VATSIM Oceanic Tutorial - The Basics | Cross the Pond and Keep it Simple!

A long awaited episode in my VATSIM Tutorial videos and one that has been requested quite a few times - How to fly Oceanic on the VATSIM Network.
I've kept it trimmed to the absolute basics - the minimum you need to know/do in order to successfully, and confidently fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
We'll discuss pre-flight planning and a few tips/tricks using SimBrief before discussing a few must-have features in your aircraft.
For the tutorial, we're in the channel livery and planning to operate an Osprey Airways flight from Manchester Airport (EGCC) to New York JFK (KJFK).
Be sure to check out britishavgeek.com/vatsim as mentioned in the video to download your free PDF guides and to check out my other tutorials too! I hope you find them all useful.
A little more information about the route being used:
EGCC/23R EKLA1R EKLAD UY53 WAL L10 PENIL M144 BAGSO DCT MALOT NATA TUDEP N396A ALLEX DCT PLYMM PARCH3
NAT A above contains the following co-ordinates which were found inside the FMC - entry at MALOT then 53N020W - 53N030W - 53N040W - 52N050W then exiting at TUDEP to go 'Domestic'
Computed Block Fuel: 44820 kg - be sure you take enough!
AIRAC Cycle: 2113
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Important Links:
ganderoceanic.ca/pilots/ocean...
ganderoceanic.ca/pilots/posit...
ganderoceanic.ca/pilots/tracks
nattrak.vatsim.net/oceanic_cl...
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Scenery and Addons used in this video tutorial:
Macco Simulations Manchester Airport for MSFS: maccosim.com/product/egcc-man...
Heavy Division freeware MSFS B78X improvement project: github.com/Heavy-Division/B78...

[@davidsolesvik7758]

Gander Oceanic Operations director here. A very good and detailed video! Just a few notes: 1 - If your ETA changes by more than 3 minutes, you don't have to request a whole new oceanic clearance - you just have to pass on a revised estimate for the ETA entry point. You can also pass it on if you're talking to domestic ATC (e.g. Shannon or Moncton/Gander Domestic). 2 - Position reports: IRL, ADS-C + CPDLC equipment is required between FL290 and FL410 so that the equipment (specifically ADS-C) can automate position reports via ADS-C, or alternatively via CPDLC, so that no human input is required to pass those along. IRL, Position reports are only passed on in case of ADS-C failure, or if the aircraft is above/below FL290-FL410 (and again, if those aircraft have CPDLC, then the pos-rep can be passed on via CPDLC). On VATSIM, aircraft equipped with ADS-B equipment are **not required** to issue position reports - only aircraft that are not equipped with ADS-B (think historical aircraft such as the 747-200 or the Concorde) have to give pos-reps. When I say they are not required, I mean that except during events and except where the controller may be busy, you are always welcome to provide a position report, in fact, are encouraged to if there is a student session on the network! Otherwise, even during events, you can always ask ATC if they are taking position reports ;) 3 - On frequency, there is no need to say "degrees" - 53 North 030 West is completely fine. 4 - SELCAL - SELCAL is a very important aspect of crossing the ocean. SELCAL checks are typically done after passing the entry point, when you start talking to Oceanic Enroute on the HF - the whole point of the SELCAL check is to make sure the SELCAL is actually working on the frequency where you are going to be maintaining the SELCAL watch. So if you're doing a position report, after the correct readback of the first position report you would say request SELCAL check. If you're not doing pos-reps, you request it on first contact. The correct response would be "SELCAL check OK", which will then allow you to maintain SELCAL watch, where you don't have to be listening to the frequency (as IRL, there is a lot of HF static that would be painful to listen to for hours, some pilot clients simulate this) - instead, you can turn the HF frequency down, and when ATC needs to speak to you, they will do a SELCAL ping. We are looking forward to seeing you guys over the OCA!

[@BritishAvgeek]

Thanks! Great to hear you enjoyed the video - wanted to try and cover everything without complicating any of it to help people get the confidence so hope it is useful to many! 🙂 Great to see all those pointers too so thanks for adding to the tutorial too, I'll pin the comment to ensure lots see the extra info 🙂

[@KEFVatsimTower]

As a real life Aeronautica radio operator for Iceland Radio(BICC and having also worked with Shanwick Radio), I must say vey well done. Very close to the real world operations.

[@BritishAvgeek]

Hi Edward, thank you! Hoping to give people some confidence to fly oceanic on the network wherever it may be. Nice to hear you enjoyed the video 🙂

[@TeezyThaKidd]

this video confirms that i am not ready to cross the pond on VATSIM just yet. looooooool. i'll stick to my domestic flights. awesome work!! thanks for sharing! the docs you provide on your site are a godsend, too. major thanks!

