ICAO have given official confirmation that the temporary relief currently being enjoyed on the North Atlantic Datalink Mandate (NAT DLM) rules will end on February 25, 2021. That means aircraft will once again need to be CPDLC and ADS-C equipped to operate between FL290 and FL410 throughout the NAT region.
There are a few exceptions where the NAT DLM will not apply:
– Everything north of 80°North.
– New York Oceanic East FIR.
– Tango Routes T9 and T290. The other Tango routes (T213, T13, T16) will all require datalink.
– ATS Surveillance airspace, where surveillance service is provided by means of radar and/or ADS-B, coupled with VHF.
NAT Doc 007 sets out the exempted ATS Surveillance airspace over Greenland and Iceland where you can still fly if you don’t have datalink. This area is bounded by the following:
Northern boundary: 65N000W – 67N010W – 69N020W – 68N030W – 67N040W – 69N050W – 69N060W – BOPUT.
Southern boundary: GUNPA – 61N007W – 6040N010W – RATSU – 61N020W – 63N030W – 62N040W – 61N050W – SAVRY
Here’s how that looks:
The southerly Blue Spruce routes
These go over Greenland linking Canada with Iceland via waypoint OZN, and are not fully contained in the exempted airspace. So if you’re flying these southerly Blue Spruce routes you will have to meet the NAT DLM requirements or fly outside of the vertical parameters of DLM airspace (i.e. below FL290 or above FL410). In other words: you need CPDLC and ADS-C to fly on the southerly Blue Spruce routes between FL290-410.
The northerly Blue Spruce routes
These are the ones going overhead BGSF/Sondrestrom airport. These do fall within the exempted area of airspace – so datalink is not mandatory if you’re flying here.
Only the northerly Blue Spruce routes are fully exempt from the NAT DLM.
It’s worth noting that aircraft without datalink can request to climb/descend through datalink mandated airspace, but will only be considered on a “tactical basis” by ATC.
Flights that file STS/FFR, HOSP, HUM, MEDEVAC, SAR, or STATE in Field 18 of the FPL, will continue to be permitted to flight plan and fly through datalink mandated airspace, but may not get their requested flight levels.
For more details about the datalink mandate, check out the NAT Doc 007 in full here. And for all the latest North Atlantic changes, read our July 2021 article here.
To get a copy of our latest NAT Plotting Chart, with easy view of boundaries for HLA and DLM/Datalink mandated airspace, go here.
More on the topic:
- More: US expands CPDLC coast-to-coast
- More: Datalink in Europe: What Are The Rules?
- More: What we know about the US CPDLC trial
- More: NAT Ops: Atlantic Thunder 22
- More: NAT Conundrums Volume III: To GOTA and beyond!
More reading:
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- Latest: US expands CPDLC coast-to-coast
- Safe Airspace: Risk Database
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We just (1st of February 2020) made a ferry flight with an old C550, not CPDLC and ADS-B equipped on the blue spruce route. Planned routing has been Keflafik – Narsarsuaq – Goose Bay. We tried to get FL430 for cruise – no chance. It will be refused by Gander and you will be forced to stay at FL270 or below.