Shanwick Oceanic Control
Encyclopedia
Air traffic control
Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...
(ATC) name given to the area of International Airspace
Airspace
Airspace means the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere....
which lies above the northeast part of the North Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. The name is a portmanteau of two of the air traffic facilities concerned with flights operating within this area of International Airspace, these being the Ballygirreen Radio Station, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) North of Shannon Airport
Shannon Airport
Shannon Airport, is one of the Republic of Ireland's three primary airports along with Dublin and Cork. In 2010 around 1,750,000 passengers passed through the airport, making it the third busiest airport in the Republic of Ireland after Dublin and Cork, and the fifth busiest airport on the island...
in County Clare
County Clare
-History:There was a Neolithic civilisation in the Clare area — the name of the peoples is unknown, but the Prehistoric peoples left evidence behind in the form of ancient dolmen; single-chamber megalithic tombs, usually consisting of three or more upright stones...
, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, and the Prestwick
Prestwick
Prestwick is a town in South Ayrshire on the south-west coast of Scotland, about south-west of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr, the centre of which is about south...
Centre in Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Responsibility for the provision of air traffic services within International Airspace is delegated to UN Member States
United Nations member states
There are 193 United Nations member states, and each of them is a member of the United Nations General Assembly.The criteria for admission of new members are set out in the United Nations Charter, Chapter II, Article 4, as follows:...
by the International Civil Aviation Organisation
International Civil Aviation Organization
The International Civil Aviation Organization , pronounced , , is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth...
(ICAO). ICAO divides such airspace into Flight Information Region
Flight Information Region
In aviation a flight information region is a region of airspace with specific dimensions, in which a flight information service and an alerting service are provided. It is the largest regular division of airspace in use in the world today....
s, parts of which may be deemed Controlled Airspace
Controlled airspace
Controlled airspace is an aviation term used to describe airspace in which ATChas the authority to control air traffic, the level of which varies with the different classes of airspace. Controlled airspace is established mainly for three different reasons:...
and, where appropriate, classified as an Oceanic Control Area (OCA).
The flight control (Procedural
Procedural control
Procedural control is a method of providing air traffic control services without the use of radar. It is used in regions of the world, specifically sparsely-populated land areas and oceans, where radar coverage is either prohibitively expensive or is simply not feasible...
ATC) aspect within the Shanwick OCA is the responsibility of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and is provided by NATS
National Air Traffic Services
NATS Ltd. is the main air navigation service provider in the United Kingdom. It provides en-route air traffic control services to flights within the UK Flight Information Regions and the Shanwick Oceanic Control Area, and provides air traffic control services to fifteen UK airports and Gibraltar...
from the Prestwick Centre and the voice communication aspect is shared between the CDO's (Clearance Delivery Officers) based at Prestwick Centre and the Irish Aviation Authority
Irish Aviation Authority
The Irish Aviation Authority is a commercial semi state company employing approximately 700 people at six locations around Ireland. The IAA has two main functions; the provision of air traffic management & related services in Irish controlled airspace and the safety regulation of the civil...
(IAA) from Shannon Aeradio, based in Ballygirreen Radio Station.
Shannon Aeradio maintains radio contact with flights within the Shanwick OCA by means of HF
High frequency
High frequency radio frequencies are between 3 and 30 MHz. Also known as the decameter band or decameter wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decameters . Frequencies immediately below HF are denoted Medium-frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Very high frequency...
radio. HF can provide global coverage due to its ability to reflect (see refraction
Refraction
Refraction is the change in direction of a wave due to a change in its speed. It is essentially a surface phenomenon . The phenomenon is mainly in governance to the law of conservation of energy. The proper explanation would be that due to change of medium, the phase velocity of the wave is changed...
) off the ionosphere
Ionosphere
The ionosphere is a part of the upper atmosphere, comprising portions of the mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere, distinguished because it is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere...
and can span the globe in a series of skips. VHF
Very high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
coverage however is limited to line-of-sight range. Shannon Aeradio, callsign "Shanwick Radio", utilises over 20 HF frequency channels and 2 VHF. At peak times it can communicate with in excess of 1400 aircraft during a 24 hour period. (Using the callsign "Shanwick Oceanic", the Prestwick Centre has 2 dedicated VHF frequencies specifically for the issue of Oceanic Clearances to westbound flights about to enter the Shanwick OCA, and also provides an ACARS based system called ORCA - Oceanic Route Clearance Authorisation - for suitably equipped aircraft to obtain such clearances without the need for voice communications).
