ANOMALY IN LATITUDES ON TRANSPACIFIC FLT PLAN CLRNC. ONE SHOWS 150W AT 36N AND ONE SHOWS 150W AT 38N. PROBABLE WIND SHIFT AND ALT CHANGE CONTRIBUTED TO THE ANOMALY.

Narrative

DURING PREFLT PREPARATION; CAPT HAD TO MANUALLY ENTER OVERWATER FLT COORDINATES. FOR THE COORDINATE AT 150W; HE CORRECTLY LABELED THE WAYPOINT 36N 150W AND THE COORDINATES 36.00.0 N; 150.00.0 W INTO THE NAV DATA BASE. FO WAS ASKED TO STRING THE FLT PLAN WHICH HE DID USING THE LABELED COORDINATES FROM THE FLT PLAN. ON XCHK OF COMPUTER LOAD AGAINST PAPER COMPUTER FLT PLAN/RELEASE; 150W COORDINATE MISSING. THIS WAS SIGNAL TO CREW THAT SOMETHING WAS WRONG. IN LOOKING AT THE W150 WAYPOINT IN THE BODY OF THE FLT PLAN; FOUND COORDINATES FOR N36; W150 BUT LABELED N38. COMPUTER ERROR IN GENERATION OF LABEL FOR WAYPOINT. POTENTIAL FATAL CONSEQUENCES AS FLT WAS FILED VIA 38N BUT WOULD HAVE FLOWN TO 36N; MILES OFF COURSE. WHOLE CHAIN OF SAFETY CHKS DID NOT WORK. COMPUTER SELF-CHK ANALYSIS PROGRAM FAILURE; FAILURE OF FLT DISPATCH TO SEE/CORRECT ERROR. HAD CREW NOT METICULOUSLY FOLLOWED COMPANY PROCS THEY WOULD NOT HAVE CAUGHT ERROR. THIS INCIDENT HAS BEEN RPTED TO FLT MGMNT (FLT MGR; AND FLT SAFETY DEPT) AND THEY CAN BE CONTACTED TO ASCERTAIN HOW THE SAFETY CHAIN BROKE SO BAD IN THIS CASE. THEY WILL CONDUCT FURTHER INVESTIGATION. FLT PLAN AND ACARS MESSAGE ATTACHED. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE COMPUTER GENERATED FLT PLAN PLANNED AN UNUSUAL FLT TRACK AND VARIED FROM THE CLRED RTE. IT WAS LIKELY DUE TO CURRENT WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE JET STREAM -- THE COMPUTER SELECTS A ROUTING (ASSUMING IT'S A RANDOM TRACK VICE A NORTH PACIFIC AIRWAY) DEPENDING ON THE WINDS AND MOST EFFICIENT ROUTING AND ALT. IN THIS CASE; THE WINDS AT 160W WERE 310 DEGS AT 120 KTS; A MAJOR WIND SHIFT OCCURRED BY 150W; DROPPING TO 36 KTS. THAT; IN CONJUNCTION WITH AN ALT CHANGE; COINCIDED WITH THE LATITUDE VARIATION. FLT PLAN ROUTING SHOWED 38N 150W AS NEXT RPTING POINTS AT BOTH 170W AND 160W; BUT THEN 36N 150W AT THE RPTING POINT. ALSO; THE CLRNC SHOWED 38N 150W. FLC SAW THE DISCREPANCY DURING THE COCKPIT SETUP; LEFT IT AS IT WAS AND REFILED IN THE AIR WHILE ENRTE. RPTR HAS HAD NO FEEDBACK FROM HIS COMPANY; BUT HE HAS FILED RPTS WITH THEM AND EXPECTS TO HEAR BACK. FOR SOME REASON THIS PARTICULAR FLT PLAN WAS SENT AND THE ENSUING COM WAS DIFFICULT; WHEREAS; HAD THE PLAN COME FROM NARITA IT WOULD HAVE SIMPLIFIED COM.