That is the heart of my question. In this day and age, how is it possible that when I am in the system on a previously filed IFR flight plan, that the controller has no idea where I'm going and if that is the case, they must not be sure of my routing either.
That blows my mind. What would the controller do if I had a radio problem and never checked in? Lost comms I'm expected to follow my clearance.....but you seem to be saying the controller may not have a clue where I am going or how I'm supposed to get there.
That seems messed up.
I think I haven't done a good job of explaining things on our end and how this happens.
Other than quiet periods or times of low staffing we will have a dedicated flight data controller who places the strips at the correct scope. Not having a strip isn't common, however. Typically the strips aren't posted to the sector individually as they print. Most controllers will allow 5 minutes of strips print before posting for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, strips print when an aircraft is 30 minutes from the boundary or proposed to depart, so unless someone is departing from an airport on the edge of our airspace headed for us, the controller will have the strip. Secondly, every single time center checks a route on an aircraft we get a brand new strip. On average I'd say every airline arrival results in 6 printed strips. You can have a pile of 25 strips and only 3 or 4 be useful. Rather than walk each of those 25 strips individually only to find 22 of the are duplicates and waste 22 trips, most controllers play go fish with the pile and then post the few good strips.
Another reason could be a trainee on flight data not having the best grasp on the airspace. The guy two scopes down probably has the strip, but just asking the pilot is easier than me shouting at a scared trainee to go fetch it for me.
Probably the most common reason is when we're short and the supervisor is also working data. TMU calls, something entered in the daily log, forgot to give someone a time to relieve the guy on arrival, next thing you know they're may behind on strips. Same deal with the trainee, just easier to ask the pilot rather than have the supervisor hang up on the tower and find the strip.
If we're OPS normal, your routing isn't normally a problem to a terminal controller. I see the plane going, say, northbound at an assigned altitude and I use altitude to provide separation. Unless your flight plan involved a 45 degree or greater turn off a fix, it probably doesn't matter much to me.
Now in your NORDO situation, I'll be shouting to the trainee/supe/data guy to get me the routing ASAP which takes 10 seconds.
Its the finest in early 80's technology!
