Question: On an airline flight from New York to St. Thomas, I noticed that we ventured 400 miles offshore. Who controls this airspace, presumably beyond VHF and radar range?
Answer: Most traffic between the Northeastern U.S. and the eastern Caribbean uses this routing, several hundred miles shorter than following the East Coast. The airspace is called the Western Atlantic Route System, known by its acronym, WATRS. It uses 12 published airways labeled (from west to east) L451 through L462. Most are oriented north-south and spaced 60 nm apart. The availability of Bermuda as an engine-out alternative makes these routes usable even for non-ETOPS aircraft.
