Originally Posted by
GogglesPisano
I can attest. Most of the time we had no SATCOM on the WATRS routes. But had one every time flying ATL/CHS. Someone somewhere in a cubicle didn't never seemed to plan that right.
I hated doing that stuff especially with weather. You are really on your own and more than once I was within a single transmission of flying off altitude and deviating on my own. I always deviated east to maybe get some VHF data from ACARS around Bermuda. I don't miss playing the telephone game with ARINC over HF voice with everyone transmitting. SELCAL was not fun either because you never knew if you still had connectivity even though you tested with every change. I ended up monitoring old school because I didn't trust being out there with a single radio that was mostly inaudible.