Boundaries between Approach/Departure and Center

There don't appear to be hard and fast boundaries. You can see Center
boundaries and freqs on an IFR enroute chart, but they overlap with
approach/departure boundaries. Who does what depends on the nature of
the flight. Low level instrument flights often get handed from one
approach to the next if they are close enough to each other.

Flying at bugsmasher levels from Chicago to Des Moines, IA I usually
talk to Chicago Departure, Chicago Center, then Rockford Approach, then
Moline Approach, then Cedar Rapids Approach, then Chicago Center, and
finally DSM approach.

Approach freqs are always provided on the Airport/Facilities Directory
and on Approach Charts. Many GPS units also carry both ATC and
approach/departure freqs in the database.

On Jan 20, 1:34 pm, Mxsmanic wrote:
What determines the boundaries between airspace managed by an en-route
ATC center and an approach or departure center?

There is no fixed boundary between approach and center airspace. It's
usually defined by altitude though. Here in CT, once you climb past 15k
or so you get handed off to Center. I've flown VFR up to Maine below
10k and talked to Center - it's probably based on letters of agreement
over who owns what airspace and at what altitude. When at or above 18k
(Class A airspace) you're talking to Center no matter where you are,
although there may be exceptions to this rule in some places

Kingfish wrote:



There is no fixed boundary between approach and center airspace.


There is always a fixed boundary, laterally and vertically. One thing
you can be sure of with ATC is that only one controller owns the
airspace at a time.



Here in CT, once you climb past 15k
or so you get handed off to Center.



The handoff occurred much earlier and means that the controller working
you now can let you enter the next controllers airspace.



I've flown VFR up to Maine below
10k and talked to Center - it's probably based on letters of agreement
over who owns what airspace and at what altitude. When at or above 18k
(Class A airspace) you're talking to Center no matter where you are,
although there may be exceptions to this rule in some places

Controllers can always coordinate with each other for certain things.
For example if one of the local rich guys needs to fly up to FL350 over
my airport to check on the new engine but he'll stay within 15 or 20
miles of the airport I'll just call center on the landline and tell him
I'll keep him. That means the center controller has to separate all his
planes from my guy.

On Jan 24, 11:15 am, Newps wrote:

There is always a fixed boundary, laterally and vertically. One thing
you can be sure of with ATC is that only one controller owns the
airspace at a time.

Oops, I do recall now seeing an overlay on Flight Tracker that showed
the Center boundaries.


Here in CT, once you climb past 15k or so you get handed off to Center.

The handoff occurred much earlier and means that the controller working
you now can let you enter the next controllers airspace.

What I meant by handoff was a frequency change. Whatever happens behind
the scenes is transparent to me