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9 NextGen Now | Summer 2015 After the press conference, members of the media received a briefing on the specifics of how Data Comm works. NATCA Data Comm Representative Chad Geyer helped lead that discussion. "A key part of Data Comm is the Departure Clearance System, which makes controllers more efficient," Geyer said. "We developed the system collaboratively with pilots, the FAA, and others, and it's now being deployed. What it does is allow controllers to send revised clearances directly to the flight deck in a format that is easy to load and read, saving time and increasing safety." After the briefing, the media members split into groups and got to see Data Comm used from both the flight decks of a United, UPS, and FedEx aircraft at the airport, and up in the EWR tower cab. That's where NATCA EWR Facility Representative Ray Adams talked with them about the controllers' perspective and the great benefits now being realized. "This saves a tremendous amount of an air traffic controller's time," he said. "This is a huge leap forward. It is transformational." Adams' demonstration for the media involved sending a new route to a plane on the tarmac in less than 15 seconds. Geyer said when weather moves into an area and controllers need to issue reroutes, they can save time by sending fully loadable routes directly to the flight deck. The windows of opportunity on these new routes can sometimes be measured "in minutes," he said. Routes are sent by a simple click, he added, and then loaded into the Flight Management System. Reroutes can then be sent to multiple aircraft in seconds as opposed to minutes. "What do these minutes mean to you?" Geyer asked. "How many times have you missed a connection by just a couple minutes? Now imagine thousands of flights a day saving minutes, not having to run their engines for several minutes, not having to load fuel for those several minutes. They all add up."

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