Paul McGraw
A4A
AIRLINES FOR AMERICA
VICE PRESIDENT OF
OPERATIONS AND SAFETY
26
NextGen Now | Summer 2015
For decades, the industry has been talking about the potential benefits
of Data Communications (Data Comm) operations. And in late 2013, the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) started the process of marrying
Data Comm to NextGen.
As an industry, when we talked about utilizing Data Comm, we projected
a future of flying that was safer and more efficient – in both time and
fuel savings. We were waiting for the moment when we could move
from onerous and time-consuming voice commands (or inefficient forms
of data communications) to a more efficient form of communication
– texting. We would be able to move from the traditional departure
clearance method where the controller verbally relays reroutes via radio
to the cockpit, leaving the pilot to write down the procedure and repeat
it to the controller — a process that can introduce hear-back and/or
read-back errors, requiring clarification and correction. Once confirmed,
the pilot must manually enter the new route into the flight management
system and, in many cases, relay the change to a dispatcher, who must
perform fuel calculations before approving the reroute.
With Data Comm, clearances and commands could be transferred back
and forth with no misunderstanding through text messages. What now
can take up to 15 minutes for pre-departure clearance could take seconds
as a pilot reads the text and presses "WILCO" to load the instructions
into the onboard system. We want this brave new world.
To help make this a reality, we have been working closely with the FAA
to advance Data Comm in all domains: surface, en route and oceanic.
Data Comm:
Helping Save Time and Money, Reduce Emissions
