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Tag: Oceanic

North Atlantic 2018 Operational Changes – Shanwick, Gander, Iceland, Santa Maria, New York – and the NAT HLA

1 October, 2018 / / 10 Comments

We’ll use this page for NAT changes, including EGGX/Shanwick, CZQX/Gander, BIRD/Iceland, ENOB/Bodo, LPPO/Santa Maria, and KZWY/New York Oceanic East.

2018

Here are the latest important changes for the NAT. These are also published in the latest edition of NAT Doc 007, August 2018.

  • PBCS From March 29th 2018, PBCS is a requirement for the daily mandated PBCS NAT Tracks (right now, that the 3 core tracks each day) between FL350-390.  PBCS for the NAT means having both RCP240 (4 minute comms loop) and RSP180 (3 minute position reporting). If you’re missing approval for either, then you can fly anywhere other than along the core NAT tracks FL350-390. Read more about PBCS in our article, and check out the NAT Circle of Change for an easier graphical representation.
  • RLAT  From January 4th 2018, Shanwick and Gander increase the number of RLAT tracks – most tracks between FL350-390 will now be RLAT – 25nm separation between them.

And there will be more! Keep an eye on this page, we’ll keep it updated.

The NAT used to be simple. Fill your flask, fire up the HF, align the INS and away you went.

Now, it’s a little more complicated. Basic Instruments are not enough. Use this quick and dirty guide from FSB to figure out where you are welcome on the NAT, depending on what equipment and training you have. Valid January 31, 2018.

Free for OpsGroup, or you can purchase a copy here.

 

2017

Lots of important changes in 2017

  • SLOP – Offsetting is now mandatory. Choose 0, 1, or 2nm right of track. We think 1 or 2 is best. Consider the recent A380 story.
  • TCAS 7.1: From January 1st, 2017, TCAS 7.1 is required throughout the entire NAT region.
  • Cruising Level: Effective 2017, you no longer need to file an ICAO standard cruising level in NAT airspace.
  • Gross Nav Error:  is now defined as greater than 10nm (used to be 25nm)
  • Contingency Procedure: Published January 2017, a new turn-back (180) procedure is introduced – turn back to parallel previous track by 15nm.
  • Datalink Mandate Exemptions: Phase 2B of the Datalink mandate started on December 7, 2017 (FL350-390). Exempt: Radar airspace, Tango Routes, airspace north of 80N, and New York OCA.

2016

  • Confirm Assigned Route Introduced August 2016, you will see this message when you enter NAT airspace with datalink, and you should reply with the planned route in NAT airspace. Designed to catch errors.
  • NAT HLA The airspace formerly known as MNPS. Changed February 2016. NAT HLA = NAT High Level Airspace. Now includes Bodo Oceanic, and aircraft must be RNP 4 or RNP10. Previous MNPS approvals good through 2020.

2015

  • RLAT Started December 2015, spacing on the NAT Tracks reduced to “Half Track” (30nm) for 3 core tracks. RLAT=Reduced Lateral Separation Minima. Next phase (ie. all NAT Tracks 350-390) now planned for December 2017.
  • SLOP Offsetting right of track by 1nm or 2nm became Mandatory.

 

Feb 1st, 2018: FSB updated the full NAT Crossing Guide “My first North Atlantic Flight is tomorrow“.

– What’s different about the NAT, changes in 2018,2017, 2016, 2015, NAT Quick Map
– Routine Flight Example #1 – Brussels to JFK (up at 5.45am)
– Non Routine-Flights: No RVSM, No RNP4, No HF, 1 LRNS, No HLA, No ETOPS, No TCAS, No Datalink – what you can do and where you can go
Take a look.

 

NAT Expanded data link mandate

5 December, 2017 / / 0 Comments

It’s time for everyone’s favourite topic – DATA LINK MANDATE! New things are happening on December 7th. Don’t worry, we’ll help.

Right Now, if you’re using the NAT tracks, between FL350-390, you’re mandated to use data link services. Simply put, you must be equipped with CPDLC and ADS-C (FANS 1/A ready and able).

On December 7th 2017, the data link mandate will expand to the entire ICAO NAT Region between FL350-390, with a few exceptions. We’ve got the image below showing you the area. White routes are exempt, as well as the grey border areas (we like the Big Fish).

Exemptions:
-Everything north of 80°North
-New York Oceanic East FIR (was previously all of NY Oceanic)
-Routes T9, T213, T13, T16, T25. (see: The Tango Routes)
-The Blue Spruce Routes (white lines)
-Areas that currently have radar, multilateration (is this a word?) and/or ADS-B. (the grey areas)
Note: If any of the NAT Tracks go into the grey areas, you won’t be exempt while on the tracks.

