Where Is Your 777 Now?

[JRBarrett 2,947]

Cool flight, I did that flight a few days ago: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/420656-delta-airlines-777-200lr-katl-to-omdb-warning-big-pictures/

I was pretty close to matching the real flight duration of the flight I based my session on: DAL8 on 9/7/13. Step climbs matched!

 

The real aircraft tonight must be heavier than what I loaded in the sim. I stepped from FL310 to FL330 25 minutes ago, while the actual flight just now made his climb.

 

I set up my PFPX route based on the actual FP for tonight's flight, (as of 2 hours before departure), but he (or maybe its a she!) must have gotten a re-route after takeoff. It was originally scheduled to cross the pond via NATX, so that is where I'm headed, while the real DAL8 is now crossing via NATZ. Our flight paths are diverging now. I'm about 50nm north of Bangor, while he is 50 nm south, but we're running almost parallel.

 

Using FSGRW for weather, and the winds aloft are very close to the pre-flight forecast so far.

 

Yes, I read your post re: this same flight, with all the great screen shots. Nice job!

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Matsu787 104]

Just completed DL8 KATL to OMDB a 13 plus hours....

Currently TAY11 in the middle of Atlantic from KJFK to EBLG for 7 hours flight.

 

 

 

Kin M.

(Klax)

[NGXfanatic 85]

Wow, DAL8 is a popular flight I see here!  

 

Good on ya for flying against the real flight on the same day/time.   I only do flights that have already completed.  Thanks to Flightaware, I have the luxury of just copy/pasting the exact route flown IRL into PFPX and I just take it from there.  In fact, I even grab the Google Earth .kml file of the flightpath saved on the website for every flight, open it up on Google Earth, and painstakingly compare it to the proposed flightplan in PFPX.  It's easy to spot route deviations there comparing the two maps (even easier in FSBuild since it has a googleearth map export, unfortunately, PFPX doesn't and probably never will have such functionality).  I will then make a note to myself on the OFP, reminding me to go direct at certain waypoints or change route entirely at a specific spot.   Also see the shortcuts given on SIDs/STARs that ATC often gives traffic.   I rarely fly the published STAR if the flightaware record shows otherwise.

 

The flightpath filed by the Delta 8 crew was basically the same inflight, except they exited the Canadian border on a different oceanic entry waypoint, something I noticed right away comparing maps.   No NAT track (sorry Kyle) used on my flight, they used fixed lat/long waypoints just slightly north of the highest track.

 

It's insane the level of research I put into my flights, no wonder I can only handle one flight a week    Damn my OCD!

 

I now want to fly the return trip to Atlanta, except there is a small issue, Flightaware does not give the complete route.  I think they only show the north american waypoints.  I will have to play around in PFPX to see if I can approximate the route I see on Flightaware. 

[Airbusman330 300]

Back home in ORD after coming back from AFW.

[JRBarrett 2,947]

 

I now want to fly the return trip to Atlanta, except there is a small issue, Flightaware does not give the complete route. I think they only show the north american waypoints. I will have to play around in PFPX to see if I can approximate the route I see on Flightaware.

 

I had a similar problem with getting the full route to OMDB. The current and historic Flightaware FP's for DAL8, typically only give the route about as far as Germany or the Czech Republic, after which it simply says "xxx".

 

The FP route crossed the southern UK on airway UL9 from STU to KONAN. What I did was to search Flightaware for flights from London to Dubai. Found the FP for Qantas 10, an A388 flight originating at Heathrow which had full routing STARTING at KONAN, all the way to Dubai.

 

I combined the two Flightaware FPs and it worked perfectly. And, it passed CFMU validation in PFPX on the first try.

 

For the return trip as DAL 7, I'll do the same thing. QFA 9 from OMDB to EGLL shows full route details in Flightaware. Once I get to UK airspace, I can route myself the rest of the way to Canada via the day's westbound NAT tracks, and find a Flightaware routing the rest of the way back to Atlanta from there.

 

I crossed into Iraq airspace from Turkey a few minutes ago. Just over two hours to go. I installed Fly Tampa's Dubai Rebooted before I started this flight, but have not tried it yet.Just hope I won't have any VAS issues on arrival, but I am currently holding at 2.7 GB, so There shouldn't be any problems.

 

[IFRking 88]

Currently over Iranian airspace on FL390 heading to OMDB from Stockholm on UAE158

[PinkJackal 86]

Into descent to LFBO from EYVI! Give me a message if you are on VATSIM, my call sign ABJ279!

[Goof 38]

Enrote from EGLL to CYVR with ACA855. unfortunately i'm 15 minutes ahead of the real flight :(

[Hirdy2013 104]

Just flew into LOWW from Cardiff (EGFF).

 

Next flight - LOWW OMDB

[Kattz 132]

Where is my 777 right now?  At this moment?  Receiving a walk-around from the first officer while parked safely on my SSD...

