Introduction 

Route analysis 

In this topic, you learn how to find information about different routes between a city pair so that you can compare them and choose the most efficient flight path. 

We estimate that this will take 5 minutes to complete.

Detailed explanation 

Route analysis 

N-Tracking makes it possible for you to analyze city pair routes between two airports and compare fuel and flight time requirements to select the best possible route. With weather overlays enabled, you can choose the best route to avoid weather obstacles and choose the most effective flight path.

You can import flight paths from N-FP and contrast them with the CDR and PREF routes and choose whether to import a different flight path back into N-FP for further use.

With your map set at the appropriate zoom level, let's analyze route alternatives between JFK airport and LAX in the U.S..  

Click the Palette button.

Click the Route List button.

Click the Origin input field.

Type kjfk into the active input field.

Click the Destination input field.

Type KLAX into the active input field.

Click the Registration input field.

Enter 7474.

Click the Search button.

With the appropriate weather layers enabled, you will be able to "eye-ball" the best route overlaid on the map and the weather layers.

 For more information on using the weather layers, consult the Weather topics.

To select a route to review, either
 

• click the route directly on the map or 
• click the route string in the Route List to see which route on the map that string represents.
  
  
   

For this exercise, we'll click the route strings in the Route List.

    Minimizing the Flight List is an optional step that you may find useful to clear your screen.  

Click the button to minimize the Flight List.

N-Tracking highlights the route you select both on the map and in the Route List.

 When you click a route on the map, a related weather details table may also display for your consultation.

Let's find out which route this first listed CDR route string represents.

N-Tracking highlights the route on the map in yellow.

In your analysis, you would probably reject routes, that add flying time to the flight path.

Use the slider to hide such routes.

 Repeat this step to clear any other immediately rejected routes.

Click CDR route string in the Route List table.

Compare possible routes against the flight plan imported from N-FP.

In this example, it makes sense to temporarily clear many of the less direct routes.

 (For this exercise, this step is done for you.) 

Click the route string slider.

Click the NFP route string in the Route List table.

The N-FP route is highlighted in gray.

Click the (Additional Info) button.

Examine these additional details to see the estimated fuel and time requirements for the proposed flight path imported from N-FP.

Compare this information with that for the other routes to weigh the costs and benefits of selecting a different route.

 The display of fuel and time data depends on this route having been recently calculated in N-FP.

Click the Close button.

With the N-FP is route and its fuel and time requirements in mind, select the route that you believe is "next best" or "better" and compare its fuel and time requirements to help in your analysis.

For this exercise, let's imagine that this CDR route is one that seems to be a good alternate route.

 Click another listed route string to compare against the N-FP route.

Click the button for this route.

For the CDR and PREF routes listed in the Route List, you see fuel and time data only if you have recalculated that particular route in N-FP.

Imagine that this route is a better choice than the N-FP route that you reviewed. You can use the clipboard to copy and export this route to N-FP.

 At that point, you calculate its requirements in N-FP and then export it back to N-Tracking for tracking purposes.

Click the (Clipboard) button.

Click the Close button.

With your analysis and route selection complete, close the Route List.

Click the Close button.

Another way you can work with the listed routes is to click the slider to the right of "Route String" to hide all of the routes, then click the NFP route string slider to display just that route, and then proceed to re-activate other routes one at a time for display and analysis purposes.

The route pair used in this example, crossing the entire U.S., includes many routes.

 Analyzing the routes between two closer airports, you may be able to set your zoom at a level that displays the codes of the included waypoints/navaids.