Flight plan hell, Tales of filing an ADIZ flight plan

I filed an ADIZ/FRZ flight plan yesterday that went to the wrong Center.
Not once, not twice, not three times, but four times. It turns out that
even if you file with Leesburg FSS for a DC area ADIZ plan it can be
automatically routed to the wrong facility.

I called Friday evening checked weather, notams TFR's, etc. and filed
two flight plans. One ADIZ fro the next morning to get from Culpeper to
Frederick, MD and then onto Grimes (8N1). Great place.
www.goldenageair.org The other was for Sunday afternoon Westminster VOR
(EMI) to Hyde Field (W32) where my job is based. Yes you can file for
more than 24 hours in advance. The first flight plan went off without a
hitch. I called Sunday morning to file my work related super secret
flight plans and check on my previously filed flight plan suspicious
that it was already gone. It was still there!

I took off out of Grimes around 12:30 to pick up ADIZ flight plan over
EMI around 13:00. I arrived over EMI at 13:05 and called Potomac
Approach. He could not find the flight plan. I waited a few minutes and
called again. He said it was still not there. I was ****ed! I believed
it was lost and landed at Carroll County. I called Leesburg and Asked to
speak to the supervisor. He told me it was there and sent it again. I
took off confident that it was finally there. Upon climbing out I called
Potomac once again and he told me it was not there. By now I was truly
upset. I was going to be late for work. I thought they were screwing
with me. Some of the controllers know my voice since I fly the ADIZ/FRZ
so frequently. Some also do not like me. Improper service results in a
phone call to QA/QC.

Knowing I had a flight plan in the system, I called Leesburg again on
the air to air. The quality of their transmitter was poor and this added
to the frustration. I finally got the message across and she once again
transmitted the plan. It finally had come through. I was able to finally
get one my way towards Hyde Field with the requisite "remain clear of
Class B and FRZ". Once I landed and parked I called Leesburg and asked
to speak to the supervisor. He recognized my voice and starting
apologizing profusely.

It turns out that the default routing code for Flight plans originating
at Westminster (EMI) is New York center. Huh? EMI is 20 or so miles for
Baltimore? He went on to explain. In order to streamline things New York
center has control of flights from EMI north, includes EMI. Potomac
hands off directly to New York Center, taking Washington Center out of
the loop. A very short loop for Jets. To get around the flight plan
routing problem Leesburg has to manually change the routing for the
flight plan to make sure it gets to Washington, DC and then on to
Potomac. They failed to do this four times.

I asked him where to send the bill. he said "you can send it here but we
don't have any money to pay it."
So next time you file from the north over EMI Make you the Briefer
enters the correct routing code so you flight plan is available.

Michelle