A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/719223
DATACOMM : Chad Geyer (ZLA) is the Article 48 Representative for DataComm. Below is his update: The Tower Data Link Services (TDLS) Version 12 has been deployed to 48 sites and only 24 remain. 39 of those sites are Controller Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC) capable and only 16 remain. Across the country, approximately 1500 CPDLC clearances are being sent everyday with that number increasing as more sites become operational and additional aircraft begin to participate. This update will cover route loa d ability. All Flight Management Systems (FMS) are not created equally. During testing at the trials sites in EWR and MEM we discovered that even though FMS should all work the same, they don't. The first issue is sending a SID and t ransition. Whenever a S ID serves more than one runway, you must also send the runway assignment in the loadable message. This is why the current system sends the SID and transition in a free text message for the pilot to manually load. The pilots would prefer for the controller to always send the SID in a loadable format, but it is unrealistic considering that clearance delivery is sending the revision and they do not always know which runway the aircraft will depart from. The second issue i s arrivals and transitions. FMS s only a llow the pilot to select or the system to load the arrival and then a transition if one is selectable. ERAM allows the controller to enter a flight plan at any point on the arrival and then join it. For a pilot to take that voice clearance and load it into the FMS, they must load the transition that fix is on and then delete all the fixes prior to that point. This will also ensure that crossing restrictions associated with the SID are retained in the FMS. The third issue is airway - to - airway intercepts. Some FMS s can create a fake fix at the intercept point. Other FMSs will just delete those airways if there is not a fix that joins them. This would essentially remove the route sent and create a direct route from the fixes before and after the airways. Aircraf t also cannot accept radial routes either as a single radial or as a radial to join another radial. Another issue is when an airport is coded as part of an airway. Some sites have coded their airports as part of an airway. The FMS needs a way to get from t he airport to the airway, such a fix on the Jet Route that the aircraft can go direct to prior to joining the route. The airport itself must also be coded with the 4 - letter ICAO identifier. If you tried to use the 3 - letter identifier, the aircraft would in terpret that as VOR. Other automation routes that cannot be loaded are North Atlantic Tracks, locally adapted fixes, G - Keys, and fixes outside of the Flight Information Region (FIR). The program office has been working with Centers and automation speciali sts to reduce the occurrences of these non - loadable routings to help with an easier transition to Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC). With the help of the centers, automation is being changed to help make all routes in the NAS loadable and a majority of the issues have been corrected. ENROUTE AUTOMATION MODERNIZATION (ERAM): Julio Henriques (ZNY) leads the ERAM efforts for NATCA. This update is provided by Dan Mullen (ZID). We held several Steering Committee meetings for the operational depl oyment of Airborne Re - route (ABRR) and Pre - Departure Re - route (PDRR). These programs will allow Traffic Management Initiatives (TMI) and Swap routes to be pushed through TMU directly to the controlling sector so the controllers can accept the routes withou t having to manually enter them into ERAM. Traffic Management Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) will become familia r with the system to assist its deployment to the field. Our goal is to have ABRR/PDRR integrated into ERAM and available for use by March 2017. ERAM E AD511 was released August 23rd. It contains the rest of the content that didn't fit into EAD500 and several fixes for issues disco vered during key site testing.