you are more than likely on the tracks, and they are optimized for winds, and you aren't allowed to go direct anyway.
A lot of the rest of us are going into and out of busy airports, more often. FP's are not optimized for winds, they are optimized for ATC restraints.
I don't think a blanket statement that we should not request or accept a direct routing is always right. It might be right at 50N 150 W, but not necessarily everywhere else.