#PILOT ATC COMMUNICATIONS UPGRADE#

#PILOT ATC COMMUNICATIONS UPGRADE#

On Alaska’s flights to and from Hawaii, Data Comm also provides air traffic controllers a far more exact level of aircraft position awareness over the Pacific than in the past.Īlaska currently has 85 Data Comm equipped Boeing 737s, with another 40 planes to receive the upgrade by early 2019. Often at congested airports, our aircraft with Data Comm can skip ahead in line for takeoff and depart before other planes that don’t have it.” Instead of talking with the tower to get preflight clearances, we use the text-messaging system to quickly receive key information,” Peyton said. “We’ve seen some tremendous success with Data Comm. The process not only speeds up communications, it improves safety by reducing the odds of a read-back error while relaying information between pilots and air traffic controllers using a radio. Pilots can also use a drop-down menu to send a response.

Incoming texts can be accepted with the touch of a button.

Part of the FAA’s NextGen technology, Data Comm transmits and receives flight plans, preflight clearances, instructions, advisories and other essential messages using a screen on the flight deck. Bret Peyton, who’s leading the Data Comm upgrade for Alaska.ĭata Comm allows pilots and air traffic controllers to communicate prior to takeoff using text messages instead of relying on radio voice communications, which can be time consuming, slow down operations and present a greater likelihood of miscommunication between flight crews and those in the tower. The upgraded technology is credited with enhancing safety and reducing flight delays at airports around the nation during departures. That’s much more modern.Īlaska Airlines partnered with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to implement Data Comm, which is now being used at Sea-Tac International Airport. Pilots confirm they got the information, and press a button to enter the instructions to the aircraft’s flight management system. It’s improved technology that allows air traffic controllers to enter flight departure instructions into a computer and send that information electronically to the flight deck. Due to radio congestion at airports, this can take 10 to 15 minutes (sometimes longer) - all while passengers sit in the cabin waiting to begin their trip. If there’s a misunderstanding, the process must be repeated until it’s correct. Pilots jot down these notes on paper, and then read the instructions back to the air traffic controllers. For decades, air traffic controllers have relied on a system that uses two-way radio to transmit instructions and route changes to planes waiting to take off.

Pilot atc communications