"Saryon" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:13:49 -0500, JJ wrote:

When commercial aircraft fly across the big pond during IFR weather, how
does FAA and foreign Air Traffic control keep an eye on them without
radar? I understand most flights to and from Europe go up over
Newfoundland and over south of Greenland and Iceland. Can a radar see
out that far? Just curious. Any web links that show the routes would be
appreciated.

Aircraft entering the NAT (North Atlantic Track) system use
daily-changing routes which vary depending on weather. Which track a
specific flight would take depends on where they're coming from, what
the flight planning shows as best winds, etc etc etc. Since you don't
have radar coverage out in the middle of the ocean, prior to and while
in the NAT system they use ACARS

ACARS is a switch, which has little to do with the Inmarsat Satcom the ACARS
routes to the cockpit. In fact the misnomer that ACARS is the data link
only serves to retard progress.