If you are located in Ireland, you need to contact Shanwick for the Clearance while still on the ground.

On a normal day only Shanwick Radio on frequency 127.9 will be staffed, he deals with the clearance and the position reports. On event days, Shanwick or Gander Clearance Delivery will be staffed also, in that case you have to contact Clearance Delivery for the Clearance and then Radio for the Position reports.

P: Speedbird 179 request frequency change to Shanwick for Clearance..

L: Speedbird 179, that is approved, report back.

P: Wilco, Speedbird 179.

Now, before you call Shanwick please make sure you have the following details ready at hand:

• Aircraft type

• Requested Track

• Requested Flightlevel

• Requested Speed in Mach

• Estimate of the Entrypoint

• Maximum Flightlevel possible in case Level of choice is unavailable

Then check no one else is receiving/ reading back or requesting a clearance then its your go:

P: Shanwick, good day, Speedbird 179.

A: Speedbird 179, Shanwick, standby

Important note: If the controller of either Delivery or Radio say Standby:

The Controller will call you when he is ready to take your details, you need to wait for him to be ready. Bluntly put, standby means “Shut up and wait, I know you are there, I will call you as soon as I can!”

DO NOT BLATHER ON, KEEP CALLING OR EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE THE STANDBY!

When the controller is ready he will come back to you and say:

A: Speedbird 179, pass your message.

This indicates that the controller is ready to take your details, so then you carry on with your

request:

P: Speedbird 179, Boeing 747, inbd MALOT, Estimating MALOT at 1500Z, Request New York via Track Delta, Flightlevel 350, Mach decimal 85, and maximum Flightlevel 370.

The controller will either acknowledge the request by simply asking you to wait for a moment, or he will read it back if he has any doubts about the clarity, if he repeats it, make sure you listen well and correct the details if needed.

Either way he will say:

A: Speedbird 179, roger your request, standby.

The controller will now check to make sure that your requested Speed and Level is requested at the time when you reach the entry point. This may take up to 10 Minutes, so bear with him and be ready to take your clearance promptly when he calls you:

A: Speedbird 179, I have your oceanic clearance, advise ready to copy.

P: Speedbird 179, pass your message

A: Shanwick clears Speedbird 179 to Kennedy via MALOT, Track Delta, Flightlevel 350, Mach decimal 85, cross MALOT not before 1455Z

The first part of the clearance is self explanatory. Please note that the controller may impose a time restriction on your crossing of the Entry point. This can be achieved by making use of the Progress page. A time restriction will only be issued if there is heavy traffic. Nevertheless it is your responsibility to advise the controller of any ETA Changes of more than 3 minutes early or late.

You should do so either by private chat or by Voice, NEVER by text on frequency as this will most likely be lost.

Before I forget, you need to readback the clearance of course:

P: Speedbird 179 is cleared to Kennedy via MALOT, Track Delta, Flightlevel 350, Mach decimal 85 and MALOT not before 1455Z and track Message 002.

A: Speedbird 179, readback is correct, return to previous frequency, good day

P: Thank you, returning to previous controller, Speedbird 179.

At which point you resume the previous frequency.

The above goes also to No-voice flyers, request your clearance by private chat, NOT on frequency.

Along the way Shannon will likely ask you wether you have your clearance, which you must acknowledge and also give him the details of the clearance. He needs to know so that he will climb you to your appropriate level in good time.

Shortly before MALOT, you will be instructed to call Shanwick.

A: Speedbird 179, Report MALOT to Shanwick radio on 12790 kilohertz, good day P: MALOT to Shanwick on 12790 kilohertz, Speedbird 179.

NB. The real radio station works on HF, this cannot be implemented on IVAP, however it's still called Kilohertz.

Enroute in the track

When you reach MALOT you should be doing the following actions:

Bring up the progress page in the FMC of the Boeings or the FPLAN page of the Airbus/MD11

There you will find all info the Controller requires from you on the position reports.

You need to report each time you pass a waypoint or 45 Minutes after your last report, whichever occurs earlier.

When you call Shanwick you only state your callsign and “Position report” for a a report or “Request” if you have a request.

P: Shanwick Radio, Speedbird 179 with Position Report.

A: Speedbird 179, Shanwick Radio, Stand by

Here goes the same again as for the clearance, Do not pass your message till the controller is ready, as he needs to find you in the Management System, if you do it is likely that the data will get lost and you have to start from scratch.

