Why are pilots reluctant to fly 'Tango16' routes?

[Structure]

I've been given so many different answers by pilots to above question. Whats the real reason?
Let's see how many you can come up with.

[peewun]

Flown T16 several times myself and had no cause to express concern. I suppose the only potential problem could be getting a lousy level due to Transatlantic traffic conflictions but other than that it's just another route to the Canaries but a bit further west than normal. I would like to hear the objections you have heard. Maybe they are quite well founded and my imagination is a bit dull!

[Norman Rochester]

How long is a piece of string?

The Oceanic routes are cheap to fly because they are fixed price, rather than per km. However, from southern UK there is a big time and fuel penalty to get you out to 16w. From Scotland or Ireland it's not so clear cut.

If you are RVSM equiped, then you should get an efficient fligh level. If you are not, you can burn a hell of a lot of fuel at Fl290.

If the French and Spanish airpace is closed or congested then T16 may be the only option, but you need to be sure that the fuel and time penalties do not outway the time saved on the slot.

However, all these are reasons why Ops may not like T16. Pilots should have no problem with it, unless they're scared of water or HF radios.

Regrds,
Norm

[CaptainSandL]

It’s not that we don’t like the Tango routes (T16, 14 & 9) it’s just that there is more to them than normal airways. So for those of us that are just used to bouncing around mainland Europe, it is more hassle or more interesting depending on your point of view.

As the previous contributors have said, they are in Oceanic airspace so even though you may only be flying from say Glasgow to Faro, if you use the Tangos then you will have to got through the full procedure of an Oceanic clearance. The R/T for which is different from normal VHF comms. Also, you are now dealing with Lat & Longs, which require careful entering & cross-checking, and fuel and Wx checks are much more tight.

Additional considerations for my type (737) are that we are not cleared for RVSM and some aircraft only have partial MNPS kit, so its down to below FL290; and we are not ETOPS, so we have to have combinations of airfields like SNN, ORK, OPO, SCQ usable.

I am sure that those who use the Tango’s or other Oceanic routes regularly think nothing of it, but for the rest of us, it is just a bit different.

S & L