Hey Guys!I'm new to the forum but i have a couple of questions for all you MD-11 fanatics. I fly this aircraft on the sim quite frequently and i'm familiar with most of the systems and FMC inputs. However, i need some assistance as far as crossing the pacific. I usually fly from MEM-NRT(dont care if its not a real route) but i have trouble finding waypoints(dontk now tech term) on pacific ocean. I know there are some waypoints that you can input into the FMC, i just dont know where to find them. Can anyone help me find some resources to find these waypoints, i dont think simroutes.com has any. Thanks a bunch! -Robert Santos

I have flown this route using a FedEx MD11F and I used the fsx flight planner for my waypoints, then saved it, then entered the route KMEM/RJAA in to the init page and the route waypoints automatically entered into the fmc. I'll dig through my flightplans and post the waypoints for you.

An external flight planner could help with the planning on oceanic crossings. Flightaware sometimes has the route information from various flights going in your direction which you could simply copy and paste into your flight planner. I personally use plotting charts from Jeppesen which show the airways and waypoints in those areas. Keep in mind, that depending on the circumstances such as weather, ETOPS, equipment, etc....the routes can be widely varied - a lot of the time using LAT/LONG waypoints. I use FSBuild for my flight planner - which can also plot you a "great circle route" and you can plot your lat/long points that way.Robert Williams

Go to PilotWeb. They have lists of Pacific Operating Tracks. They are like NATs in that they change daily. The catch is that you have to find where you enter the Pacific to find the correct track. Other than that, companies were allowed (starting in 2008) to create custom routing instead of following PACOTS. For this, the will choose Lat/Long points that suit their needs.

Thanks guys! this really helps and is what i'm looking for.

... companies were allowed (starting in 2008) to create custom routing instead of following PACOTS. For this, the will choose Lat/Long points that suit their needs.

Aaaah, so flying a great circle route is a completely legitimate way to cross the pacific ? I spend a reasonable amount of time flying between New Zealand which is in the bottom right corner of FSBuilds map and USA which is centre left, and the map doesn't wrap, so finding routes is a pita.CheersGary

Go to PilotWeb. They have lists of Pacific Operating Tracks. They are like NATs in that they change daily. The catch is that you have to find where you enter the Pacific to find the correct track. Other than that, companies were allowed (starting in 2008) to create custom routing instead of following PACOTS. For this, the will choose Lat/Long points that suit their needs.

Simroutes.com also lists the PACOTS (and NATs) on an updated basis.

This is how I do it, And its free.

This is how I do it, And its free.

This is a valuable post Jim!Bookmarked for future questions from others :(.

Hi All. A question re the "FlightAware" page displayed in this thread. I can not see the "Route" info in the pages I put up on this site. It just gives "Destination" and "Date", no route information to copy?The "simroutes" site only seems to give a "direct to" route, unless you know the Lat Long and input them exactly as the format? I tried to input some waypoints from a FSX plan that I have flown, but it still draws a direct route? Although the map it draws is informative.So it seems to me the planner in FSX is still the best ( for me anyway) and feeds the MD11 FMC with a good editable route, which is what I am after?FSX does generate a Direct GPS plan VHHH to KLAX or it does a IFR high altitude plan.Using "FlightAware" I attempted to compile a plan and found this site only allows US plans and then requests I input it as a FAA Plan.? Well, erm, my MD11 is not actually going to fly it, its in my spare room, actually?:( Is this for us "virtual pilots" or am I missing some steps here?Regards,David Harrison.

As for the flightaware part, the "flight planning" section of flightaware is NOT for flightsim. The way to use flightaware in flightsim is basically to copy and paste the actual route used on any particular flight into a flightplan generator such as simroutes. For overseas flights or flights that dont show a route on flightaware, this is what I do (everyone does it a different way, THIS works for me)-I go to RouteFinders website free access area which will include updated AIRAC or legacy AIRAC if that's what you need, plus NAT's Pacific tracks, etc here - http://rfinder.asalink.net/free/At the bottom of the page that is generated by routefinders, I simply copy the route given and paste it into SimRoutes, generate the finalized flightplan and export it to flightsim and PMDG formats. You just have to make sure the route dosent have any holes in it that flightsim wont understand or it wont load in FS. Do this by opening the route up in notepad and make sure all the waypoints are listed in NUMERIC ORDER. if there are any that are NOT, then simply re-number them all so they ARE in numeric order and save.Like I said, everyone does it differently. I can have any route figured out and generated into 2 different formats and in their respective folders within a minute or two. Once you get the hang of it, it's REAL easy.EDIT: If you look at the 3rd image in BIG SKY's post, the first waypoint in the finalized flightplan is listed as "V3". If you look, you will notice that next to this waypoint, there is a "dash" where a heading should be. This would be a "hole" that FS will not recognize and must be either removed from the flightplan or the flightplan must be edited afterwards. Any "good" waypoint will have a heading listed, and any "bad" one will have a dash. FS will not load the plan unless this is addressed either before exporting it to a file or after the file has been generated by using notepad. The only waypoint which will NOT have a heading listed is the place or origin, in this case "VHHH".

I actually had the same issue as David last night. I went to try the method in the pictures but looks like things have changed alot maybe. I'll give Bills method a shot tonight.I wish I could find a page that had the Airways listed the way runwayfinder and skyvector does for other countries... Personally I much prefer looking at them and choosing my own course of travel rather than just doing the To and from fields when I can. After updating FSX's data I was able to use it's flight planning map for some routes and got them uploaded to VROUTE, but the GUI is still pretty pathetic and wish there was a better option.

I actually had the same issue as David last night. I went to try the method in the pictures but looks like things have changed alot maybe. I'll give Bills method a shot tonight.I wish I could find a page that had the Airways listed the way runwayfinder and skyvector does for other countries... Personally I much prefer looking at them and choosing my own course of travel rather than just doing the To and from fields when I can. After updating FSX's data I was able to use it's flight planning map for some routes and got them uploaded to VROUTE, but the GUI is still pretty pathetic and wish there was a better option.

I totally agree, Dan. ALL the waypoints are THERE, it should be much easier for you to find them and use them in a flightplan from within FS itself without having to resort to multiple websites and having to edit things and such. But, like with anything else the hunt and the ability to overcome and fix it does broaden one's horizons :(

When flightaware does not list the route details, I use Route finder to generate a route. You will have to verify the route is valid for FSX because they use different AIRAC's and nav databases, but the route is listed as point to point, VOR/intersection and airway to airway so you can easily visualise the route with simroutes or FSX.

Sorry for the wait before replying, I should have test flown that plan, but I posted in a hurry. one thing I forgot to add,was that PMDG's FMS dosent like the Lat/Lon format from Sim routes.