Hello. I've been simming for near enough half my life now, but one thing I've never really been able to get to grips with it Trans-Atlantic flights. I don't know where to find tracks, how to request clearance for it (I fly on Vatsim near enough always), ETOPS planning, I know nothing about it, but I'd really love to do it.

 

So, my request is, can someone write a short dummies guide on how to find the active tracks, how to put them in the FMC or MCDU, expected conversations with ATC, how to calculate ETOPS alternates, etc etc.

 

Thanks in advance, Alexander.

Hi Alexander,

 

there are multiple places to find current tracks and guides. I've written a short guide for oceanic procedures based on the ICAO NAT 007 document (airspace manual), which can be found here. You can also find the current tracks on this link.

I've not included any information on SELCAL in this guide, but this can be found in some of the other guides around there.

 

The other guide I could (sort of) recommend is VATSIM UK's: http://www.vatsim-uk.co.uk/oceanic-procedures

Reason why I say sort of recommend, is because there are some things in their guide that isn't quite correct. For example the clearance - why would you say both the track name and the full routing, when you are supposed to read back the TMI number in your read-back so you wouldn't need to use the full routing...also the coordinates in their examples (thinking of the FPL example in particular) don't follow the rules stated in NAT 007 (and a lot of other documents), and some other small things around.

 

For the coordinates your FMC/MCDU, it's not too difficult to add them. If we use today's track A as an example: ERAKA DCT 60N020W 62N030W 62N040W 62N050W DCT PIDSO,

you would simply convert 60N020W to 6020N. (Remove N0 and change the W to N). Your flight plan should contain the 7 character coordinate though, and not the ARINC 424 format.

Another thing I've noticed with quite many on Vatsim (even experienced pilots), is that then pronounce 6020N (from their FMC) as "6 0 2 0 north/november" - that should be "6 0 north (0) 2 0 west".

 

Hope that helps you out a bit

 

 

Anders

Inasm, thank you very much. That has helped me a lot and I'm a lot more confident that I can do transatlantic flights now

I remember a great video explaining ETOPS planning by Kyle Rodgers over in the PMDG forum

 

 

It is very good place to start as well!

These two guides from the PFPX forum also provide a lot of good information

 

http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/73453-pfpx-etops-pmdg777-a-short-guide-p1/

http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/73486-pfpx-etops-pmdg777-part-2-flightde

Skyvector.com, a great resource for charts, will graphically display all current NAT tracks. If you hover over each track, a text window opens displaying the entry and exit waypoints, coordinates for all waypoints in between, and altitude for each track. A nice feature.

 

Also, the FAA posts NAT tracks in the daily NOTAMs:

 

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