Advanced oceanic flight planning

[Philip McNiel 1282687]

Hi! I'd like to really understand oceanic route planning. I know about following airways and reporting to the oceanic center at every reporting point (I did do a KLAX-PHNL event with full staffing awhile back), but what if I want to fly a flight such as, say, DAL200 KATL-FAOR that crosses the ocean diagonally, and so doesn't follow a regular airway? How is one to decide on a route, and implement it?

[Kenneth Haught]

The quick and dirty answer is plot your route using Lat/Long points and then those become your reporting points. You'd have to access the aviation guides to determine if there is a maximum distance between reporting points (haven't flown Oceanic in a while so I'm not sure).

[Andreas Fuchs]

Search the forum/internet for the terms "NAT HLA" (used to be MNPSA) and "random route". This will provide you with the necessary information. Also, lookup the realworld flightplans of these flights on Flightaware.com: http://www.flightaware.com/analysis/route.rvt?origin=katl&destination=faor

Edited February 5, 2017 at 07:59 AM by Guest

[Wygene Chong 1089621]

To add to Kenneth's answer, a waypoint every 10 degrees of longitude and 5 degrees of latitude should be sufficient. Just plot a route that goes the shortest distance to your destination (usually by a great circle).

 

Because I always need to add the Icelandic viewpoint ( ), if you're transiting Reykjavik Control (BIRD_CTR) over Iceland/Greenland, you will probably get a direct from Canada to Norway/Scotland courtesy of our radar and ADS-B coverage. No reporting needed even though it is oceanic airspace.

[Magnus Meese]

The important bit is close enough for position reports. In the NAT region (at least in the sectors from 45N and northwards) the rule of thumb is max 40min legs, or if longer, a posrep every 00 and 30 minutes of the hour.