Globe Cargo

"Hey guys, When crossing the Atlantic, you are supposed to use a NAT track assigned to you on oceanic clearance i believe! Well, when i try to use a NAT route provided on the RouteFinder webiste, the FMC on the 744 will not accept it! It is the point "NATC" (which im guessing is NAT Track C) that isnt valid! How do you use NAT Tracking System in the 744 is what I am trying to ask? Thanks in advance, Ross S"

"I use FS Build, you can download the current Tracks and choose the one you prefer then just send it to your flight plan folder and it will be accepted by the FMC. It takes a little time to get the hang of it but it is really good."

"Ross- The NATC is what you put in the flight plan for simplicity. It only refers to a specific set of oceanic lat/longs, oceanic entry and exit points and flight levels for a finite period of time. Your FMC won't accept just NATC because it changes daily. You need to manually enter the lat/longs for that day. If you want to see the actual track message try: https://www.notams.jcs.mil/common/nat.html For everything you'd ever want to know about the NAT tracks go to: http://www.nat-pco.org/"

"Wow, even looking at both sites, I need to learn more about those! I haven't the slightest on how to use those."

"Hey guys, Here you have some information about PACOTS (Pacific Organized Track System) aswell, it is related to the NAT. http://www.csgm.org/kzak/tutor/pacots_tutorial.htm Regards"

"I havent got the slightest clue on NATS or PACOTS yet I was hoping i could just enter NATC into the FMC and then the aircraft will do the rest, obviously not When i do the flight with NATS, where do i get the latest information about the NAT Track that im assignes to, from? Ross S"

https://www.notams.jcs.mil/common/nat.html This is one site compliments of the U.S. armed forces...

"Thats pretty cool and all, but it just looks like a load of confusing writing to me! Do you know a site that helps you to understand everything in it? Thanks"

I will post some interpretation of it soon. It's not nearly as hard as you think it is.

"That would be great Dave! I would appreciate it for sure, until then the only NATS I will be working with are the ones buzzing around outside! "

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"Marcano" wrote:Hey guys, Here you have some information about PACOTS (Pacific Organized Track System) aswell, it is related to the NAT. http://www.csgm.org/kzak/tutor/pacots_tutorial.htm Regards

The above site seems to explain it pretty well ! But if we start getting involved with Pacots, Nats, etc we,ll need to be in the Cockpit 3 hrs before takeoff ! Mike"

"Ross, go to http://www.vatsim-uk.org/oceanic/index.php There is a lot of information there that explains the NATS and Pilot Procedures. As for entering the NAT in the FMC, you have to enter each waypoint seperately, so 50N40W would be entered in the FMC as "5040N" and so on. Hope this helps!"

"Hey Mark, Thks for the link! Ill read it up and try and make sense of it For Example, would you use NATS when taking a flight from EHAM - KORD? Because I know they are used on flights such as EGLL - KJFK Thanks, Ross S"

"Yea Ross, you use NATS in both directions. If you use Routefinder it will give you a route with the NAT to use. Make sure to enable NATS, that's one of the options; before clicking "Find route"..."

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"rossspargo" wrote:I was hoping i could just enter NATC into the FMC and then the aircraft will do the rest, obviously not

Sorry Ross. You can't enter NATC (or any other NAT route) into the FMC. You have to translate the NAT into the LAT/LONG for the FMC to understand it. That is why you need the NAT message."