Be ready, January 30th, 2020, all of the NAT ICAO Region will have the Data Link Mandate, above FL290, including the Tango Routes as well as those little grey areas.

To figure out where you are welcome on the NAT, depending on what equipment and training you have, check out our quick and dirty guide here.

For more details about the datalink mandate, you can read the UK AIC in full here.

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Iridium Fault Fixed

2 November, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Last week we reported on an equipment issue with Iridium satcom that prompted a ban by a number of Oceanic ATC agencies. Some aircraft were receiving massively delayed clearances sent by ATC via CPDLC – and one took the instruction and climbed 1000 feet, even though the message was meant for the flight the aircraft operated previously.

Here were the areas which had previously published Notams restricting the use of Iridium: Brazil Atlantico (SBAO), Auckland (NZZO), Chile (SCIZ), Japan (RJJJ), Anchorage (PAZA), Oakland (KZAK), New York (KZNY and KZWY).

However, all FIR’s have now removed their notams which banned the use of Iridium for CPDLC and ADS-C. This has happened after tests were performed last week using Iridium SATCOM which confirmed that Iridium no longer queues CPDLC uplinks for more than five minutes.

Oceanic ATC’s tell us their position on Iridium Satcom

19 October, 2017 / / 2 Comments

Last week we reported on an equipment issue with Iridium satcom that prompted a ban by a number of Oceanic ATC agencies. Some aircraft were receiving massively delayed clearances sent by ATC via CPDLC – and one took the instruction and climbed 1000 feet, even though the message was meant for the flight the aircraft operated previously.

Today, we checked-in again with all the oceanic ATC centres, to see what their current policy is on the issue.

EGGX/Shanwick told FSB that they are aware of the issue, reviewed it, but have decided not to ban the use of Iridium for either CPDLC or ADS-C just yet. LPPO/Santa Maria have the same position. So, in this airspace, you can use Iridium, for now.

CZQX/Gander said they did a safety analysis of it, and decided not to ban it. They have all kinds of conformance alerts in place to prevent any problems from happening – so if aircraft deviate they get notified immediately.

BIRD/Reykjavik aren’t that concerned about the issue – they use HF most of the time anyway.

Chile (SCIZ)
Japan (RJJJ)
Anchorage (PAZA)
Oakland (KZAK)
New York (KZNY and KZWY)
All these centres have published Notams instructing crews not to use Iridium for CPDLC or ADS-C. Until the fault is fixed, in those regions you’ll have to either use HF for ATC comms, or use another SAT provider.

Auckland (NZZO) and Brazil (Atlantico SBAO) have applied the ban to CPDLC alone. Use ADS-C if you like.

 

From Iridium themselves, they told FSB: “We’ve updated their queue management system. Every minute, there is a queue check. If there is any message that is older than 4 minutes, it marks as timed out, and will not be delivered. This update was done at ground level, so it does not require any software updates by the user. We’re still waiting on feedback from FAA workgroup on the fix and if it’s sufficient to allow use of Iridium for CPDLC and ADS-C.”

That’s it for now! We’ll keep you posted, or, even better – tell us below in the comment section if you hear news.

 

Iridium fault prompts ban by Oceanic ATC

18 October, 2017 / / 8 Comments

Aircraft Operators using the Iridium Satellite service for ATC comms should be aware of an equipment issue that has prompted a ban by a number of Oceanic ATC agencies in the last few days

Right now, Chile (SCIZ), Japan (RJJJ), Anchorage (PAZA), Oakland (KZAK), New York (KZNY and KZWY) have all told operators not to use Iridium for CPDLC or ADS-C. Until the fault is fixed, in those regions you’ll have to either use HF for ATC comms, or use another SAT provider. Auckland (NZZO) and Brazil (Atlantico SBAO) have so far only applied the ban to CPDLC alone. Nothing has been published yet by Gander (CZQX), Shanwick (EGGX), Reykjavik (BIRD) or Santa Maria (LPPO) – although we’re keeping a close eye on them for any update.

Here’s what happened:

On Sep 12th, an Alaskan Airlines flight had a failure of their CMU (Comms Management Unit) that caused the Iridium connection to stop working. An ATC message was sent to the aircraft but not delivered. On the next flight, the CMU power was reset and corrected the issue, and the pending message was delivered. The CMU did not recognise the message as being old, and so it was presented to the Flight Crew as a control instruction. FSB understands that this aircraft took the climb instruction and executed the level change, climbing 1000 feet .