When he is ready:

A: Speedbird 179, Shanwick Radio, Pass your message

P: Speedbird 179 has passed MALOT at 1501Z, Flightlevel 350, Mach decimal 85, estimating 53 North, 20 West at 1522Z, 53 North, 30 West is next.

A: Speedbird 179 has passed MALOT at 1501Z, Flightlevel 350, Mach decimal 85, estimating 53 North, 20 West at 1522Z, 53 North, 30 West is next.—Check and correct the controller if necessary.

P: Readback correct, Speedbird 179, and we request a selcal check, Code Delta Golf Fox Papa Selcal

The Selcal, also selective calling in all essence is a telephone system that allows the controller to page one single aircraft and to spare the crew from having to keep a constant, very tiring listening watch on HF radio.

If you know the planes registration (Today its G-BYGE, Selcal is DG-FP) you can google for the selcal code.

If you wish to use the selcal code you need to enter both Registration and Selcal code in the Flight plan remarks. The format for it is REG/GBYGE and the selcal SEL/DGFP.

A: Speedbird 179, roger checking on Delta Golf Fox Papa.

The controller will put in the code in his system and transmit, you will hear a gong P: Speedbird 179, Selcal check ok.

After this you may put down your headphones, but don't you dare going off to sleep as you have to report every point or 45 minutes. :D You only need to check the selcal once.

Finally set Sqawk 2000 in oceanic airspace

Level changes

As the original document states. Please DO NOT expect to be able to stepclimb in the oceanic airspace. The separation involved is too enormous. You may of course ask for it, you do so by concluding your position report with “Able FL370 at XXXZ (x= time in Z)”.

I however urge you strongly to climb to the highest level you can get to before Oceanic airspace, this causes only a minor additional fuel burn which can be compensated by an additional stepclimb at the end of the NAT.

Do however note that on the westbound NATs all Levels 310 to 400 are usually available, so you can by all means cross on FL350, you just need to revert to an even Flightlevel when you reach Canada.

Leaving the track

After Passing 50° West westbound or 20° West eastbound you will be handed over to Shannon or Gander Domestic Control, you will be assigned a squawk, once Identified you NEED NOT report your position again.

This concludes the section on North Atlantic Tracks

Random tracks

As previously mentioned, the North Atlantic Tracks are only useable for a select number of Destinations. If you keep clear of the NATs you can fly a random route, which is just the Great Circle route with inserted fixes every 10 full degrees of Longitude (I.e 20 West, 30 West etc)

The Random routes tend to be much more Liberal in planning, provided they do not come within 1 degree of Latitude or cross North Atlantic Tracks within their validity time

Random routes are also used by aircraft flying eastbound during the daytime or westbound during the nighttime.

Routes to the Caribbean or Northern South America usually stay well south of the NATs, whereas routes to Westcoast USA will usually keep well north of the NATs.

Radiowork and flying a random track is almost the same as the Nats with the following exceptions:

1. Stepclimbs are usually possibly as conflicts are rare

2. When requesting or being given a clearance, you need to quote all waypoints from Entry point to Exit point in your flight plan, request and readback.

3. The Controller may ask for wind and temperature information from the crew.

To Illustrate, here I have set out an example of Air France 3510 (formerly AFR488) from LFPG to TNCM:

N0450F330 LGL UN491 KOKOS UT120 BADUR UN585 REGHI UN480 ETIKI/M083F350 DCT 46N020W 44N030W/M083F370 41N040W 32N050W 20N060W DCT OBIKE/N0445F390 A516 PJM

The IFR clearance is the same with respect to the clearance limit, as is the deadline to obtaining the oceanic clearance.

After being asked to pass the message it goes as follows:

P: Air France 3510, Airbus 343, request clearance to Sint Maarten via random routing, EETIKI, 46 North 20 West, 44 North, 30 West, 41 North, 40 West, 32 North, 50 West, 20 North, 60 West, OBIKE , FL330, Mach dec 83, estimating ETIKI at 1320Z

A: Air france 3510, roger, standby

A: Air france 3510, I have your clearance

P: Go ahead, 3510

A: Shanwick clears Air France 3510 to Sint Maarten via random routing, ETIKI, 46 North 20 West,