[@BritishAvgeek]

no worries at all - do it when you feel ready, and keep that pdf next to you to help :)

[@sammiles2188]

Credit where it's due, have been flying vatsim for about 10 years and rarely dare do a transatlantic flight a) for time constraints and b) not having much of a clue if I am doing the crossing right. This has really helped!

[@BritishAvgeek]

Good luck doing your next one then hopefully this comes in handy 🙂 glad to hear you found it helpful!

[@ROsteveification]

Brilliant video, very well explained. Thanks for this!

[@BritishAvgeek]

You're welcome! Been a long wait to get it done but felt it was the right time for MSFS and some of the addons to make it 🙂

[@thepaisleyproject]

Oakland Oceanic Radio Operator here, If you're curious I have a few things abt the examples. On the waypoints a typical report will sound like this "Qantas 25 checks Pakdo 1459 Flight Level three niner zero. Estimating Natss 1549, Ridll next, fuel on board one four decimal 2, request selcal check EFDK" Over HF especially in reports like the one I just made, (that's from fukuoka fir into the Guam circle, not a typical track for Qantas tho) you want to keep words to a minimum, it can be really really hard to hear you over frequency. 😅 seriously cpdc is a godsend for us. Also you can just revise your estimate if you're not gonna be within 3 minutes, just say something like "Qantas 25 now estimating Natss time 1555" If you are cpdlc by rule you are still supposed to check in with us at the FIR to ensure HF equipment is working (transmitter/selcal) Also another thing to help people watching, remember the flight level you report for a position is the flight level you were at that position, not what you are now, if you changed you should also report your present altitude, I recommend after the rest of the report just to keep the Operator in the groove, half the time we already typed the next position, lol. Also irl most flights will check in prior to their first position report, it kinda gives us a heads up, so provided there isn't a cpdlc outage I don't really mind this kind of check in, and it keeps your position report contact MUCH shorter.

[@BritishAvgeek]

thanks for your real world input, really valuable information 🙂

[@leiflavebrink9639]

Superb video and as always extremely well and structured presentation. You must be a teacher in your civil life 👍👍👍

[@BritishAvgeek]

Thanks! Haha no I definitely don't have to patience required to be a teacher! 🤣 Great to hear you enjoyed it

[@dukedangaming924]

Thanks for the very insightful video. Quick question though (and apologies if I missed it in the video). If ATC isn’t online but then come on while you’re already flying over the ocean, I’m assuming you wouldn’t go through the entry clearance process correct? Would you just do a position report and take it from there?

[@sparsons83]

Oh nice was just going to ask if you could do a oceanic clearance tutorial - cheers :)

[@BritishAvgeek]

Nice timing then 🙌🤣 hope it was useful!

[@matsklakegg5174]

Have been waiting for this Lol

[@BritishAvgeek]

Taken a while hasn't it! 😂 Wanted to let the sim mature a little more before trying to get this done 🙂

[@lordrichard1998]

Thanks mate!

[@BritishAvgeek]

You're welcome 😁 hope it helps

[@lordrichard1998]

@@BritishAvgeek sure did! Subbed for more content in the future 😁

[@BritishAvgeek]

@@lordrichard1998 awesome thanks! 😁

[@britbfg]

Going to do my first cross the pond event soon, but mostly a FBW A32NX pilot, would you recommend I pick up the heavy division or salty simulations for the journey?

[@BritishAvgeek]

Well, I'd say for cross the pond you'll want to pick whichever you prefer the most making sure that you know how to fly holds in either of them 😀

[@britbfg]

@@BritishAvgeek not used either yet, need to pick one and brush up on the differences between it and the a320 lol. Which would you say was the more complete aircraft?

[@BritishAvgeek]

@@britbfg neither 😅 they're both about the same level but in different ways and the flight models are still default. The 787 has more of a VNAV though

[@frozengoose]

Can the Heavy 787 cross a waypoint at a given time or would you have to manually adjust speed to reach a fix with a time restriction?

[@BritishAvgeek]

You'd have to adjust your own speed but if you let all the timings settle in the cruise it'll be pretty consistent give or take 3mins 🙂

[@Sim737Pilot]

Know your aircraft and how to fly it. You should already know how to use all the nav systems and how to follow ATC instruction. CTP is not the time to "test" anything. Don't become a burden because you failed to plan properly or learn your aircraft. Spend the time to READ your pilot briefing, all your departure and arrival charts, NOTAMS, weather, ect. Get familiar with your departure and arrival airports offline BEFORE the event day. Recommend flying a test sector to your oceanic entry point to make sure everything is loaded and functioning properly.