Another flight, operated by Hawaiian out of Oakland, had a similar problem. This aircraft had both Iridium and Inmarsat on board, and during the flight switched over to Inmarsat as the provider. An ATC message was routed via Iridium, but didn’t reach the aircraft before the switch. Some 23 hours later, on the next flight, Iridium was activated again and again the ATC message presented as a “live” instruction. On this occasion, the crew queried the instruction and did not climb.

The problem in simple terms is that if ATC sends a CPDLC message like “Climb FL370“, which is obviously only valid for “right now”, but another crew gets the message hours later, then you have a very high risk of the new crew accepting that and climbing.

For now, Iridium has a plan to fix the ground side to not allow older SBD messages to be delivered, and they say they are testing it at the moment and expect to release it soon.

OpsGroup members will be updated directly on further news.

Notam copies below:

ANCHORAGE PAZA A0626/17 - USE OF CPDLC AND ADS-C VIA IRIDIUM SATCOM IS PROHIBITED WITHIN THE ANCHORAGE OCEANIC, DOMESTIC AND ARCTIC FLIGHT INFORMATION REGIONS (FIRS). SFC - UNL, 13 OCT 19:40 2017 UNTIL 13 NOV 00:00 2017 ESTIMATED. 
CREATED: 13 OCT 19:35 2017
NEW ZEALAND AUCKLAND NZZO B4985/17 - USE OF CPDLC (DATALINK) VIA IRIDIUM SATCOM 
IS PROHIBITED WI NZZO FIR. COMMUNICATION WI NZZO FIR IS TO BE VIA HF 
RDO ON THE APPROPRIATE SP6 FREQ. OPERATORS USING IRIDIUM SATCOM MAY 
CONTINUE TO USE ADS-C FOR POSITION REPORTING WI NZZO FIR. HF VOICE 
POSITION REPORTS ARE NOT REQUIRED UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED. 
08 OCT 21:56 2017 UNTIL 08 JAN 21:00 2018 ESTIMATED. 
CREATED: 08 OCT 21:56 2017
OAKLAND KZAK A4306/17 - FOR ACFT EQUIPPED WITH IRIDIUM SATCOM, USE OF CPDLC AND ADS-C VIA IRIDIUM SATCOM IS PROHIBITED WITHIN OAKLAND CENTER OCEANIC AIRSPACE. COMMUNINCATION WITH KZAK MUST BE VIA HF FOR IRIDIUM USERS. 
13 OCT 19:49 2017 UNTIL 31 DEC 23:59 2017. CREATED: 13 OCT 19:54 2017
NEW YORK KZNY A0334/17 - USE OF CPDLC AND ADS-C VIA IRIDIUM SATCOM IS PROHIBITED WITHIN NEW YORK CENTER OCEANIC AIRSPACE. 13 OCT 19:27 2017 UNTIL 30 DEC 08:00 2017. CREATED: 13 OCT 19:38 2017
NEW YORK KZWY A0502/17 - USE OF CPDLC AND ADS-C VIA IRIDIUM SATCOM IS PROHIBITED WITHIN NEW YORK CENTER OCEANIC AIRSPACE. 13 OCT 19:27 2017 UNTIL 30 DEC 08:00 2017. CREATED:13 OCT 19:36 2017
BRAZIL ATLANTICO SBAO N0095/17 - FOR ACFT EQUIPPED WITH IRIDIUM SATCOM, 
USE OF CPDLC IS PROHIBITED WITHIN ATLANTICO CENTER OCEANIC AIRSPACE. 
FLIGHT CREWS CAN LOG ON SBAO TO ALLOW THE USE OF ADS-C FOR POSITION 
REPORTING. COMMUNICATION WITH SBAO MUST BE VIA HF. IF USING ADS-C 
POSITION REPORTING, HF VOICE POSITION REPORTS ARE NOT REQUIRED 
UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED. 15 OCT 12:00 2017 UNTIL
13 JAN 12:00 2018.  CREATED: 15 OCT 01:22 2017
JAPAN FUKUOKA RJJJ J7236/17 - FOR ACFT EQUIPPED WITH IRIDIUM SATCOM, USE OF CPDLC AND ADS-C VIA IRIDIUM SATCOM IS PROHIBITED WITHIN FUKUOKA OCEANIC AIRSPACE. COMMUNINCATION WITH RJJJ MUST BE VIA HF FOR IRIDIUM USERS. 16 OCT 10:08 2017 UNTIL UFN. CREATED: 16 OCT 10:09 2017

Iceland ATC strike bigger than ever

6 July, 2016 / / 1 Comment

We had some really positive hints at a resolution of the Iceland ATC strike last week, but it’s not over yet – by any measure. Today sees another long list of airspace and airport closures. Oceanic Eastbound, Westbound and landing traffic all affected.

