International Flying
Introduction
This Lesson provides some guidance for differences in terminology and procedure, and for locating enroute and terminal area charts, outside of the US.
What You Need to Know
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When flying outside of the US, the two most important considerations are (a) procedural and terminology differences, and (b) where to locate aeronautical charts for the region in question.
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The main terminology differences to keep in mind are (a) "ARTCC" usually becomes "FIR" and "______ Center" usually becomes "______ Control" or "______ Radar"; (b) "______ Approach" sometimes becomes "______ Director"; (c) "Altimeter" becomes "QNH" and is expressed in hectoPascals (abbreviated hPa), also called millibars.
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The usual range of approximately 28.50 to 31.50 inches of mercury for altimeter settings corresponds to a range of approximately 965-1065 millibars. The standard altimeter 29.92 is equivalent to QNH 1013. Google offers a quick way to convert them.
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In the US, the Transition Altitude is 18,000 feet MSL and Transition Level is FL180, always -- those are the points where altitudes below are calibrated to local altimeter settings and expressed verbally in thousands, and heights above are calibrated to standard pressure and expressed as "Flight Levels." In other locations the Transition Level and Altitude is either set by country, or, may even vary on a day-to-day basis. The Transition Level (abbreviated TL) may be on the terminal area charts, or indicated in the ATIS message.

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Other units of measurement differ from US standards:
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runway length and Runway Visible Range figures may be given in meters rather than feet;
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visibility may be given in meters or kilometers in some locations, as opposed to the US standard of Statute Miles;
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in China and possibly Russia and a few other locations, wind speeds are given in meters per second instead of knots;
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China is also one of a few locations where altitudes are expressed in meters and vertical spacing is typically 300m rather than 1000ft.
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In Europe, Clearance and Ground controllers (or controllers covering Clearance and Ground duties) are keen to have pilots specify their parking locations, both in their initial clearance contact and when arriving at their destination airport. What US pilots call a "gate" is often called a "stand" in the UK and parts of Europe.
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In the US, the usual rule for pushback and start is that a pilot only needs ATC permission if pushing onto an active taxiway. Elsewhere, it's more common to require pushback permission. And, during Cross The Pond, even US airports often add a "Ramp" position to help keep order to the chaos. Read the ATIS message for your origin, which likely contains information about the requirements.
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For many Approach/Director and Tower positions, it is common to require a check-in via callsign only, particularly when busy. Again, the controllers' ATIS message will sometimes indicate this.
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In some places, contacting Departure after takeoff, or Ground after landing, is done automatically by the pilot, whereas US Tower controllers will always initiate handoffs when appropriate.
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In the US, your STAR -- Standard Terminal Arrival Procedure -- is part of your filed and cleared route. Elsewhere, your STAR is assigned by the Enroute or Terminal Area controller once nearing your destination, so your filed route will end with a waypoint within the perimeter of that airport's Approach area, and you'll be advised of your STAR usually along with your descent instructions or your approach type.
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The best recommendation for finding charts outside the US is to check the websites of the VATSIM Regions and Divisions, and in some cases those of the individual FIRs or Centers which comprise each Division. There are a handful of other useful repositories as well. If you're participating in Cross The Pond, the event organizers release briefing packages for each departure and arrival airport prior to the event.
More Detail
In our Lessons and other written material we are often touting the ease by which US pilots can access ready-made, real-world IFR routes via FlightAware's IFR Route Analyzer, and lamenting that it wasn't useful for many international flights. Picking up that theme where it left off, US-based sim pilots are also spoiled by the free, public existence of all of the nation's VFR and IFR charts (enroute as well as terminal area) via the FAA Digital Terminal Procedures Publication and SkyVector (not to mention other sites which many prefer for the way they are organized, such as AirNav and MyAirplane, among others).
This is all well and good when your country's borders span several thousand miles. When flying abroad, however, international borders typically occur rather more frequently. Thus, a single-source, ready-made repository for every IFR chart you might need along the way is simply not the reality. This Lesson provides some guidance to aid international IFR sim pilots in finding the enroute high and low as well as the terminal area charts they need in order to blend effectively with the local traffic. It also highlights some key distinctions when it comes to terminology used over the radio, and a few procedural and regulatory differences from what US pilots are accustomed to as well.
Terminology and Procedural Differences
Regarding terminology and procedure, there are a few main differences that US pilots should be aware of when flying abroad, particularly in Europe:
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ATC Position Names: what we term an ARTCC and call "_______ Center" on frequency, Europe usually refers to as a FIR (Flight Information Region) and their name on the channel is often "_______ Control" or "_______ Radar." In some places, "_______ Director" is used instead of "_______ Approach," and this may apply to ALL Approach positions OR it may apply only to the last one you talk to before being given your runway approach clearance and your handoff to Tower.
