North Atlantic Tracks: Invisible highways in the sky

Captain James Basnett is at the controls of a British Airways Airbus A380 mega-jet, serenely cruising far above the stormy North Atlantic.

More than 450 passengers are enjoying the inflight service, watching a movie or just sleeping away the overnight flight from Boston to London.

Comfortably cocooned in the technological marvel that is a modern airliner, the passengers are blissfully unaware that their plane is just one of hundreds in a massive aerial armada heading to Europe from North America.

Every night, this incredible formation of aircraft flies eastbound across the Atlantic. Then, just a few hours later, the flights head west, carrying thousands of passengers bound for airports in the United States, Canada and beyond.

How does Basnett manage to navigate through the stratosphere and keep his A380 safely away from other flights as they travel?

Skyways across the ocean

Looking like a matrix of skyways across the ocean, the North Atlantic Organized Track System (OTS) is a set of virtual aerial highways that are created and managed by the bordering air navigation system providers – NAV Canada, and NATS in the UK – with coverage split halfway across the ocean.

The tracks are dynamic, rarely the same day to day, and can be vastly different eastbound and westbound. Based on a latitude and longitude grid, each skyway is distilled down to a single line, crossing the Atlantic.

Daily, at 7 a.m., in NAV Canada’s Area Control Centre in Gander, Newfoundland, an oceanic planner reviews information supplied by airlines that outlines the day’s flights, along with requests for preferred routes and cruising altitudes.

Then, using sophisticated computer modeling, a series of eastbound skyways are created for the evening’s flights that depart from North America, 12 to 14 hours later.

At about the time those flights head for Europe, the NATS team in Shannon, Ireland, and Prestwick, Scotland – known as “Shanwick” – begin work on the day’s westbound tracks, using similar procedures and processes.

Riding the jetstream

“Our systems have all the meteorological models, including the winds at various levels,” Jeff Edison, NAV Canada’s Gander Area Control Centre Manager, tells CNN Travel.

Eastbound tracks are optimized to take advantage of the tailwinds provided by the jet stream, the globe-circling, fast-flowing river of air that can reach speeds above 200 mph (322 kph).

“For example, if the jet stream goes straight across the Atlantic, without any zigs or zags, we’ll create a track that’s right in the center of it. Every flight is going to want to fly on that track, but not everyone is going to fit,” said Edison.

“Sometimes it means spreading the benefit of that eastbound tailwind over two or three tracks. We call those the core tracks.”

Typically, five, and as many as 14 tracks are created every day. They’re identified simply with a letter.

Z – for Zulu – is the southernmost eastbound skyway, then Y, X, W, and so on, until all the day’s tracks are labeled. The tracks can span from 300 to 700 miles (480 to 1,130 kilometers), north to south, depending on the weather.

Westbound tracks are designed to limit headwinds by avoiding the jet stream. Track A – for Alpha – starts in the north, and the rest of the skyways are lined up southwards from there.

Eastbound tracks for May 16, 2018. The pink-colored tracks have a half-degree of lateral spacing between them.

To get onto the correct track for his flight, Basnett flew northeast from Boston. Communicating with air traffic control (ATC), his A380 was sequenced to reach a fix – a point in space – that was the entry point for his flight’s designated track.

There’s a long line of navigation fixes on both sides of the Atlantic, and these serve as entry and exit points for the tracks. Each is identified with a five-letter word that’s pronounceable, but often nonsensical. JOOPY and IBERG are two fixes off the coast of Newfoundland, while MOGLO and LEKVA are near Ireland.

Safety box

Once the A380 heads out over the Atlantic on its specified track and altitude, it cruises in the center of an imaginary box, to make sure it’s safely away from other planes.

“Before being accepted on an Oceanic Track, we must ensure that our instruments and navigation systems comply with the stringent requirements that ensure the most accurate separation of aircraft,” says Basnett.

With the recent introduction of advanced navigation equipment and procedures, aircraft on the OTS cruise five minutes’ flying time behind the preceding plane, which is about 40 miles. Laterally, there’s a 25-mile separation from the closest plane on either side, and a 1,000-foot safety zone above and below.

These separation rules also apply to aircraft that fly against the flow, such as cargo planes traveling to Europe during daytime.

“As a safety precaution, we geographically separate their routes from the OTS. However, there are times when a random eastbound flight meets a random westbound flight for a segment of their flights. They’re separated by a minimum of 1,000-foot altitude,” explains Edison. 

With so many planes flying in a giant loose formation, the view out the flight deck windows can be the “best seat in the house.”

“Contrails, which are water crystals formed from condensed exhaust vapor, can be seen miles away during the day, and navigation lights are highly visible at night,” explains Basnett.

“Needless to say, observing a large aircraft such as an A380 traveling 1,000 feet above you in the opposite direction with a closing speed of over 1,000 mph is an impressive sight!”

