When flying online with VATSIM, how can you tell if you are in the sector covered by the Controller_CTR that appears in range ?? The other night I was flying in to KPHL and contacted DC_CTR only to find out that KPHL is covered by New York. The reason this confused me is that WAZZUP showed KPHL falling into the DC sector. Any help and advise is appreciated.Mark.

Mark,there is no easy way to do it without some charts of somekind. The payware Flight Planner "FSNav", a highly used flight planning tool which has fantastic mapping functions shows all the ARTCC ("Centers" in the U.S.) or FIR ("flight information regions" outside the U.S.) boundaries.If you like paper, you can use real world aviation IFR charts (either Low-altitude or High altitude enroute charts). I went and plunked down some money 2 years ago for the SimCharts products from Jeppesen, which are really just their real-world charts, not updated frequently enough for real world navigation.For a rough break-down, look at the map at www.vatusa.org, under the "ARTCC Roster" page.Jim B.

Mark, Unfortunately there is no easy way to determine whose airspace you might be in, especially if you are flying low or at an airport. The reason for this is that most planners like FSNAV and whazzup show high altitude center borders, but the low center borders may well extend further. Also, from what I can tell, no software shows where TRACON airspace lies. This is the problem with PHL. The PHL airport may well appear to be under DC CTR, but the PHL TRACON airspace lies under DC and NY, and the FAA in their wisdom decided that the parent of that TRACON is NY CTR. There are numerous similar problems with other airports in the northeast. Don't worry about contacting the wrong controller, they should point you in the right direction. As always, if in doubt, ask.Brian - ZNY

Howdy Mark. As everyone said, it's not easy telling whether which ARTCC you are in. You can use, as stated, Whazzup. Or as Brian stated, just simply ask. Thats why we are there. To help you. We don't laugh or make fun of anyone, we simply help you. Say you are in Cleveland, and you call over to my ARTCC (133.00). And you transmit, all i would simply state is... SO and SO, still in Cleveland airspace, will advise you when entering Chicago ARTCC (If you are going to be crossing into my ARTCC). Or SO and SO, not in my space, contact SO and SO at xxx.xx . (If you are entering someone else's space. Glad to help!Ben

FSNavigator displays the ARTCC boundries (and they're pretty darn close to the boundries used on VATSIM.) It's payware and you can find it Ryan-Flightpro08 :-coolVATSIM Pilot/ControllerZLA ARTCC Controller 1 (C-1)SAN TRACON Lead [link:members.cox.net/santracon/home|SAN TRACON Homepage] [link:www.taxiwaysigns.com]Taxiwaysigns.com. Scenery Designer-----------------------------My "Home Made" System Specs:Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz ProcessorTurbo Gamer ATX Mid-Tower with 420W Power SupplyEPoX 4G4A Motherboard with Intel 845G ChipsetVisiontek XTASY GeForce4 128MB Ti4600 (Det 30.30 Drivers)512MB PC2100 DDR RAM40GB Matrox 7200RPM Hard DriveWindows XP Home Edition*No CPU or GPU Overclocking*3dMark2001SE Score: 10346