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Parking, and Permission to Pushback and Start: the general rule is that ramp areas at virtually all US airports are considered "non-movement areas" which means they're outside of the ATC network's control (in the real world, they're usually controlled by ramp staff who work for either the airport authority or the airline that uses them). The real-world or VATSIM US Ground controller only needs to give permission to push and start if you're pushing onto an active taxiway. Expect this to be different for many non-US airports, and, to be requested to report your specific parking location upon contact with Clearance or Ground (and, note, what the US calls a "gate" is often called a "stand" in the UK and elsewhere). Also, during large-scale events like Cross The Pond, even at the US airport there may be an added Ground controller logged on who is handling "Ramp Control" -- read each controller's ATIS block to see what they are covering and what the pushback procedures are.
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Callsign-Only Check-In: some channels, especially when very busy like during Cross The Pond or other events, request that you contact them with only your callsign when first checking in. If you are instructed to do so, it may seem... err... "wrong" as a US pilot, who has had it drilled into your head since day one that you give their callsign, your callsign, your position, your altitude, and your intentions every time you speak to a new controller. However, to alleviate freqency congestion, if you're requested to check in with callsign only, rest assured that the controller who is handing you off has already provided the rest of those details to your new controller. Very often, it is published standard procedure that ALL check-ins to the "final" Approach / Director controllers and/or the Tower controllers should be via callsign-only.
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Automatic Handoffs: at some airports, there's a "Silent Handoff" procedure in place where you automatically contact Departure after takeoff, or, Ground upon landing and vacating your runway, without being told by the Tower controller. Such airport-specific procedures are often listed on the field's charts and/or in their virtual FIR's websites; see below for guidance on how to find them.
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Transition Altitudes/Levels and Altimeter Settings: in the US we're used to using locally-calibrated altitudes which we verbalize in thousands anytime we're under 18,000, and to referring to all altitudes at or above that as "Flight Level {x}-{x}-{x}" and calibrating the altimeter to 29.92 inHg. Surprise!... in Europe and elsewhere, that Transition Altitude isn't 18,000, but it varies -- by country, and sometimes even by the day! The Transition Altitude is the point when climbing that you switch to standard pressure and begin reporting Flight Levels, and the Transition Level is the point when descending that you switch back to locally calibrated altitudes. The TA/TL might be listed on your approach or other terminal area charts, or, are often included in an airport's ATIS along with the QNH setting (see next bullet point).
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QNH (which is just called "queue-enn-aych" over the radio, NOT "Quebec-November-Hotel") is the ICAO version of what we call "Altimeter" in the US. Conceptually, it's the same as what we're used to -- it's the barometric pressure, observed at the airfield or weather station, adjusted to allow for the observation location's altitude above Mean Sea Level. The only difference is that it's reported in hectoPascals rather than inches of mercury. Our standard 29.92 inHg becomes 1013.25 hPa (also called millibars), or usually just "QNH 1013." Above the Transition Altitude, that's what you set, and use "Flight Level" to refer to your altitude. Doing so becomes verbal confirmation that you're using the standard rather than local setting. So if the Transition Altitude is 5500 feet and you're at 6000, even if local QNH is 1030, you should set to 1013 millibars and report that as "flight level zero-six-zero." (TIP: need a converter? click here.)

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Other units of measurement differ from US standards:
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Runway length and Runway Visible Range figures may be given in meters rather than feet (a meter is about three-and-a-quarter feet, just slightly more than a yard -- 3m is pretty darn close to 10ft).
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Visibility is expressed in Statute Miles in the US; it may be in meters or kilometers in some locations.
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In China and possibly Russia and a few other locations, wind speeds are given in meters per second; fortunately that conversion is pretty easy, as 1m/s is very nearly 2 knots.
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China is also one of a few locations where altitudes are expressed in meters and vertical spacing is 300m rather than 1000ft. (As of late 2016 sources conflict over whether Russia does this as well or whether they have converted to altitude expressed in feet.)
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STAR Assignment: in the US, your STAR is part of your initially filed and cleared route. In Europe, your filed route ends with just a waypoint in the airport's terminal area, and the STAR is assigned either by the Enroute controller along with your descent instructions, or by the first Approach (or "Director") controller you talk to. In the latter case, when you check in and report your callsign, position, altitude, and ATIS aboard, you're used to being told what arrival runway and approach type to expect; in this case, you'll be assigned a STAR and Transition at that point as well. Usually you can determine which one or two procedures you are likely to be given based on which waypoint you're coming in from, but your controllers will make the final determination.
Chart Repositories -- General Information
When looking for charts and other resources for sim pilots who wish to fly in a specific area of the globe, it's useful to remember the organization structure of VATSIM (covered in the P1 rating), because each VATSIM Region and Division typically has its own website, and many of these include at least a semi-comprehensive repository for charts and procedures used in their area, or, at least a guide to point you in the right direction. To refresh, VATSIM is divided into six Regions: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa & Middle East, and Oceania. Within each of these Regions are Divisions, two to six per Region, loosely based on country boundaries (or groups of countries in the case of some of the more subdivided areas). The Region websites may include some limited resources, but it's more likely that the individual Division sites will offer the most useful specific information, since it's the Division managers who are directly responsible for overseeing the delivery of Air Traffic Control services within their territories. Most of these Divisions have a section on their sites with a heading of "Pilots" and/or a heading or subheading of "Charts."
