Oakland Oceanic is moving!

[Ryan Parry]

Effective September 1, 2021, Oakland Oceanic will be leaving the current Pacific Oceanic Partnership and will be under the sole control of the Oakland ARTCC. This puts ZAK inline with how other oceanic airspaces within VATUSA are handled.

What does this mean if you're Pacific Oceanic certified and wish to continue controlling ZAK? There will be a two month grace period in which Pacific Oceanic certified controllers may elect to join Oakland ARTCC as Oceanic Visitors. These Oceanic Visitors will maintain their ZAK certification and will not need to undergo any additional training, but will be subject to Oakland ARTCC policy. After the two month grace period ends (November 1, 2021) anybody wishing to control ZAK airspace will have to join the Oakland ARTCC as either a regular visitor and progress through domestic training and certification prior to ZAK, or join as an Oceanic Visitor and will receive training and certification for ZAK.

There are discussions about a new Pacific Partnership LOA similar to a mutual visiting controller agreement, but the plans are tentative. With GCAP pending changes to Oceanic are likely. Should some form of new agreement be established an announcement will be made, until such time all ZAK controllers will need to be on the Oakland ARTCC roster after September 1, 2021.

Applications for ZAK Oceanic Visitors will open September 1, 2021 on the Oakland ARTCC website www.oakartcc.org

Questions can be directed to Ryan Parry, VATUSA Western Region Manager (vatusa4[at]vatusa.net) and Daniel Everman, Oakland ARTCC Air Traffic Manager (atm[at]oakartcc.org).

[Ryan Parry]

As a result of a break down in communication with other affected Divisions, we are suspending the September 1 transition date while we work through other details with VATPAC and VATNZ. We will post more information when it is available.

[Ryan Parry]

Update: ZOA is officially in control of ZAK and a new Pacific Ocean LOA has been formed and finalized between VATUSA/ZOA, VATPAC, and VATNZ. The Pacific Oceanic Partnership is now dissolved. The new LOA can be found on the Oakland ARTCC website at the bottom of this page: https://oakartcc.org/controllers/procedures

VATUSA Controllers that had their Pacific Oceanic endorsement under the old partnership and wish to maintain it will have until December 1, 2021 to apply as a ZAK visitor on the Oakland ARTCC. Due to temporary technical limitations, after applying to be a visitor at Oakland ARTCC please email management[at]oakartcc.org or DM the ATM/DATM on Discord informing them you are visiting for the purposes of controlling ZAK. All ZAK controllers are subject to the activity requirements in the LOA to maintain their Pacific Oceanic endorsement.