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Comment by Afforess | Hacker News Reader

How would that work? Countries don't have radar coverage over the entire ocean. Even if the aircraft were noticed, which country would be responsible for upholding the international accords? If Russian aircraft were scrambling to stop hobbiest aircraft off the coast of Alaska, that would be a political nightmare.

Given the time involved in gaining a pilots license and cost of aircraft, it seems that the adage 'Caveat Emptor' works just fine for oceanic air crossings.

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Even if the aircraft were noticed, which country would be responsible for upholding the international accords?

...and more importantly, what could they do if they noticed? It's not like you can "pull over" a plane in the air and suspend the pilot's license immediately, unlike with someone on the road.

It could be done at the airport level. If your last known departure was from point A, how did you get here with an aircraft that is not suited to fly such long distance. Not only that, you shouldn't have been allowed to depart from point A to begin with.

But again, I thought that something similar already existed. Today I learned, that it doesn't.

You will be further shocked to know that, assuming I planned my route correctly, I could fly from Florida to Washington or Maine to California and not have to file a single piece of planning paperwork, nor tell anyone where I'm going, nor talk to anyone on the radio if I didn't want to.

Exactly like you could do in your car.

I thought after 911 the FAA enforced registered flight plans for all flights cross country, no? At least that's what the general news reported at the time.

For a short time (several weeks), there were restrictions like that via the TFR process (temporary flight restriction).

Those were never meant to be (and did not become) permanent.

Actually, there are requirements for flying in Canadian trans-oceanic airspace. You need to fly IFR, and you might need an HF radio depending on the route:

https://www.copanational.org/CC-42.cfm

You also have to follow the usual rules about having liferafts on board, etc.

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