Pacific Oceanic Procedures

[James Ward]

I plan on doing my first oceanic flight on VATSIM sometime this week, and while I managed to find oceanic procedures for the North Atlantic, I couldn’t find anything for the Pacific. If it helps, I plan on flying from JFK to TPE. Can anyone give me some guidance as to what oceanic procedure is for the Pacific (which controllers to contact and when, where to find the daily tracks, filing a flight plan, etc.) ?

[Andreas Fuchs]

Hi James,

 

an official source for North Atlantik Tracks and Pacific Tracks is always the FAA NOTAM site. Another great source for tracks is also Skyvector: select "Layers", then "Nav" and checkmark the relevant boxes. Skyvector will present you the tracks on the map and if you click on a track you'll the [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ociated track information that you can copy-paste, if needed.

 

More information about PACOTS (Pacific Organized Track System) can be found in a docomeent called FAA PACOTS Flightplanning Guide.

 

Regarding on how to operate in this airspace, the information seems to be harder to find than expected. I used the terms "operating in PACOTS pacific organized track system" and got this slideshow.

 

VATSIM offers https://pacificoceanic.vatsim.net/ , but there seems to be little information for pilots. You can have a look in the SOP docomeent, there may be some bits and pieces of interest for you. In general you will be fine when you know that PACOTS exist. The FAA Flightplanning Guide will tell you when to use them and when not. Then just go and fly - ATC will normally get you. If you see one of the stations online that to Pacific Control, try to call them if you need clearance.

[Sean Harrison]

Hi James. Don’t stress too much, the only major hurdle is that it is a non-radar environment, so the controller (If online) can’t see you on the screen so we rely on the pilot reporting their position, estimating the time at the next waypoint.

 

The guys at VATNZ have a web based position reporting template http://www.vatnz.net/pilots/oceanic-report-tool/ which can be handy.

 

Once pilots overcome this concept (that the controller is relying on their verbal information to know where they are) then the rest is easily picked up.

 

Try not to use DCT from CONUS to Taiwan, the more waypoints you use, the better picture the controller will have.

 

Hope that helps,

[James Ward]

Thank you for the help Andreas and Sean. This was exactly what I was looking for. After reading through the slideshow Andreas linked, it has occurred to me that I would actually be flying on a NOPAC because the flight would take me over Alaska. Now I can’t seem to find these. The layer option in skyevctor doesn’t show these and I can’t find them on the FAA NOTAM site either.

[Andreas Fuchs]

I only had a brief look, but those NOPACs are like fixed airways, you can see them on Skyvector as regular airways.

[Randy Tyndall 1087023]

I found plenty of references to NOPAC routes, but no actual charts, even through Navigraph.

 

Not sure, but here is a flight plan I pulled off of Flightaware. It transits Alaska Airspace, but is nonstop from JFK to TPE in a Triple 7. I believe TALO29 is the route name and 071 is the julian date (TMI), but I don't know that for sure since the 071 day was March 9th and the plan was filed March 30th by China Airlines. One on an earlier date by the same airline transited way north of Alaska over the Arctic Ocean. The first waypoint (NAYLD) in the plan below is west of Alaska over the northern pacific so I [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ume the entry point for the Track? Getting to NAYLD from JFK I would [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ume is done by standard Hi Enroute Jetways over US/Canada.

 

TAL029071 NAYLD R220 NATES R220 NIPPI R220 NANNO ALICE Y111 MQE Y124 GTC Y45 KMC Y382 WAKIT Y282 POPPY Y34 SUKMO Y50 IGMON A1 BULAN A1 DRAKE DR1B

 

Probably not what you are looking for, though. If not, my apologies.

 

Randy

[James Ward]

I see, NOPAC airways aren’t anything special. I think I have all that I need now. Thank you to everyone who helped. I very much appreciate it.

[Robert Shearman Jr]

I believe TALO29 is the route name and 071 is the julian date (TMI), but I don't know that for sure since the 071 day was March 9th and the plan was filed March 30th by China Airlines.

TAL029071 is 71DME out via radial 029 of the Tanana (TAL / 116.6) VOR in Bear Creek, Alaska.

[Matthew Bartels]

The NOPAC Routes is just nomanclature given to the Alaska - Japan airways R220, R580, A590, R591, and G344. The fixes of the Airways are all named with the same first letter (ex. R220 NAYLD, NULUK, NANDY, etc.). When viewing the airways together from north to south the first letter of the fixes spells out N.O.P.A.C.

 

NANDY -> R220

OBOYD -> R580

POOFF -> A590

AMOND -> R591

CURVS -> G344

 

 

Neat Huh!

 

Another difference of the NOPAC routes in the real world as opposed to the PACOT Tracks or Russia Far East routes is that you do not need to file for a slot time if you're flying on them. Granted on VATSIM we don't do this anyway. Enjoy flying the Pacific!