[3-2-1-Now 126]

Currently en-route to Hong Kong. Next is non-stop to Santiago. B)

 

Best regards,

Robin.

[NGXfanatic 85]

I had a similar problem with getting the full route to OMDB. The current and historic Flightaware FP's for DAL8, typically only give the route about as far as Germany or the Czech Republic, after which it simply says "xxx".

 

The FP route crossed the southern UK on airway UL9 from STU to KONAN. What I did was to search Flightaware for flights from London to Dubai. Found the FP for Qantas 10, an A388 flight originating at Heathrow which had full routing STARTING at KONAN, all the way to Dubai.

 

I combined the two Flightaware FPs and it worked perfectly. And, it passed CFMU validation in PFPX on the first try.

 

For the return trip as DAL 7, I'll do the same thing. QFA 9 from OMDB to EGLL shows full route details in Flightaware. Once I get to UK airspace, I can route myself the rest of the way to Canada via the day's westbound NAT tracks, and find a Flightaware routing the rest of the way back to Atlanta from there.

 

I crossed into Iraq airspace from Turkey a few minutes ago. Just over two hours to go. I installed Fly Tampa's Dubai Rebooted before I started this flight, but have not tried it yet.Just hope I won't have any VAS issues on arrival, but I am currently holding at 2.7 GB, so There shouldn't be any problems.

I had a similar situation with the Flightaware route I copied on the date I flew, but it only added the XXX about 300 nm from OMDB, over the Persian Gulf.  Was easy to figure out the rest of the route by looking at past DAL8 flights.  

 

RE: DAL 7, the return flight to KATL.  I'm going to pick the most recent flight, whatever the incomplete route will be, and see if I can figure out the missing parts in PFPX by eyeballing the flightaware map.  The thing about this route is it widely varies daily depending on the winds, as I have seen on the flightpath records.   i'll try, but if not, I found a flight on September 10th that has the complete route posted.  I'd rather avoid the route to EGLL, and then appending EGLL to KATL via NAT "fill in the blank" as I'm pretty certain the real OMDB-KATL flight bypasses UK airspace the majority of the time. 

 

Anyways, trying to match the real world route is part of the fun for me, or it's part of my OCD, LOL!

[JRBarrett 2,947]

I had a similar situation with the Flightaware route I copied on the date I flew, but it only added the XXX about 300 nm from OMDB, over the Persian Gulf. Was easy to figure out the rest of the route by looking at past DAL8 flights.

 

RE: DAL 7, the return flight to KATL. I'm going to pick the most recent flight, whatever the incomplete route will be, and see if I can figure out the missing parts in PFPX by eyeballing the flightaware map. The thing about this route is it widely varies daily depending on the winds, as I have seen on the flightpath records. i'll try, but if not, I found a flight on September 10th that has the complete route posted. I'd rather avoid the route to EGLL, and then appending EGLL to KATL via NAT "fill in the blank" as I'm pretty certain the real OMDB-KATL flight bypasses UK airspace the majority of the time.

 

Anyways, trying to match the real world route is part of the fun for me, or it's part of my OCD, LOL!

 

Yes, I think the return flight usually goes north of Scotland, and crosses southern Greenland north of 60 degrees N. The return flight happens at night, when the eastbound NAT tracks are active, so they need to stay north to avoid going against the flow.

 

In fact last night, tracking the real flight on Flight Radar 24, I saw ATL-bound DAL 7 making landfall over Labrador about 200 miles due north of DAL 8, which was just entering oceanic airspace on the coast of New Brunswick, heading east. This was about 0500Z...

 

I believe the first part of the DAL 7 return trip north up the Persian Gulf and crossing Iraq is pretty well fixed from day-to-day to avoid Iranian and Syrian airspace. If winds are favorable, I suppose they may occasionally cut west across Saudi Arabia.

[NGXfanatic 85]

Wow, I didn't know the two delta flights cross paths, and that makes sense that the west bound flight needs to avoid the one way east bound NAT traffic.  NATs are so fascinating, I have become rusty because I haven't flown them in ages, but I'm becoming reacquainted fast.  

 

Interesting tidbit about Iran airspace.  When I flew on a vacation trip from London Heathrow to Bangalore India in 2009, we passed over Iran.  Not so my last trip a month ago, or at least that's what the maps tell me on FA.  I think we crossed over a small portion to the northeast.  But anyway, it's interesting to see the role geopolitics plays in the route planning performed by airline dispatchers. 

 

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with me!

[B777ER 2,347]

Thanks to Flightaware, I have the luxury of just copy/pasting the exact route flown IRL into PFPX and I just take it from there.

I can never get copy /paste to work in PFPX. CTRL C/CTRL V don't work, right click copy /paste don't work. Do you have to let it build a route, then edit it to get it to work? Because just trying to put something in the route box when building a non schedule flight does not work for me.

 

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