North Atlantic Tracks

North Atlantic Tracks are trans-Atlantic routes that stretch from the northeast of North America to the west of Ireland across the Atlantic Ocean. These heavily-traveled routes are used by aircraft traveling between the United States and Europe and are updated daily based on wind forecasts. They are used by aircraft between the altitudes of 31,000 and 40,000 feet. The tracks reverse - Europe morning time all the tracks go westbound towards the USA. Europe evening time and all the tracks go eastbound towards Europe for aircraft arriving the following day. Concorde was one of the only aircraft that flew to the USA from Europe that did not use these tracks, as it flew much higher (50,000 - 60,000ft) and did not meet many other aircraft at this height. The tracks are decided based on a number of factors, the most important being the jetstream - aircraft going over to the USA from Europe suffer from headwinds caused by the jetstream so the least impact is required. Tracks going back from the USA can use the jetstream to their advantage. Most flights from USA to Europe are shorter in length because of this. North Atlantic Tracks advisories are issued by Shanwick Center (EGGX), Gander Center (CZQX), Boston Center (KZBW) and New York Center (KZNY).

The tracks have to be carefully managed to ensure that all aircraft follow the track allocated. Even with today's modern navigational technology errors occur and can prove dangerous to aircraft also on the track if another aircraft on the same path fails to stay within very narrow navigational margins. The time difference on a busy day is approximately 10 minutes between each aircraft passing over the same point. Several problems exist that have contingency plans when aircraft fly down these tracks.

Typically an oceanic clearance is given which states which track an aircraft has been allocated, and the times it must arrive and fly down the track. On the oceanic clearance details the aircraft is told a speed and height it must fly at. It is when the aircraft does not comply with this that situations can occur. For example, if an incident happened on an aircraft that meant it could no longer maintain the speed or height it was allocated, contingency plans exist that means the aircraft drops out of the track and fits in between all the other tracks. Also pilots on North Atlantic Tracks are told they must inform air traffic control managing the tracks if bad weather is in the way of the track allocated and they have to change path to avoid it. Unfortunately, there are a number of incidents every year where poor cockpit procedures mean that checks that must be made at each way point on the track are not made correctly and the aircraft is not where it should be.

Another problem can be wake turbulence. With aircraft following each other so closely the turbulence generated by another aircraft in front can cause the aircraft behind to suffer from a bumpy ride at best, or a potentially out of control situation if too close. Contingency processes give pilots clear directions on what to do if that is encountered and reports have to be made to investigate why they occured.

Aircraft navigational equipment is very reliable these days, but it is usually the pilot's error that causes any problems.

While the route changes daily, they maintain the same entrance and exit waypoints which link into the airspace system of North America and Europe.

In the United States, the FAA publishes a NOTAM daily which describes the points to be used within the track as well as the altitudes to be used in each direction of travel. The current tracks are available online.