The United States is rolling out En Route FANS CPDLC during 2018-19, for all equipped, trained and permitted operators. The FAA’s Advisory Circular AC 90-117 outlines the requirements for U.S. operators.
Trials have begun with KZID/Indianapolis going live with 24/7 ops starting last week.
We also understand that KZME/Memphis and KZKC/Kansas City are still in the testing phase with CPDLC and voice read back happening 1-2 nights per week during the midnight shift.
The current deployment schedule as it stands can be found in this graphic. [if you know what DFV means, let us know!]
How to participate:
- The FANS logon is “KUSA” for the entire country and you may logon at any time. The CPDLC connection will become active after departure, and the crew is notified via a welcome message uplink. If En Route FANS CPDLC enabled airspace is active, you will stay logged on. If the aircraft transitions from En Route FANS CPDLC enabled airspace into non-Data Link airspace with an active CPDLC connection then the connection will terminate approximately seven minutes after exiting.
- To participate, file “DAT/FANSE” in Field 18 of the ICAO Flight Plan.
- Equipment required is VDL Mode 2, indicated as “J4” in Field 10a of the ICAO Flight Plan.
- If an operator wants to use domestic En Route FANS CPDLC and is already using FANS DCL then the the majority of operations will fall into one of these scenarios:
- (1) The operator uses FANS DCL via the “DAT/1FANS2PDC” preference in Field 18 of the ICAO Flight Plan. In that case, update the preference to “DAT/1FANSE2PDC“.
- (2) The operator uses FANS DCL via the FAA’s Subscriber Database. In that case, the operator will want to add the entry “DAT/FANSE” in Field 18 of the Flight Plan.
Some things to keep in mind:
- Domestic En Route FANS CPDLC enabled airspace will be seamlessly integrated with foreign (Canadian) and Oceanic FANS CPDLC enabled airspace.
- The Oceanic Clearance will not be delivered via FANS CPDLC. You will still need to request the clearance via AFIS/ACARS or obtain it via voice.
Have you had the chance to try it out recently? Let us know!
Extra Reading:
More on the topic:
- More: US FAA: Who wants to land on the runway?
- More: US FAA: Swift Move to Improve Flight Tracking Privacy
- More: Datalink in Europe: What Are The Rules?
- More: US Domestic Enroute CPDLC Update
- More: US Federal Govt Shutdown Risk – Why it Matters to Aviation
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- Safe Airspace: Risk Database
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