North Atlantic Crossing, any advice?

[banned username 2]

The crossing is pretty simple once you get the steps down. Call Gander 200 miles out for your oceanic, sqwauk 2000 30 minutes after passing your coast out fix, talk to Gander or Shanwick at every fix, monitor 121.5 and 123.45, plot your progress, and make sure the sun rises in front of you when flying eastbound. Have a great trip.

Honestly...

That pretty much sums it up....

 

[redneck jihad]

Go get your Atlantic chart and read it several times, especially regarding position reporting. Best advice I ever got. Poor radio phraseology maks us Yanks look bad. Have fun.
Regards,
RJ

 

[Bumz_Rush]

Pond hops

Totally agree with Falcon, and Red Neck, The RT from the average American in Europe is a joy to our ears......Always get an experienced hand holder who has flown the route in the type of aircraft, and the type of routing. If there is any need to do a tech stop, ensure plenty of cold weather clothing. Remember the RVSM, and MNPS regulations, for yourself and aircraft. (COMPLY),and have a great time.
Please use LUTON EGGW as your first landing and use METRO. Service is good, girls are fun, and the hotels suck. We dont bite....

 

[Deftone45075]

I figured this would be an appropriate thread for this question:

After filling a flight plan to a foreign destination, will you usually get a full route clearance?

Or is there a limit after US airspace and you need to recieve further clearance in the air?

 

[Bumz_Rush]

Yes and No

Assuming you are starting in the US, than your flight plan is to your destination, however your atlantic crossing route is subject to the traffic at the time, and might be varied. Starting from the other side, the situation is the same, with Shanwick giving your clearance on a specific VHF frequency, unless you are launching from an airport close to the water, in this case Tower or similar will give clearance, which should not change.
The first time I went transatlantic, we had Top Gun playing on the cabin video system, and thus no TX mute. We were thanked several times for the back ground effects, and music.......

 

[Gulfstream 200]

you will get "as filed" (to destination usually)

but you need to recieve an "oceanic" clearance eastbound from Gander. You pick this up from them on a seperate frequency usually over Nova Scotia/Newfoundland area - depending on your "coast out" point. Those unfortunate to have to can get this clearance on the ground in Gander if stopping for fuel. The slickest way to get is is just let the FMS recieve the Oceanic via an AFIS message, then usually within 10-15 seconds they will call and ask "did you get your Oceanic" A full readback is still required for some reason. They also want a TMI (Track Message #) to let them know you have a copy of the tracks for the day (they depend on wind - location of Icelandic low - and they also do a SELCAL check so you dont have to monitor HF the whole ride and wind up deaf like all the old farts we fly with.....

Westbound this "oceanic" happens from Shanwick control ( or BODO maybe up North). Same deal except at the close to border aiports (like Shannon) they can give you the crossing clearance on the ground also. They will clear you to your "coast out" point and you have to make it there within 3 mins (I think) or get an amendemnt. This is all simply for spacing on the crossing.

I may be a lttle off on some of the rules, but its pretty simple. Pick up an ATLANTIC ORIENTATION 1/2 chart and that will give you 99.9% of the stuff you need to know for a competent crossing, especially clearances, etc.....loads of info...I pick it up now and then and always pick up something I have forgotten!!

hope any of this rambling helped......