NAT Clearance changes – a game! (V4) – International Ops 2024

We’ve made a little game to help with Oceanic Clearances changes on the NAT.
You can download it here.
Updated June 19, 2024 – Edition 4!

Click for PDF.

Why the game?

By Christmas of 2024, all OACC’s on the NAT will stop transmitting an Oceanic Clearance to you. They still want you to send an “RCL” message, which used to mean “Request Clearance”, but now it just means “Tell us your latest preferences”. Think of it as Checking In.

There are different dates when Oceanic Clearances will cease to be issued in the following FIRs:

Shanwick: ~~April 9~~ ~~May~~ ~~Q4 2024~~ December 4
Gander: ~~March~~ ~~May 3~~ December 4
Bodø: ~~March~~ ~~May 6~~ ~~June 17~~ December 4
Santa Maria: completed March 21
Iceland: completed March 21

But let there be no further blather about it here! We’ve done enough of that already – check here for our full post on the topic. Just play the game – it’s fun, and will tell you everything you need to know in 3 pages! Print it out, share it, pin it on a wall somewhere if you so desire. We do so desire.

And if you have a question not covered in the game, send it to us at team@ops.group, and we’ll help you out – and add it into the next version.

Even more NAT goodies coming soon…

Our in-house bakers at OPSGROUP HQ are currently hard at work perfecting the recipe for a new version of our NAT Plotting & Planning chart and NAT Guide: My First North Atlantic Flight is Tomorrow – valid for 2024.

So start licking those lips, OPSGROUP members! (And if you fly the North Atlantic now and then, and would like to help out with these two new docs, please send us an email or jump right into the #atlantic channel in Slack where we will be thrashing it out).

Happy Crossings! ✈️ 🌊 🧑‍✈️

3 Comments

Gunther Pott says:

9 July, 2024 at 9:50 am

What about altitudes/ flight levels at the Oceanic Entry Point??

Okay, let’s assume we’re flying West-bound into BIRD from POLARIS. Since it’s not a clearance anymore (from our perspective), how is the altitude portion handled? Do we still have to coordinate with the current controller outside of the NAT to climb to the altitude we put in the RCL to reach it prior to the OEP? There’s no clearance (from our perspective) and maybe that altitude doesn’t work for the BIRD ATC.

So:
Does BIRD coordinate with POLARIS what they want altitude-wise and they will tell us then?
Are we required to be at the flight level sent in the RCL prior to the OEP under the new rules before entering BIRD ?
….or do we just stay at the current flight level and wait for the BIRD controller to assign us the altitude they need… which most likely happens either at or after passing the Oceanic Entry Point?

- Gunther Pott says:
  
  9 July, 2024 at 9:55 am
  
  What about altitudes/ flight levels at the Oceanic Entry Point??
  
  Okay, let’s assume we’re flying West-bound into BIRD from POLARIS. Since it’s not a clearance anymore (from our perspective), how is the altitude portion handled? Do we still have to coordinate with the current controller outside of the NAT to climb to the altitude we put in the RCL to reach it prior to the OEP? There’s no clearance (from our perspective) and maybe that altitude doesn’t work for the BIRD ATC.
  
  So:
  Does BIRD coordinate with POLARIS what they want altitude-wise and they will tell us then?
  Are we required to be at the flight level sent in the RCL prior to the OEP under the new rules before entering BIRD ?
  ….or do we just stay at the current flight level and wait for the BIRD controller to assign us the altitude they need… which most likely happens either at or after passing the Oceanic Entry Point?
  
  Well…. should have done more reading on the site before submitting. I would have found out that it really is even more confusing than I thought it would be 🙂
  
  Thanks for all the good work here. Most awesome resource I have.
  
Brian Greeves says:

26 March, 2024 at 10:52 pm

Great job…thank you all!

NAT Clearance changes – a game! (V4)