Highways of the sky

SQUIRRELING ALONG

I’m still a young squirrel. But I’m old enough, it seems, to be able to say, “I remember when…”. I really do remember, and can’t imagine how much more complicated it is for those that are older than myself. I remember when a catalog would come to the house, we could circle what we liked, and our mom could maybe order it. She might not, of course, but it was worth dreaming of.

Flash forward 20 years and the changes are incredible. What was once a weeks long process, if you even had the right catalog, is now a few clicks of a button and a day or two of waiting… if you’re shipping! Some larger cities can have your general deliveries to you within hours.

I often find myself wondering about how the powers that be go about routing packages and shipments to their destinations. I’ve watched enough tracking on my quick shipments… I can’t help but be curious. Of course this curiosity leads me to squirreling, and that’s how we end up here every week.

So how do we get across the country, at least? Meet the North Atlantic Organized Track System. This is a coordinated system of the most efficient routes from North America to Europe (during eastbound, evening flights, because that’s part of the plan) and the opposite (during westbound, daytime flights, because it’s also part of the plan).

These tracks are essentially highways in the sky. The actual courses aircraft fly are modified daily by oceanic controllers. The controllers factor the jet stream; which, in the North Atlantic, flows eastward at upwards of 150 mph. Planes and airlines like to fly here for the fuel and time savings on the way over and use the information to minimize headwinds on the way back.

Whether it’s people or packages, transport across the nation and around the world happens every day at high speeds. A few clicks of a mouse and within minutes someone is working on getting you or your items from A to B on an intricate travel system. It’s a far cry from the glossy pages of a toy catalog in the 90s, and I can’t wait to go squirreling off and learn more.