Every day, around 1,500 flights traverse from the US to Europe, following a specific “invisible highway” in the sky, maintaining close distances to utilize the jet streams discovered in the 1920s by Wasaburu Oishi. These jet streams, fast-moving air currents at high altitudes, significantly aid in fuel efficiency and speed, shaping the flight paths across the Atlantic.
Key Points:
🛩️ A unique route is followed by planes traveling from the US to Europe, maintaining specific distances from each other to ensure safety and efficiency.
🛩️Planes maintain a distance of 60 kilometers from each other in front and behind, 30 kilometers sideways, and about 305 meters (1000 feet) in altitude, with ATC and the NAT. OTS system managing their routes and safety.
🛩️Pilots use these specific routes to take advantage of the jet streams for efficiency and fuel savings, and because the NAT. OTS system ensures safety by managing traffic within these streams.
🛩️In the 1920s, Japanese meteorologist Wasaburu Oishi identified fast-moving winds at high altitudes, which later played a crucial role in aviation routes.
🛩️The significance of jet streams became prominent during WWII when Japan used these air currents to send balloon bombs across the Pacific to the US.
🛩️During World War II, Japan utilized these jet streams to send balloon bombs across the Pacific to the US, proving the existence and power of these winds, leading to their later use in aviation.
🛩️Pilots began utilizing jet streams in the 1950s for eastward flights from the US to Europe, enhancing speed and fuel efficiency.
🛩️Northern Atlantic Organized Track System (NAT. OTS), introduced in 1965 to manage the increasing air traffic and ensure safety, NAT. OTS comprises multiple routes controlled by four main centers.
🛩️Pilots are assigned one of the NATs. OTS routes before takeoff. These routes are optimized daily based on weather satellite observations of jet stream locations.
🛩️Planes communicate their positions to control towers via satellite or high radio frequency, with updates every 14 minutes to ensure safety across the vast Atlantic.
Questions and Answers:
Why don’t pilots use the entire sky instead of sticking to specific routes?
Pilots use these specific routes to take advantage of the jet streams for efficiency and fuel savings, and because the NAT. OTS system ensures safety by managing traffic within these streams.
What are jet streams, and who discovered them?
Jet streams are fast-moving air currents found at high altitudes, discovered by Japanese meteorologist Wasaburu Oishi in the 1920s.
How do jet streams affect flights from the US to Europe?
Jet streams significantly increase the speed and fuel efficiency of flights heading eastward from the US to Europe by providing a tailwind that pushes the aircraft forward.
What is the Northern Atlantic Organized Track System (NAT. OTS)?
NAT. OTS is a system introduced in 1965 to manage and organize flight paths across the Atlantic, ensuring safe and efficient travel by splitting traffic and utilizing tailwinds.
How are flight routes within NAT? OTS determined?
Flight routes within NAT. OTS is determined and optimized twice daily based on weather satellite observations of jet stream locations to ensure efficiency and safety.
Why do pilots need to communicate their positions to control towers?
Pilots communicate their positions to ensure air traffic controllers can manage flight paths safely, especially when planes are beyond radar range over the ocean.
Jet Streams:
Jet streams are relatively narrow bands of strong wind in the upper levels of the atmosphere. These winds are located around 9 to 16 kilometers (about 6 to 10 miles) above the Earth’s surface, right near the tropopause, which is the boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere.
Jet streams play a significant role in aviation. Aircraft flying within a jet stream can significantly reduce their flight time and save fuel, thanks to the boost in speed provided by the tailwind.
Conversely, flying against a jet stream can increase flight times and fuel consumption. Pilots, therefore, plan their flight paths to take advantage of these fast-moving upper atmospheric winds whenever possible.
Air currents:
Air currents are movements of air within the Earth’s atmospheric system, driven primarily by the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface by the Sun. These currents can vary greatly in scale, from large, global patterns to small, local breezes.
