I noticed that on my transatlantic flight ATC got me covered all the way from the UK to Canada. Which is not how it happens in real life. In real life you can’t contact ATC in the middle of nowhere simply because you are out of the radar coverage. This applies not only to the oceans but also some remote locations like for example Arctic Canada.
I hope this issue will be adressed and we’ll hear “Leaving my airspace. Radar services terminated” a little bit more.
Huh… so in real life, centers actually lose track of airplanes all the time? I thought in this day and age the entire world’s airspace has already been covered.
No not quite. There are areas in the world where you’re simply out of radar coverage and hence you don’t have the ATC available like is default in the simulator. For instance in some parts of central Africa. Pilots then use unicom to send over their positions amongst themselves and/or update ATC on their positions themselves.
With regards to Atlantic crossings, aircrafts enter a ‘tunnel’ (or six actually, three in boths ways and depending on oceanic weather as they get updated every six hours I think). They’re called NATS/North Atlantic Tracks (and others, for different oceans). Aircrafts flying from Europe to America will enter an imaginary tunnel at Shanwick Oceanic Control. They will give the aircraft very strict coordinates, altitudes and speeds(!) for their crossing. As long as they keep to that, they’ll be fine with regards to traffic separation as they’re all being lined up one after another. After passing Ireland for about 1 hour think, most airplanes enter a period of about 3,5 hours without radar and radio coverage. That is to say VHF communications. They do however are equipped with long(er) range HF radio communications which sounds a lot like putting two empty cans together with a string. And nowadays there is of course also satellite phones to contact maintenance back home or good old ACARS for sending messages.
Be that as it may, you can contact shore but you don’t communicate with ATC as you would once over land again. You got your instructions when entering the “tunnel” and you’re supposed to stick to those at all costs. Well, you know… unless you have engine troubles but they have procedures for that too like side stepping on your LNAV and going into pre-assigned safe altitudes. A bit like the emergency lane on the highway.
Ever heard of FANS1/A? ADS-C?
“ATC” at least labels itself “Oceanic” in some alignment to real life comms procedures as you get further offshore. As noted in yesterday’s Dev Q&A, many things are legacy FSX and need rewrites/updates. The Flight Planning Engine getting ripped out and replaced by Working Title is a start to that. With those changes can also come ATC as Matt N. mentioned during his last Q&A appearance. These are all intertwined components that can’t be solved in a vacuum.
Agreed. I recently flew a transatlantic flight from JFK to Heathrow. I didn’t lose contact even for a little bit during the flight. I hope this is implemented soon!
Thats why you use HF instead if VHF when crossing the ocean.
You will always be in radio contact during oceanic crossing when using HF, but no radar contact as you said. Interestingly you are talking to a radio operator in such case and not an Air Traffic Controller. The communication is relayed back and forward between the operator and ATC. ACARS is a question mark if uses VHF then it won’t work. Nowadays most communication goes via CPDLC and ADS-B.
The oceanic clearance usually doesn’t include coordinates when using tracks. You request the preferred track and a “second best” upon contact with Shanwick (or Gander in opposite direction), the clearance then becomes valid upon entering the Oceanic Transition Area (SOTA or BOTA).
Its common practise to fly offset of the route, this is called Strategic Lateral Offset Procedure (SLOP). This is usually arranged pilot-to-pilot using VHF on 123.450 MHz so nobody is exactly following the same line but rather stacked, on path, 1 nm, 2 nm offset to the right of track. For contingencies, failures and weather avoidance there is a complete flow diagram.
But I don’t believe MSFS simulates any HF, SELCAL, position reporting, NAT clearance, tracks or anything else regarding Atlantic crossing. Unless you are flying to Iceland, VHF you will soon be out line-of-sight for VHF and on your own for most of the journey 
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The NAT HLA has become very confusing with multiple requirements. The OPS Group provides a plotting chart that tries to distill the requirements into easy-to-understand graphics. With ADS-B and ADS-C the whole idea that ATC relies on radio position reports is going away quickly. At least every 5 min your aircraft is broadcasting a here I am signal over SATCOM.
It will be interesting to see if the WT adds in CPDLC and ADS to the Pro Line 21 and G5000ish avionics.
It has been 10 years since I crossed the NAT, it was called MNPS airspace then, now its called HLA as you stated. I have flown to Iceland a couple of times but those flights are always within VHF range. Things keep changing, soon Starlink will be able to communicate with ADS-B equipped aircraft so everybody knows where everyone else is at all times 
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