737-700 across the Atlantic

[Guest james320]

I am interested to see if a (low zero-fuel weight) B737-700 could make it across the atlantic, perhaps from New York or Boston to London?The only problem is finding a sensible I route to enter into the FMC... any suggestions?I did a flightplan search and came up with the following suggested routes from KJFK to EGLL but the construction is unfamiliar to me and I'm not sure how to program it into the FMC?KJFK RWY 31L MERIT3.PUT J42 BOS DCT WITCH DCT ALLEX N79B YQX NAT W (TMI 179) KOBEV 5050N 5140N 5230N 5220N LIMRI UN523 CRK UL607 NUMPO Y3 NIGIT.OCK1F EGLLJFK J62 ACK DCT KANNI N37B BANCS URTAK 4650N 4840N 5030N 5220N MALOT UN535 BURAK UL9 KENNET LHRMERIT3.PUT DCT WITCH DCT ALLEX N93B CYMON MO84/F360 NAT V DOGAL M084/F390 BABAN UN544DEVOL UN546 STU UL9 KENET OCK1AKJFK-HTO-MONTT-LFV-YQI-YQY-CYMON-TRACK_W-BABAN-DEVOL-UN456-STU-UG1-KENET.OCK1A-EGLLBETTE3.ACK JOBOC CARAC LOMPI 45N52W 45N050W NATSN 49N015W BEDRA KENUK BARIX MALBY KENET OCK1AAny help much appreciated!James Stevensonhttp://www.virtualaviation.co.uk

[falconno 0]

Hi James.I suggest that you take a look in the FMC manual about entering route and waypoints. Timothy Metzinger's tutorial also has an exact explanation of entering a route with isecs, airways etc. in the FMC.To give you a starter, enters like OCK1F and OCK1A are most likely stars, DOGAL, CYMON etc are intersections, fixes, navaids and so on. UL9, J62, UL607 are airways. I will also recommend flight planner like FsBuild2(payware) to build such routes. It will autogenerate the route completely with sid/stars, isec's, airways etc, and it will also calculate fuel for you.

[jjeffreys 12]

Yes it is possible, but as you say you are going to have a low ZFW and lots of fuel. You will enter in the majority of the route like any other the only difference will be when you enter the NAT it is done in a fix format ie 4235N that is all you enter and then press the corresponding LSK. Make sure that you go to VAT-UK website there is an excellent amount of information there about crossing the pond. Also do a search on google and try to find some how to's as far as reporting, it really helps out when you get a oceanic controllers. Good luck and have fun.

[Guest rellimj]

A quick & dirty translation of the first flight plan:>KJFKdeparture airport>RWY 31Ldeparture runway>MERIT3.PUTDP (which stands for "Departure Procedure") - also referred to as SID.>J42A high-altitude airway. Others in the flight plan are: N79B, UN523, UL607, Y3>BOSA VORTAC. Others in the flight plan are YQX, TMI, CRK>DCTmeans "Direct" - i.e. not following any airways>WITCHAn Intersection (or also referred to as FIX). Others in the flight plan are: ALLEX, KOBEV, LIMRI, NUMPO>NAT WNorth Atlantic Track W. A special trans-atlantic high-altitude airway>(TMI 179)VOR/DME waypoint - i.e. 179nm from the TMI VORTAC>5050NA latitude/longitude waypoint. Others in the flight plan are: 5140N, 5230N, 5220N>NIGIT.OCK1FStandard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR). As with the DP, locate a chart to input individual waypoints, or, the STAR may already be in the PMDG FMC for EGLL on the ARR page.>EGLLdestinationPoint of interest on the third flight plan:>MO84/F360>M084/F390These are not navigational waypoints - rather, step climb clearances. The flight plan is requesting clearance for 36,000ft at Mach .84 after passing CYMON and clearance for 39,000ft at Mach .84 after passing DOGALAll of these waypoints can be input into the FMC. My hope is that with a little interpretation of their meaning, you can now find in the PMDG FMC manual how you would enter this route.Also, for other experienced readers, this wasn't meant to be a "be-all-end-all" explanation or complete tutorial for flight plans...LOL. Rather, just enough information to get started...Joe Miller

[bobbyjoh 11]

James,I do highly recommend the use of FSBuild V2, it really makes flight planning much easier to do and avoids the many problems with "naked" flight plans. FSB either has the route pre-stored or will autogenerate them for you. NAT routes are downloaded daily with FSB.Now to answer your second question. I am on a two week European trip right now. I departed KIAD for EGLL with the 737-800. My ZFW is very low, in fact it is 108726 pounds, that is with 60 pax and just a little baggage. The west to east trip is pretty easy due to the jet stream. When I return home, I will fly it in to legs, one from LFPG (Paris) to BIKF (Keflavik) to KBOS. Of course the reason for the low ZFW is that you need a full fuel load of 46K pounds.It is a realy challenge to fly to different spots in the world, since you have to use enroute and plotting charts to plan your flights.CheersBob Johnson

[phil747fan 14]

TWA0700 04.09.26 B737-700 NG -700 KJFKEGLL.001 SEQ002 RLS000 WARNINGS :- ZFW reduced, Limited Zero Fuel Weight.- ZFW reduced, Limited Take Off Weight.FUEL CALCULATION: ALL IN LB BIAS 1000 TAXI 0 EGLL 33950 06.05 RR20 1863 00.20 EGKK* 2169 00,16 FL030 FR 2490 00.30 CF 0 HF 0 MIN 40472 07,11 ADD 0 ACT 40472 WEIGHT/FUEL BREAK DOWN: ALL IN LB ZFW 114528 121700TOF 40472 46063 TOW 155000 155000TIF 33950LW 121050 121700REM 6522 NOTES :- CALCULATED 1ST ALTERNATE ONLY- UWX DATA FILES IN USE : 20040926.12U / 20040926.18U- AC TYPE NON STOPS/EROPSRTE VIA : BETTE3-ACK / DCT-ALLEX / N107B-DOTTY / DCT-5250N / DCT-5240N / DCT-5330N / DCT-5320N / DCT-LIMRI / UN523-CRK / UL607-NUMPO / DCT-NIGIT / (I27L-*Proc)DIST 3083 GCI 103 CP T035 ESAD 2736 CRSM NCR FLIGHT PROFILE :ACK/F350 - DOTTY/F370 - DOLIP/F390 ************************************************************* !!! NOT FOR REAL FLIGHTS OR NAVIGATION - INFORMATION ONLY !!!

[fozzy 1]

made it last sunday.. from Shannon to Boston on a 737-700, even had some fuel spare with about a half load... And for routeplanning this one is good too: http://rfinder.asalink.net/free/Luca