The VATSIM Divisions and their websites are as follows:
There are a few other websites that contain aviation charts which aren't specific to a particular region:
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VATtastic.com -- this is a tool which incorporates a network activity monitor (like VAT-Spy) with some social media functions such as live chat and instant messaging. Additionally, when pulling up an entry under the "Airports" tab, there's a tab called "Charts" within the resulting pop-up window, which may provide some guidance. Many entries outside North America simply say "No charts for {xxxx} are available," however.
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NAVYAir -- NAVYAir is a simple website created for real-world and simulated US Navy enthusiasts. It has a page which is a sort of repository of saved charts, for a decent area of North America and Europe. It doesn't seem to be maintained, though, and many are outdated by up to 10 years.
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fltplan.com -- under "Quick Tools" there's a button for "Digital Charts" which links to a repository for charts from the US and Canada. The US ones are freely available; the Canadian ones won't open without registering for the website first, but, said registration is free, although it did ask for aircraft registration info. (INTERESTING TIDBIT: even though I don't yet own a real-world airplane myself, I have an N-number on reserve with the United States Federal Aviation Administration, which costs me the whopping sum of $10 per year. I am not sure but I assume this is an option available for US residents only. Visit FAA.gov for details.)
Charts for Bermuda
Bermuda, for VATSIM purposes, falls under the New York ARTCC. However, a search of TXKF on the ARTCC website elicits no results. In Summer of 2016, a VATSTAR Instructor contacted the real-world Bermuda Department of Airport Operations and they were kind enough to respond with a complete digital copy of the Aeronautical Information Publication, which you can download here. FYI, I don't generally recommend sim pilots to bother the real-world aviation facilities and agencies they plan to visit in their simulated flights -- but since just one of us did so on all of our behalf, there's certainly no harm in it, and we should feel free to disseminate the result to any sim pilot planning to fly to Bermuda.
Charts for the Caribbean
VATCAR (the VATSIM Caribbean Division) is one in which each individual FIR within it has a fairly complete and informative website where charts can be found and downloaded. The divison consists of eight such FIRs, and the chart sections on each of their websites are linked here:
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Curacao (no charts available as of this writing, late 2017)
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Havana (link here is directly to charts page)
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Kingston (charts under "Airports" and then select the one you want)
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Nassau (no charts that I saw as of this writing, late 2017, but some useful airport information contained at that link)
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Piarco (link here is directly to charts page)
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Port-au-Prince (link here is directly to charts page)
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San Juan (link here is directly to charts page)
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Santo Domingo (link here is directly to charts page)
Interestingly, as Puerto Rico is a US Territory, complete charts for the island and its airports are available via the usual sources for US charts (the FAA Digital Terminal Procedures Publication, SkyVector, AirNav and MyAirplane, among others).
Charts for Europe
Europe is another region where visiting the Region website, the Division websites, and the websites of the various FIRs within each Division would be a decent bet for any planned flight to the area. However, here's a partial list of some resources we found in our research which you may find useful:
In addition, Cross The Pond event organizers create thorough briefing packages with charts or chart links once the origin and destination airports for each iteration of the event are selected; visit the CTP event website to find download links. Examples of CTP briefing packages (for Eastbound 2016 in October) can be found here: Heathrow (EGLL), London, England, UK; Schiphol (EHAM), Amsterdam, Netherlands; Hamburg (EDDH), Hamburg, Germany; Zurich (LSZH), Zurich, Switzerland.

Summary
When flying overseas, the two most important considerations are procedural/terminology differences and locating charts. "ARTCC" usually becomes "FIR" and "______ Center" usually becomes "______ Control" or "______ Radar." "______ Approach" sometimes becomes "______ Director." What we call "gates," and other parking locations at airports, become "stands"; and controllers are more apt to want to know which one you're at or going to. "Altimeter" becomes "QNH" and is expressed in hectoPascals (abbreviated hPa), also called millibars. The usual range of 28.50 to 31.50 inHg corresponds to 965-1065 hPa. The standard altimeter 29.92 is equivalent to 1013 QNH. Transition Altitude and Transition Level is not 18,000 / FL180; it is either set by country, or, may even vary on a day-to-day basis and be indicated in the ATIS message. Certain countries report runway length, visibility, wind speed, and in a few cases even altitudes in metric units. Pushback permission is more often required outside of the US, and, during Cross The Pond, even US airports often add a "Ramp" position to control push-and-starts. The ATIS likely contains information about the requirements. Many Approach/Director and Tower positions require a check-in via callsign only. Some handoffs from Tower to Departure or Tower to Ground may be automatic. Unlike the US where your STAR is part of your filed route, elsewhere, it is assigned upon starting your descent, or upon entry into the Approach/Director terminal control area. The best recommendation for finding charts outside the US is to check the websites of the VATSIM Regions and Divisions, and in some cases those of the individual FIRs or Centers which comprise each Division. There are a handful of other useful repositories as well. Cross The Pond organizers release briefing packages for each departure and arrival airport prior to the event.
Rob Shearman, Jr. (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Chief Flight Instructor, VATSTAR
DISCLAIMER: all information contained herein is for flight simulation purposes only.
revised November 2017