- Tue Apr 03, 2018 8:42 am
#522901
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.) ?
- Tue Apr 03, 2018 9:40 am
#522905
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 associated track information that you can copy-paste, if needed.
More information about PACOTS (Pacific Organized Track System) can be found in a document 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 document, 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.