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Captain Caveman

Trans Atlantic routes in FS2004

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Use an external flightplanner that knows about transoceanic airways.FSBuild is excellent.

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Guest VHOJU

Hi there - wrote this for a forum a few months ago (and just to tell you in brief, there's a great free way to realistically plan Atlantic routes...)---To be short with you, North Atlantic planning in FS is useless.I'll give you a quick (could be slightly wrong but I'm pretty sure it's right) explanation of how they do it in real life:North Atlantic airspace is controlled quite differently to how most other airspaces are. The routes airliners take over the atlantic change daily. This allows the routes (or tracks) to follow favourable winds among other things. There are usually six tracks that planes follow over the NAtl in a certain direction. For example Europe-bound flights follow east-bound trakcs U, V, W, X and Y. Normal flight level rules don't apply here so plans fly at odd and even altitudes in the same direction. An example of a route over the North Atlantic is as follows (they are called NATS - North Atlantic Tracks): This is for track U:TRAKU RAFIN VODOR 45/50 47/40 48/30 50/20 DINIM GIPEREAST LVLS 320 330 340 350 360 370 380 390 400. This means Track U starts at the waypoint (or intersection) RAFIN then goes to VODOR, then goes to 4550N (a latitude/longtitude waypoint) , then to 4740N (a Latitude/longtitude waypoint) and so on until it reaches waypoint DINIM, then GIPER (end of track), then it continues on into Europe via normal airways - no North Atlantic Trakcs are in FS as they change daily.This is good example picture: http://www.natroutes.glideslope.de/images/XYZ.png (it doesn't agree with my written example because they were from different days).If you have an FMC take use of it and use it to program NATS into - there are good sites that give you up to date NATs, winds planning charts etc - its quite easy really. .If you want any info on NATS:http://www.natroutes.glideslope.de/ - got up to date tracks.http://www.planningchart.de/nat.gif - good chart to get a visual idea of where you're going.---------THe best place to plan your route is here:http://rfinder.asalink.net/free/Just type a departure airport, arrival airport and make sure you enable NATs.Then just enter that plan into the FMC!Hope this helps, please ask if there's something you don't understand.VHOJU.

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Guest

Just like that, almost.It should recognise 5420W as a valid waypoint, or possibly N5420W (don't have an FMC here to try :) ).If it doesn't, try creating custom waypoints for each point.

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FMC recoginizes format of:N5400.0W02000.0Hope I got this right, cuz don't have FMC open now. I know the zeroes are important, especially one after W, cuz it's 20, not 200.Enjoy transoceanic flights.

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thx gonna try that out :) should anything go into the VIA ? or is all direct?should i set Direct GPS IFR route between the airports in FS to get ATC to be right?

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Guest

VIA is to put in the airway to fly over. There are no airways per se so you leave it empty.In FS you can click and drag custom waypoints in the planner I think, otherwise you would indeed need direct GPS or use an external flight planner (which can insert the waypoints into the plan).

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Hi guys,The easiest way to enter the waypoints is like this:N5400.0W02000.0 translates to just "5420N" !!!eg for NATX today enter into the FMC :VIXUNLOGSU4950N5040N5130N5120NDINIMGIPERBest regards,Armen at EGLLwww.veryquiet.com


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Armen L Cholakian
PMDG Sound Engineer

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Guest VHOJU

Armen is exactly right, that's definitely the easiest way to put them in.Forgot to post my name the last time I posted.Cheers,Rudy.

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Guest geraldm

Hiya,I have a question about waypoints.I understand the below and it works great. but what happens when you have the following:8000N/11000WEntering 8011N into the FMC reports it as 8000N/01100W which is incorrect. If I enter 80110N is reports "NOT IN DATABASE". Can anyone tell me what is the proper format to enter this waypoint?Thanks,Gerald.BTW: I'm using the FMC in PMDG 747-400.>Hi guys,>>The easiest way to enter the waypoints is like this:>>N5400.0W02000.0 translates to just "5420N" !!!>>eg for NATX today enter into the FMC :>>VIXUN>LOGSU>4950N>5040N>5130N>5120N>DINIM>GIPER>>Best regards,>>>Armen at EGLL>www.veryquiet.com

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Waypoints like 5040N (for 50N 40W) are created just for ease of flight planning where MOST flights cross the atlantic. Instead of creating coordinates, they shoretn it to a waypoint name format. What you're actually doing is not creating a coordinate point in the FMC but calling up a waypoint with that name. If you look at the name of the waypoint it doesn't even make sense, but it has been accepted and used like this for a while.In other geographical locations try using like in your example 80N110W. If it doesn't work (which probably it wouldn't because it has 6 characters i.s.o. 5) you would simply have to insert it as a coordinate. Just like when entering present position:"N8000.0W11000.0"Xander


Xander Koote

All round aviation geek

1st Officer Boeing 777

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This is how common FMC navdatabases are using the abbreviationsa. Positions in the northern hemisphere use the letters-N- and -E-, the southern hemisphere use the letters-S- and -W- and numerics for latitude and longitudeas follows:(1) Latitude, use values provided by source. Latitudewill always precede longitude.(2) Longitude, use only the last two values of the threedigit longitude value. Placement of the letterdesignator in the five character set indicates what thefirst digit is published as. The letter designator willbe the last character if the longitude is less than 100degrees and will be the third character if thelongitude is 100 degrees or greater.(3) The letter -N- is used for north latitude and westlongitude. The letter -E- is used for north latitudeand east longitude. The letter -S- is used for southlatitude and east longitude. The letter -W- is usedfor south latitude and west longitude.b. Examples:N latitude/W longitudeN52 00/W075 00 = 5275NN50 00/W040 00 = 5040NN07 00/W008 00 = 0708NN75 00/W170 00 = 75N70N07 00/W120 00 = 07N20N latitude/E longitudeN50 00/E020 00 = 5020EN75 00/E050 00 = 7550EN06 00/E008 00 = 0608EN75 00/E150 00 = 75E50N06 00/E110 00 = 06E10S latitude/W longitudeS52 00/W075 00 = 5275WS50 00/W040 00 = 5040WS07 00/W008 00 = 0708WS75 00/W170 00 = 75W70S07 00/W120 00 = 07W20S latitude/E longitudeS50 00/E020 00 = 5020SS75 00/E050 00 = 7550SS06 00/E008 00 = 0608SS75 00/E150 00 = 75S50S06 00/E110 00 = 06S10Hope this helpsB. RgdsMichel

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