No plan survives contact with the enemy...

When I was in the Army, we always said "no plan survives contact with the
enemy". My new mantra is "no flight plan survives contact with Toronto
Terminal". I've flown from various places on the east side of Toronto
(Oshawa, Buttonville, City Center) to Rochester NY about 10-15 times,
almost always on a Sunday afternoon. I try to minimize the time I'm out
over the lake outside of gliding distance. So I file routes that stick to
the narrow end of the lake (I'd like to stay west of AIRCO and BULGE), and
I file for altitudes that feel comfortably high for me (8-10K). I
generally get cleared on one of two routes, both of which would work for
me - either "DIRECT YYZ V31 ROC" or "A21 V234 AIRCO V31 ROC". But as soon
as I contact Toronto, they start jerking me around. First they want me to
go direct to Rochester. I don't want to do that. So they say "ok, then I
have to keep you at 3,000 feet 10 miles off shore". Nope, I can't do that
either. "Ok, then you'll have to go north of Pearson and around
Hamilton".

Today I managed to convince them to let me go direct BUF, and when I got
close enough to the shore they let me turn direct ROC. That's not *too*
far off A21 and BULGE/AIRCO.

But once in a while I've gotten good routes from them on a Sunday.

Is there a secret to getting what I want out of them?

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
A male pilot is a confused soul who talks about women when he's flying,
and about flying when he's with a woman.