Over the ATLANTIC OCEAN, who's in charge of the ATC?

Question

its vast open sea. so who's responsible for the ATC when I'm in the middle of it?

Answer 1

Airspace over the Atlantic is divided up into several sectors, the 2 most important being allocated to Gander ATC in Canada, and Shanwick in Shannon, Ireland. The dividing line between these 2 sectors is at 30 degrees West longitude, which if you look at a map of the North Atlantic, corresponds roughly to halfway across.

Further north Iceland controls airspace above roughly 60 degrees northern latitude. South of approximately 30 N Santa Maria on the Azores and New York are in control.

Click on the map link on the page below for a simplified overview.

Answer 2

Basically you are. Think of it as the big boy club. In the U.S. it is like you are in high school and your parents tell you what you can and can't do, where and where not you can go. Over the ocean is like college. You stay in lanes and air routes between waypoints or it helps to go waypoint to waypoint but you tell "blank" oceanic where and when you are and where and when you will be, like doing your own thing but checking in. Remember though that UHF and VHF (normal radios) only cover line of sight, so you need an HF radio to cross that line. When you check in, the "oceanic" people relay that to ATC, kind of like calling in a flight plan, where those people relay it through the system and it spits out to your departure airfield (class B, C, and D)or area of responsibility (ARTCC).

Answer 3

it depends on whos airspace you're flying on.for example ure at da start of the atlantic ocean northamerican atc is in charge n as u pass by parts u get transferred to other atcs.

Answer 4

well you have radio conections and possibly satalite too so that way they can stay in touch with atc

Answer 5

Nobody. You are staying in lane and at altitude and watching for other traffic. When you used to be able to talk to pilots in the cockpit I once asked them if they always followed someone else, we had been in formation, very loose formation, with another 747 for hours. He was a few miles ahead, half a mile to the side and 2,000 feet above us for maybe 2,000 miles.