polar routes

[bayzar]

Anyone know about polar routes
How do they work?
1. Can a twin engine ac fly them?
2. What kind of nav equipment is required?
3. Are airlines flying from northern Europe to western Canada on these routes?
4. What type of enroute alternates are used/required. Their names?
5. What kind of flight time are we looking at?
6. What is the crew requirements/training is required (etops) ECT

Would appreciate the answers
Thanks
;)

[PaperTiger]

I can only answer no. 3, a route I have flown (in the back) many times. These flights are well south of the pole.
Try displaying a few great circle routes at http://gc.kls2.com/ and you'll see. Of course flights rarely fly a true GC but are generally close enough to illustrate the point.

[fcit]

Howdy Bayzar,

yes, there have been demonstration flights with B777-200 IGW (for example China Southern Airlines KJFK - ZBAA). Alternates a only few, so you would be looking at ETOPS 180min. As for the alternates you could be selecting Thule, Yellowknife, Resolute Bay, Tiksi, Point Barrow, Yakutsk, and a few others I would have to look up. As for the flight time it depends where you start from and what equipment (i.e. aircraft you use). For flights from the U.S. east coast the savings are substantial. If I remember correct the flight times should be around 13-14 hours between Chicago/New York - Beijing and around 15hours for New York - Hong Kong.

Been running a whole bunch of test plans on these routes. If you would like to have more info, drop me a line.

Cheers

fcit

[cirrus01]

Believe that CO are operating Newark--Hong Kong with 777-200 over the pole. Now thats what I call ETOPS ! :rolleyes:

[DCDriver]

Bayzar,
1) Condor have operated B767's & Balair A310's to Anchorage direct from FRA / ZRH respectively for many years now.
2)Nav equipment required is standard LRN (ie) 3 INS /ISS etc
3)From N Europe to W Canada you don't go far enough north to need to use the Polar track system (PTS). You will route over Iceland/Greenland and approx 68 north.
4) ERA's as mentioned in post above.
5)ZRH-ANC 9h40 at .82 About the same for CPH-YVR, add 30min in winter on this rte.
6)It used to be a requirement to have polar ops training (grid nav etc) but I think with the advent of JAR-OPS this is no longer mandatory. But highly recommended if you're new to it!

And another thing....MSA over large areas of Greenland is 14.6. As the chemical O2 generators only last 15min, certain areas of Greenland have become (under JAR-OPS oxygen requirements) no-go areas, so check first.

DCD