BIKF/KEFLAVIK A0454/16 06JUL 1007Z

(NOTAMR A0453/16) – DUE TO STAFF SHORTAGE BIKF TWR SERVICE LIMITED
TO SCHEDULED COMMERCIAL AND INTERNATIONAL
FLIGHTS, AMBULANCE AND EMERGENCY  FLIGHTS.
NO TOUCH AND GOES OR LOW APPROACHES FOR VFR
TRAINING FLIGHTS, ONLY DEPARTURE AND ARRIVAL.
TWR BIKF SERVICE LIMITED TO AMBULANCE AND
EMERGENCY FLIGHTS ONLY DURING THE FOLLOWING
HOURS: 09:00-09:30, 11:30-12:00 AND 14:00-14:30. 06 JUL 10:05 2016 UNTIL 06JUL 21:00 2016.

BIRD/REYKJAVIK OACC A0452/16 05JUL 2146Z

(NOTAMR A0451/16) – DUE TO STAFF SHORTAGE IN REYKJAVIK OACC WESTBOUND
TFC PLANNING TO ENTER BIRD FROM ENSV VIA GUNPA,
VALDI, IPTON, INGAL, ISVIG AND EGPX VIA LIRKI, GONUT,
OLKER, MATIK AND RATSU AND THEN PROCEEDING INTO EGGX
OR CZQX SHALL REMAIN SOUTH OF BIRD CTA. 06 JUL 11:00 2016 UNTIL 06 JUL 20:00 2016.

BIRD/REYKJAVIK A0450/16 05JUL 1518Z

– DUE TO STAFF SHORTAGE IN REYKJAVIK CENTRE,
OPERATORS SHALL FILE TO COMPLY WITH THE FOLLOWING:
1. EASTBOUND TFC WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED FROM CZQX AND
EGGX EXCEPT  TRAFFIC WITH DESTINATION IN ICELAND,
SCANDINAVIA, BALTIC STATES AND RUSSIA.
2. EASTBOUND TRAFFIC FROM AERODROMES EAST OF 105W
WITH  DESTINATIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST SHALL REMAIN CLEAR OF
BIRD CTA.
OPERATORS ARE URGED TO KEEP REQUESTS FOR LEVEL AND
SPEED AMENDMENTS WITHIN BIRD CTA TO A MINIMUM.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CALL REYKJAVIK SHIFT
MANAGER +354 424 4141. 06 JUL 02:00 2016 UNTIL 06 JUL 08:00 2016.

BIRD/REYKJAVIK A0452/16 05JUL 2146Z

(NOTAMR A0451/16) – DUE TO STAFF SHORTAGE IN REYKJAVIK OACC WESTBOUND
TFC PLANNING TO ENTER BIRD FROM ENSV VIA GUNPA,
VALDI, IPTON, INGAL, ISVIG AND EGPX VIA LIRKI, GONUT,
OLKER, MATIK AND RATSU AND THEN PROCEEDING INTO EGGX
OR CZQX SHALL REMAIN SOUTH OF BIRD CTA. 06 JUL 11:00 2016 UNTIL 06 JUL 20:00 2016.

Santa Maria Strike: Four Routes

28 June, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Update: 1730Z/Weds – we have received notification that Portuguese Industrial action may be being withdrawn. We will update and confirm when certain.

LPPO/Santa Maria Oceanic has published four special routes for use during the upcoming “July Friday Strike Series” ATC Industrial Action.

If you happen to be crossing the LPPO FIR on a Friday morning in July, then expect a hefty reroute if you didn’t file per the plan.

The Strike Time Period is : 0700-0900Z, during which time only these four routes will be accepted.

–ROUTE A– 45N020W 40N030W 37N040W

–ROUTE B– DETOX 39N020W 36N030W 34N040W

–ROUTE C– LUTAK 36N020W 33N030W 29N040W

–ROUTE D– ULTEM 27N040W

The cutoff time for these routes is when you enter the LPPO/Santa Maria FIR

Traffic entering prior to 0700Z: unrestricted

Traffic entering the FIR between 0700-0900Z: Must file and fly one of the four Routes above.

Traffic entering the FIR after 0900Z: unrestricted

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