Airplane views: Dutch pilot Christiaan van Heijst takes striking photographs of his magnificent view from the plane cockpit. Pictured here: The Aurora Borealis captured from the cockpit.

Solitude and wonder: Van Heijst wanted to capture an aviator's feeling of wonder: "It's like a peaceful solitude just flying high up in the sky away from the rest of the world and the planet," he tells CNN Travel. Pictured here: The Milky Way over Brazil.

Capturing the moment: Van Heijst has been photographing his voyages for almost all of his 14-year career. The pilot got his first job aged 20, flying in Africa and Afghanistan. Pictured here: Pakistan waterways.

Capturing the moment: On these early flights, van Heijst decided to bring his camera to document the experiences. "I needed to capture them because I realized that if I don't take pictures of it, if I don't capture it, it will be gone forever," he says. Pictured here: Afghanistan from the sky.

Dual passions: Van Heijst always wanted to become a pilot: "Whenever I saw an airplane as a boy, I wanted to become a pilot," he says. But it was the experience of photographing these early flights that cemented van Heijst's passion for photography. Pictured here: Mount Rainier, Washington.

Sharing experiences: The pilot started out photographing his travels off-plane. But he soon realized his experiences in the air were also worth capturing. Pictured here: Views of sunrise and thunderstorms from the cockpit.

Broadened horizons: "It started with documenting these adventures back in Africa and Afghanistan, but I broadened my photography to documenting the whole feeling, the total feeling of being high up in the air -- and being in an environment where only a very few people are able to enjoy the views," van Heijst explains. Pictured here: Contrails in the sky.

Pilot privileges: While the view from the cabin can be impressive -- it has nothing on the cockpit panoramas. As van Heijst says, "the whole experience is much more interesting if you have these big windows around you and you're physically controlling the airplane." Pictured here: the Aurora Borealis pictured through the airplane window.

St Elmo's Fire: Alongside the Northern Lights, van Heijst has witnessed other incredible natural phenomena, including St Elmo's Fire, pictured here. "It sometimes happens when you fly through a very electrically charged cloud, let's say a thunderstorm or even snowstorms, where these snowflakes give a little friction to the airplane," he explains. Pictured here: St Elmo's Fire through the window.

Diverse landscapes: Van Heijst's current job takes him around the world in a 747 airplane -- and offers a diverse range of spectacular photo opportunities. "We're flying to all the corners of the world and we fly over all the oceans and all the deserts," the pilot says. Pictured here: Saharan landscape and the Nile.

Safety first: Nevertheless, the process of taking photographs on board is complex. "First of all, flying the airplane has top priority," explains van Heijst. "So I only take pictures when I can." Pictured here: The Northern Lights at sunrise.

Inside the process: The images are usually long exposure shots. Van Heijst leaves his camera on the cockpit's glare shield and uses a wide angle lens to capture as much of the scene as possible. Pictured here: The moon and clouds from the window.

Learning process: "I'm still learning and evolving," says van Heijst of the photography process. "Because there is no room in the cockpit for tripods -- I don't use any suction cups, so I just hold the camera there, press it into the corner and just hope for the best." Pictured here: Clouds from the Stratosphere.

Expressions of solitude: Van Heijst has started experimenting with different angles for different effects. "These pictures where you see partially the cockpit and partially the outside world, I think this is one of the few ways I can express in a photograph the feeling of solitude," he says. Pictured here: Moonlight in the cockpit.

Reflections: It's only in recent years that van Heijst has started considering the link between flying and solitude. "For me the drive to take these pictures has always been there, but only recently I started to realize the exact emotion behind it that I try to convey or capture," he reflects. Pictured here: Mount Redoubt in Alaska.

Aurora Borealis: The Northern Lights is one of van Heijst's favorite views he has captured: "The Aurora, that's just always beautiful no matter how often I see it, it's just always fantastic," he says. Pictured here: Northern Lights over Canada and the cockpit.

Spectacular views: During particular stunning Aurora displays, van Heijst says pilots will dim the cockpit lights to enjoy the view. Pictured here: Sunset and shadow.

Private light show: The pilot says he will never forget the first time he saw the Aurora in all its glory. "We were spectators of a massive private show of Northern Lights and this is something that really makes me feel very privileged," says van Heijst. "And yeah, I have to capture that with my camera." Pictured here: Zodiacal light, sunrise.

Insider look: van Heijst's photographs also provide an insight into a side of aviation the public rarely gets to see. "Since 9/11, passengers are not allowed to come into the cockpit anymore," explains van Heijst. "So we as pilots, we find it really difficult to convey the beauty of flying, especially with an industry that has its huge downsides, especially on family life etc." Pictured here: Clouds over Germany.

Capturing the cockpit: As a result, van Heijst's colleagues are grateful he is capturing the world of the cockpit. "They use these pictures to tell their families what it is like," van Heijst says. Pictured here: Stormy clouds in a thunderstorm.