During October 2009, NATS transferred its Oceanic ATC operations from the former Prestwick Oceanic Area Control Center
Area Control Center
In air traffic control, an Area Control Center , also known as a Center, is a facility responsible for controlling instrument flight rules aircraft en route in a particular volume of airspace at high altitudes between airport approaches and departures...
(OACC) into the £300m Prestwick Centre. The Prestwick OACC had been located within the Scottish & Oceanic Area Control Centre, (ScOACC), at NATS' Atlantic House facility, adjacent to the Prestwick Centre. The Prestwick Centre is also home to the Scottish Area Control Centre, (including, since January 2010, the former Manchester Area Control Centre), and the Scottish Air Traffic Control Centre (Military)
RAF Prestwick
RAF Prestwick is the home of the "Scottish Air Traffic Control Centre ", and is located within the NATS air traffic control facility at Prestwick, in Ayrshire, Scotland....
.
Oceanic ATC operations at the Prestwick Centre are undertaken using the joint NATS/NAV CANADA
NAV CANADA
Nav Canada is a privately run, not-for-profit corporation that owns and operates Canada's civil air navigation system .The company employs approximately 2,000 air traffic controllers , 800 flight service specialists and 700 technologists...
designed ATC computer system known as SAATS - Shanwick Automated Air Traffic System. SAATS, developed from NAV CANADA's GAATS - Gander Automated Air Traffic System - has been in service with NATS since November 2006. (Gander International Airport
Gander International Airport
Gander International Airport is located in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and is currently run by the Gander Airport Authority. Canadian Forces Base Gander shares the airfield but is a separate entity from the airport.-Early years and prominence:...
, Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, being the location of NAV CANADA's Gander ATC center
Gander Control
Gander Automated Air Traffic System is a proprietary system of Nav Canada used for the oceanic airspace of the Gander Area Control Centre .Most of the airspace is not monitored by radar, so procedures differ from those in continental airspaces...
which is responsible for flights in the northwest part of the North Atlantic).
During 2005/06, upgrades to Shannon Aeradio equipment at Ballygirreen took place and the IAA entered into an agreement with the Flugstoðir (ISAVIA)
Flugstoðir
Isavia is the Icelandic airport administration. It is responsible for operating all public airports and air navigation services in Iceland. Its head office is located on the grounds of Reykjavík Airport in Reykjavík.-History:...
subsidiary Gannet ATS Communications to provide additional HF communication services within the Shanwick OCA via the Gufunes Telecommunications Centre, (in Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
, Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
).
Transatlantic traffic has been steadily growing over the years, and prior to the global economic downturn of 2008/09 this growth was expected to continue. In 2006, 391,273 aircraft crossing the North Atlantic, on both random routes and North Atlantic Tracks
North Atlantic Tracks
North Atlantic Tracks are trans-Atlantic routes that stretch from the northeast of North America to western Europe across the Atlantic Ocean. They ensure aircraft are separated over the ocean, where there is little radar coverage...
, communicated with air traffic controllers at Prestwick via Shannon Aeradio; an increase of 5.4% from 2005. (On 21st July 2010 a daily record of 1432 movements was set, breaking the previous daily record of 1415 movements recorded on 26th July 2008). However, despite increasing numbers of aircraft operators utilising technological developments including Datalink
Data link
In telecommunication a data link is the means of connecting one location to another for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information. It can also refer to a set of electronics assemblies, consisting of a transmitter and a receiver and the interconnecting data telecommunication circuit...
communications, Future Air Navigation System
Future Air Navigation System
The Future Air Navigation System is an avionics system which providesdirect data link communication between the pilot and the Air Traffic Controller. The communications include air traffic control clearances, pilot requests and position reporting...
s and forwarding waypoint
Waypoint
A waypoint is a reference point in physical space used for purposes of navigation.-Concept:Waypoints are sets of coordinates that identify a point in physical space. Coordinates used can vary depending on the application. For terrestrial navigation these coordinates can include longitude and...
position reports via Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS-C & ADS-B), or Flight Management Computer
Flight management system
A flight management system is a fundamental part of a modern airliner's avionics. An FMS is a specialized computer system that automates a wide variety of in-flight tasks, reducing the workload on the flight crew to the point that modern aircraft no longer carry flight engineers or navigators. A...
, aircraft continue to be required to carry HF radio as a primary means of communication within oceanic airspace.