We have now left any sight of land behind us, and we won't see it again until we reach Ireland. However as a pilot you have a lot more things to worry about than watching the waves or the stars.
Due to the limited amount of radar in the Atlantic the only way for the controller to know where you are is to ask for a position report. These are done:
These give the controller an idea of where you are, where you are going next, how high you are, how fast you are, etc. These are invaluable to the controller to keep you clear of conflict, however they are a whole new skill to many pilots.
Position reports shall include the reported position, the next reporting point and estimated time, and the succeeding reporting point as per the cleared route. If the estimated time over the next reporting point is found to be in error by three minutes or more, a revised estimated time shall be transmitted as soon as possible to the appropriate ATC unit. When making position reports, all times shall be expressed in UTC, giving both the hour and minutes.
After reporting 40W (20W if flying Europe-North America) the controller will instruct you to "report 30 west to Shanwick on 127.900 (12790.0 kHz)". This means you switch frequency at 30 west, not right away. If you do change frequency you'll just be sent back.
Continue with position reports until leaving the NAT.
If you have requested your clearance through datalink, you are also able to send position reports via the datalink system. This can be accomplished here.
Recently, a new trial has been running over the Atlantic called “Operations Without An Assigned Fixed Speed”, OWAFS for short. Before this trial, you needed to pick a speed within .01 of Mach and stick with it. This new operation allows you to fly the ECON speed in your FMC, which varies over time, usually reducing before increasing again after a step-climb.
To request this: