Hello

With the forthcoming release of the PMDG 777, I will for the first time ever embark on transoceanic flights with FSX.  As I have never planned this before, I was wondering what special requirements may be needed in order to accomplish this task?  I am currently using FSBuild and Vroute premium for flight planning and I am also using Radar Contact for ATC.  Weather engine is by OPUS.  Will these addon's be capable of creating realistic transoceanic flight plans? 

 

Thanks!
 

 

Yes. Transoceanic flight plans aren't too different from non-oceanic flights. You will have nattracks though which help with planning. Also remember that you can make your flight alot shorter by going more north over the earths curvature, so for example if I am doing KJFK-EGLL I am not going to go straight to it from JFK I will go up the NE coast of the US, and new found land, and make almost an arc to get to London. <br /><br />Another thing, plan for the weather more than a regular flight. You are over the ocean most of the time, not many places to land. Weather can change in an instant. Generally you will have a tailwind going to London from New York and a headwind coming back, but it can change.<br /><br /><br />Remy Mermelstein<br />777-300 FS Pilot

I highly recommend Activesky especially for this type of flying. You load your flight plan and it will create virtual stations in places like the middle of the ocean to make a realistic depiction of wx on your route.

For Atlantic flights you can build flight plan through nort atlantic tracks, or to build your custom route based on orthodrome for example. Over Pacific you have PACOTS routing available.

 

You can get up-to date NAT tracks at this site:

https://www.notams.faa.gov/common/nat.html

For Atlantic flights you can build flight plan through nort atlantic tracks

So will a program like FSBuild autogenerate a flight plan using north atlantic tracks? What flight planning program do you use for Atlantic flights?

I don't own FSBuild, so I dont know. I use as many sources as I can find, including FAA routebook, skyvector, NATs informations at site I provided... And I have very nice jeppesen north atlantic plotting charts.

For NAT tracks you can google them and find the different tracks with the waypoints for them. If you have a flightplanning program like FSC then you just select NAT tracks and input the waypoints into your flightplan. The NAT tracks change daily. Here is a link for them: https://www.notams.faa.gov/common/nat.html

For NAT tracks you can google them and find the different tracks with the waypoints for them. If you have a flightplanning program like FSC then you just select NAT tracks and input the waypoints into your flightplan. The NAT tracks change daily. Here is a link for them: https://www.notams.faa.gov/common/nat.html

Well thats alot of info to decipher! Gonna try and generate a flight plan with FSBuild and see what happens?

Thanks for info

I use FS Commander for flight planning. It downloads current Atlantic and Pacific tracks and displays them graphically so you can select the one that best fits the bookends of your flight. The program's graphics are rather dated but it really is a multifunctional tool with an active support forum.

You will need this file from AVSIM, It places the North Atlantic waypoints into FSX.

 

http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?DLID=&Name=Atlantic+Waypoints&FileName=&Author=&CatID=fsx

A great way to learn about NAT tracks is to copy/paste some routes found on Flightaware.com.    Search for some well known transatlantic routes, like JFK to EGLL, and you will see how these routes are structured.   Also, FSbuild makes it easy to insert NAT tracks into your own routes, and it has a handy map that lets you choose the optimal path. 

There are some good replies above, John and I've little to add - except for a link to a useful article on the VatSimUK website which might also make for an interesting read for you. Here it is

 

http://www.vatsim-uk.co.uk/oceanic-procedures/

 

Regards

 

Brian

Some links that can help you :

 

http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?DLID=20790

 

http://ivao.co.uk/events/files/2013/atlantic/guide.pdf

 

http://occ.ivao.aero/index.php?site=pilots

If the aircraft you are flying has an FMC (The PMDG 777 will have a great one) then that can help you alot with the routing, planning and flying. Also, you should become familiar how to enter NAT tracks into the FMC because some of the waypoints will be Lat Long points like 5160N, which I believe would be entered as 51/60 (I am not sure though). Also, make sure you have the current AIRAC cycle.

Thanks to all for this very useful information. Got lots to read over before the T7 release!