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Polar Route Decision

flyenthu From United States of America, joined Dec 2012, 66 posts, RR: 0
Posted (5 months 1 week 19 hours ago) and read 2552 times:

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Hello:

I am wondering how a decision to fly a polar route is made? When I flew EK 211 on Jan 08, we went directly over the north pole: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/U...1/history/20130108/0530Z/OMDB/KIAH

However, today's flight is transatlantic: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/U...1/history/20130112/0530Z/OMDB/KIAH

How come such major differences in routing?

Just wondering!

9 replies: All unread, jump to last

Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21679 posts, RR: 23
Reply 1, posted (5 months 1 week 16 hours ago) and read 2463 times:

Quoting flyenthu (Thread starter):
How come such major differences in routing?

Location of the strong westerly jetstream winds on the day in question is probably the biggest factor.
http://www.salares.net/?en_world-jet-stream-forecast,38

atct From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 2044 posts, RR: 40
Reply 2, posted (5 months 1 week 8 hours ago) and read 2279 times:

Also in areas like Alaska we have volcanic activity which causes frequent changes to flight plans. I would most likely assume though it was due to different wind speed / directions for the flight above.

atct

Real pilots fly planes that take and measure oil in gallons

Yukon880 From United States of America, joined Sep 2011, 113 posts, RR: 2
Reply 3, posted (5 months 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 2065 times:

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Just for the sake of further discussion, and not to discount the rationale of the previous responders, is it possible that the flight track shown by Flightaware for EK211 on 8Jan is not precisely the route flown on that particular date? From one date to the next, the variation in the plotted tracks is not just huge, but (virtually) off the chart!

Pratt & Whitney, In thrust we trust!

flyenthu From United States of America, joined Dec 2012, 66 posts, RR: 0
Reply 4, posted (5 months 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 1985 times:

Quoting Yukon880 (Reply 3):

I actually flew on EK 211 on Jan 8 and we flew right over the North Pole. The Flightaware track flattens out at the top, but in reality we went polar that day. I was expecting a day flight, but as we headed towards the North Pole it got darker, and eventually it was night only for a few hours. I took pics of the flight map and will post it on a trip report when I get to it- hopefully soon.

One clarification, the second track link is from Jan 12.

Starlionblue From Hong Kong, joined Feb 2004, 15904 posts, RR: 66
Reply 5, posted (5 months 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 1964 times:

Quoting Yukon880 (Reply 3):
is it possible that the flight track shown by Flightaware for EK211 on 8Jan is not precisely the route flown on that particular date?

What input does Flightaware use? If it is radar it would be off. There's no radar coverage over the pole.

"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots." - from Citadel by John Ringo

atct From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 2044 posts, RR: 40
Reply 6, posted (5 months 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 1962 times:

When I worked the tower at IAH, i noticed 2 or 3 times a week she'd go up over a NA track as opposed to the Polar route over Chicago / Hudson Bay.

atct

Real pilots fly planes that take and measure oil in gallons

Yukon880 From United States of America, joined Sep 2011, 113 posts, RR: 2
Reply 7, posted (5 months 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 1674 times:

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Quoting flyenthu (Reply 4):
I took pics of the flight map and will post it on a trip report when I get to it- hopefully soon.

Looking forward to the report!

Pratt & Whitney, In thrust we trust!

apodino From United States of America, joined Apr 2005, 3652 posts, RR: 6
Reply 8, posted (5 months 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 1410 times:

World Air Routes is a company based in Boston that produces a lot of high quality flight deck videos. They have one with Air Canada where they actually take you on a Polar Route from YYZ to HKG, and explain a lot of the things that go into planning such a route, including a lengthy presentation by the dispatcher. I think the video will help answer a lot of questions, and it is $30 US, a very good deal IMO.

www.worldairroutes.com

They have a lot of great videos there. Any true aviation enthusiast should have this site bookmarked.