[@BritishAvgeek]

Nice added tips there too - it's important to know what you're doing and how you might need to do it! No room for gross error in cross the pond

[@Covid-bv4hp]

Could you explain how you would go about doing oceanic clearance and position reports using CPDLC exlcusively?

[@BritishAvgeek]

Depends on the aircraft but would be just clicking the buttons in the system it uses to send the messages to/from the controller

[@Covid-bv4hp]

@@BritishAvgeek Does that mean I don't have to check in with ATC like I would usually do?

[@BritishAvgeek]

@@Covid-bv4hp you need to check in first with ATC using voice, get a SELCAL check and THEN you can move to CPDLC

[@FlyingCube6]

When flying from lets say Amsterdam to Boston and there are two centers online before oceanic, do i still have to call oceanic 45 mins before entering?

[@as-guardianangel9360]

No. Typically that center will hand you over to Oceanic. Also, the Oceanic controller will be well aware of the ATC around his airspace.

[@cptjarret8957]

quick question: if the month were to be more than febuary like for example october, what would i put for the tmi?

[@BritishAvgeek]

The TMI is the day of the year so if it's the 145th day of the year for example (whatever day that may actually be) then the tmi will be 145

[@cptjarret8957]

@@BritishAvgeek ah alr thank you!

[@sonnymoore8914]

Could someone please explain where I can find the selcal code

[@badkarma6854]

This also works for pascots tracks across the pacific right?

[@BritishAvgeek]

Should do yes :)

[@Cruz474]

How often should you give position reports?

[@yelsew.8]

never. controllers dislikes it.

[@olleaviation]

What to do if you are first on unicom in gander or shanwick airspace, and then they come online?

[@BritishAvgeek]

well, give them a few minutes and then just request a SELCAL check with your selcal code :)

[@olleaviation]

Okey so I don’t have to ask of oceanic clearance?

[@simulacrae]

Wait, planes in msfs have selcal codes?

[@BritishAvgeek]

🤣 no but you can assign one on vPilot so you get the ping through the vPilot client

[@simulacrae]

@@BritishAvgeek oh, so that’s user selected? How do you know that you won’t select a code that’s taken?

[@BritishAvgeek]

@@simulacrae it won't let you use it if it's already taken 🙂

[@Mattblackaviation787]

Why would you call up the radio station twice as opposed to normal clearances where you say it once?

[@BritishAvgeek]

Because your radio transmission needs to go over such a long distance, and with that comes drop outs potential and so on, so you transmit the station name twice to make sure they hear at least once

[@Mattblackaviation787]

@@BritishAvgeek Makes sense, great video!

[@waynehenderson6429]

Can you only fly in real time for crossing?

[@BritishAvgeek]

for VATSIM yes you can't speed up the sim time.

[@waynehenderson6429]

@@BritishAvgeek i dont mean speed up time i mean real time as in if its midnight i cant change my time to midday to replicate daylight

[@waynehenderson6429]

@@BritishAvgeek or being more specific to the actual departure time to the real world flight

[@BritishAvgeek]

@@waynehenderson6429 ohhh I see - you can fly at whatever time of day you wish 🙂 just remember to give your ETA times in the real Zulu to any controllers

[@waynehenderson6429]

@@BritishAvgeek im still a rad confused so do i have to to work out what the real times are or still whatever it says on mcdu or fmc say i started my sim at 7am zulu but really its 10 pm zulu how do you translate that time to the controller or does it just work off the time u have given from when you enter the nat-track or do i actually have to work out what the real time would be by my clock lets say

[@AirDogHD]

How do you get a mach number ?

[@BritishAvgeek]

It'll be on the PFD usually under the speed tape as a number like M0.79 or 0.79 or .79 for example

[@MaxyBlogs]

Best 787 Mods for msfs?

[@BritishAvgeek]

Only one - the one I use in streams which is Heavy Division

[@jeluna]

Which airline is Osprey?

[@BritishAvgeek]

It's not - it's the callsign we use on VATSIM when we are flying in the channel liveries (osprey airways / BVX) take a look at britishavgeek.com/liveries 🙂

[@cszbmain]

Still first :)

[@tomaszkarwik6357]

How

[@BritishAvgeek]

Happy flying! 🗺️

[@vi-li7ii]

Second

[@BritishAvgeek]

Hope you found it useful! 🙌

[@llb2899]

666 likes is crazy