FAA Says Datacomm Could Speed up Flight Takeoff
Luciana Mangas October 03, 2016
The new technology can make the clearance process up to three times faster than the current voice system.
A new communication system can go a long way to improve flight takeoff. The Chicago Tribune reports that this new system will allow pilots to communicate via text messages with traffic controllers.
According to FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory, the new technology, called Data Communications, or Datacomm, reduces the chances of miscommunication and speeds up the process of clearing flights for takeoff. The current voice communication system can make the clearing process harder, as pilots must repeat instructions back to controllers, starting from the top if they make a single mistake, the FAA said.
With Datacomm, controllers will be able to send the information to a screen on the aircraft’s flight deck. The flight crew will only have to push one button to confirm receiving the instructions and another to send them to the aircraft’s flight management system. According to the FAA, clearing a plane with Datacomm could be two to three times faster than doing it by voice.
The new technology is already available at 45 airports across the country and should be available in 11 more by the end of the year. However, the system still has rooms for improvement. Bob Mann, president of airline consultant R.W. Mann & Co. raised the issue of hacking threats.
“Continuous improvement to ATC system processes and performance can and should be made, but informed discussion should first and foremost be about what airlines and other National Airspace System users can actually do — right now, with no additional equipment necessary — to resolve these issues, not deflect attention from the self-help that should represent the first step toward improvement,” he said.
The system currently is used for on-the-ground messages, but the FAA intends to expand it to in-flight communications.
[Photo: Wikiphoto Creative Commons]
CPDLC has been around for quite some time, in various forms. It primarily will help radio frequency congestion, especially on controllers' ends. Additional benefits include avoiding "stepped on" transmissions, garbled or hard to understand transmissions, and having a textual display of clearances to help facilitate accurate copying of clearances. Now is it a time saver? I don't know. I guess in the sense that a transmission doesn't have to be sent, listened to, and then repeated by the person receiving it, and perhaps an additional transmission to clarify or correct a misheard clearance, I can see this helping. The crew gets a notification, they check the display, and then press a button to tell ATC they acknowledge the message (or need to amend, or whatever).
I suspect that it will reduce communications time by two thirds (a few seconds)...but that it won't significantly change the time it takes to get from gate to runway.