Filing with a STAR

Paul Tomblin ) wrote:

I'm going to be flying from ROC to BAF weekend after next. Just plugging
the end points into Aeroplanner gives me a nice simple route V2 ALB V146,
but I see that BAF has a STAR, SWEDE ONE. It's a bit longer than the
simple route, and since I've never flown that direction I don't know if I
should file what I want and expect them to reroute me along SWEDE ONE, or
should I just admit the inevitable and file SWEDE ONE?
Snip

Having flown most of my filed IFR flights in the Northeast US, I have
discovered that the simplest method when filing to an unfamiliar airport
is to file whatever flight plan I want, sans STAR or DPs.

If ATC needs me to fly a STAR and/or a different route, they will
include it in the clearance. At that point, I note it in my growing
list of "real preferred IFR routes" notebook for next time, when my goal
is to receive a "Cleared to XXX as filed."

--
Peter