North Atlantic Tracks... for all flights over the ocean?

[gnomegemini]

Hi there,

 

just a question: are all flights forced to use the NAT's? Does an airline have to fly a NAT to TNCM? What's for (imaginary) flights from europe to hawaii? Does europe->west coast flights have to use nat's? Or are these tracks only for europe->east coast flights?

[BIGSKY]

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AFR498/history/20140114/0930Z/LFPG/TNCM

 

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/VIR19/history/20140106/1055Z/EGLL/KSFO

[hopskip]

One of the best documentaries I'v watched in a while:

 

This bit, about the "South East Corner" is probably most relevant to aircraft heading south of the NorthEastern USA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcKRe4_6SpQ

[fs4fun]

NATs are only in effect for flights that cross longitude 30W during the following time spans:

 

- eastbound: 0100z to 0800z

- westbound: 1130z to 1900z

 

Even when NATs are in effect you can instead fly a random route. Flights to/from western or southern parts of USA are more likely to use random routes as the NATs are too far out of the way. It looks like the ones linked above are random routes, basically great circle tracks with a fix at every 10 degrees of longitude.

 

EDIT: I meant to include the following document from the library:

http://library.avsim.net/search.php?SearchTerm=Michikian+Krikor&CatID=root&Go=Search

[crimtye]

You can use NAT's at your convenience, or avoid them. They are not useful if flying from/to the Caribbean from the UK:

http://vataware.com/flight.cfm?id=12783635

[MrSpeaker]

 

Even when NATs are in effect you can instead fly a random route.

 

Interesting  topic, was  wondering what are the advantages of using a NAT over random route

[crimtye]

 

 

random route

Ah but you can't fly "through" a NAT. You either follow it or you don't. Other than that, yes you can plan any appropriate "random" route.  ^_^

[fs4fun]

 

 

Interesting  topic, was  wondering what are the advantages of using a NAT over random route

 

My understanding is the NATs are determined daily based on the jet stream, but there may be other factors. The advantage is using the NAT should save time and fuel since they use the upper winds to best advantage (or avoid severe headwinds). There might be other benefits, perhaps better ATC coverage.

[bic]

Another reason besides taking advantage of wind and weather, there's no radar coverage in certain areas (I believe still), so due to the high volume of traffic over this area, this (I believe)allows uniform traffic flows for ATCs primary purpose: separation of aircraft (prevent collision).  With no radar coverage, pilots announce position reports at specified times and controllers use pen and paper (don't know if this is still used or is computerized now?) to keep track of where aircraft are. 

[vololiberista]

You also need to look at SLOP "Strategic Lateral Offet Procedure

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBF31B5W_R8