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Greetings all,

Quick question about NATs. I bought PFPX earlier today, and am in the early process of trying to figure it out. When I pull up the NATs, the eastbound tracks (U-Y) seem to be south of the westbound tracks (A-E). I usually don't fly across the pond (well, not until I bought the PMDG777), but I always thought it was the other way around. The flights from Europe to North America always seemed to track over Greenland, while to N America to Europe flights tracked more south. Is this due to today's upper winds, or am I incorrect about what I had assumed?

Many thanks.

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That's pretty much a "normal" track configuration.

The tracks are structured to take advantage of the winds aloft so they can be a bit of a moving target.

I've seen the eastbound (night time) tracks situated pretty far north as well at various times.

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...or ATC can even split tracks, usually they do that for westbound tracks. For example they can put tracks A - C way up north and leave about 300 nm (or more) gap and put more tracks like D - F south. Also you don't have to be on a track. There are times when flying via tracks from certain airports are not beneficial. For such flights dispatch builds a flight on a random route (RR). You can cross Atlantic on RR north or south of tracks or between tracks if they're split. Doing so make sure you keep at least 1 degree or better 2 from the most southern or northern track. There are way more rules and crazy things going on on NATs, so this is just a basic. :)

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As Limri mentioned, you're not required to fly a track, you can certainly plan and fly a random route.

A track may provide the best time and fuel burn, but it may not be the best route for weather/turbulence avoidance.

Something else to consider: If you have any maintenance limitations (MEL's) on the aircraft (e.g. an APU that would limit you to a 120 min ETOPS operation) then you may have to plan a random route off the tracks (depending on track location) to remain within the 120 minute area of operation.

Good times.. :D

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