Humans and nature: Despite his supportive co-pilots, van Heijst avoids getting them in the picture. "Even though many of the pilots, they actually don't mind being in the photos, I try to minimize the human elements in the cockpit pictures because sometimes it's just distracting from the actual view," he says. Pictured here: Runway fog in the morning in Curitiba, Brazil.

Contrasts: However, in some photographs, van Heijst enjoys depicting the contrast between "a very technical environment, the cockpit, and the world outside." Pictured here: Storms over Toronto.

Favorite landscapes: Van Heijst says Afghanistan remains one of his favorite landscapes to fly over: "I just fell in love with the country -- even up to today when I'm flying over Afghanistan, I'm just glued to the window enjoying the views," he says. Pictured here: Landing in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Rough landscapes: "Actually there are quite a few areas that I really enjoy - what they have in common is that it's all really isolated and rough landscapes," says van Heijst. He also names Alaska and Greenland as other favorites. Pictured here: Sunset over the Himalayas.

Unpredictable conditions: Of course, flying is inherently unpredictable and van Heijst can never foresee how his photographs will develop: "We're flying in the air which is unstable by nature, sometimes I'm taking a picture - it's completely, completely still - and I take my camera out," he says. "And the moment I place the camera on the pedal stool or on the on the glare shield the turbulence starts!" Pictured here: Thunderstorms from the cockpit.

Painting a picture: "The pictures I take, let's say they are the tip of the iceberg," van Heijst says. "But many of the pictures are either shaky or blurred [...] but I think overall, my pictures, they give a pretty clear image of what it is like to fly." Pictured here: London city lights and clouds.

Second career: van Heijst is delighted his photographs are getting exposure: "I'm now setting up basically my business, because I hope that my photography will become a second job or second career, because I realize that there's so much potential and I realize that so many people, all over the world, are just fascinated by these views," he says. Pictured here: Shooting stars over India.

Universal appeal: Van Heijst's photographs have been well-received on social media. "It's partially people who are pilots themselves, or who love the views we have as pilots," he says. "But more and more it's also people who just have a love for aviation, or even people who say 'I don't even like airplanes, I don't even like aviation in general.'" Pictured here: Cloudy sky over Romania.

Working hard: For pilots and photographers, van Heijst has one message: "If you want to achieve anything in life you always have to work hard, it's super cliché but it's true," he says. Pictured here: Sunrise and thunderstorms over Texas.

Time and effort: "I think if you put enough time and effort and motivation into something, either becoming a pilot or doing something else, it's always reachable," says van Heijst. Pictured here: Sunset over the South Atlantic Ocean.

New opportunities: Van Heijst also encourages young people to consider becoming pilots. "In aviation, I think there will be a lot of job opportunities in the future. There will be a huge demand for pilots," says van Heijst. Pictured here: Thunderstorm over Minnesota.

Persistence in photography: As for photography, van Heijst says it is important to remember your work will improve as you learn. "With the photography part, I think it's -- for example I never did any training, I never did any courses, I'm just completely, completely self-taught," he says. "But this is also a matter of persistence." Pictured here: Views of the ice and mountains of Greenland.

Developing talents: Van Heijst says his photographs have become better over the years. "I've been doing it now for almost 14 years in total. And I've finally now reached a point that my pictures are becoming popular enough," he says. Pictured here: Cloud formations from the cockpit.

Willingness to fail: "It takes a long breath, a lot of effort, and willingness to fail very often [...] you will encounter situations where it's frustrating you couldn't capture it, but persistence, that's the best word to describe it," says Van Heist. Pictured here: Aurora sunrise over Canada.

Pilot's spectacular photos taken from an airplane cockpit

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Communication

Out over the ocean, crews and controllers can talk to each other over high-frequency radios, but most communication goes through a secure satellite-data link.

Every 14 minutes, each flight automatically sends its position information. A position report is also required when a flight crosses every 10 degrees of longitude. Crews will also use the data link to make requests for altitude or track changes, perhaps if it’s a bit bumpy.

“Sometimes, just changing the aircraft’s altitude by 1,000 feet can improve matters, or by not flying on the edge of a jet stream, which can sometimes feel like a cobbled street,” said Basnett.

Pilots flying the OTS also chat with each other on a common radio frequency, something like a plane-to-plane party line, according to Basnett.

“We discuss ride [turbulence] reports or anything of interest with other pilots in our area. When things are very quiet – and bizarrely feeling quite lonely despite nearly 500 [people] on board with you – discussions can sometimes extend to the latest baseball scores, which often gets a multitude of responses and gags, particularly from American pilots.

“A request for cricket scores normally [has] a very reserved one-line British response.”

So, after checking the cricket scores, and reaching the eastern end of the OTS, Basnett’s A380 and the hundreds of other planes fan out, safely conveying passengers to their destination airports.

It’s been just another night over the North Atlantic.