Flight Dispatcher Needs Answers!

CJFoxy

CJFoxy

Well-Known Member
Hey there! As a relatively new flight dispatcher with less than a year of experience under my belt, I have been struggling to fully comprehend the intricacies of how my software works when sending a flight plan to ATC. I'm curious about the differences between sending a flight plan and actually receiving clearance from ATC.

There have been times when I have sent a flight plan to ATC, only to have my crew inform me that they did not receive clearance. In these situations, I've simply re-sent the release and hoped that it would fix itself. However, I would love to understand more about the root of these issues and how I can better support my crew.

If anyone here has any insights or advice on how I can improve my job as a flight dispatcher and help make the process smoother for everyone involved, I would greatly appreciate it! For example, should I be calling to cancel and re-send flight plans when there are updates or changes to my strip, or can I simply re-send them with the new information? Any additional context or guidance would be incredibly helpful for me to better understand my role and prevent issues with ATC for my crews. Thank you all in advance, and I may have more questions to follow!
 
Okay first, filing a flight plan and receiving a clearance are two totally separate events. However, you can never receive a clearance without filing a flight plan. This is how I understand the process but as a tower controller I am by no means an expert. When you file a flight plan, it is not an instantaneous process from when you hit the file button and when it gets to clearance delivery.

I have used DUATs so I will use that as an example. I don't know if in the airline world there is a direct connection to the NAS or if everything passes through DUATs. Anyway, when you file a flight plan, it often takes several minutes to filter through the system. I go on DUATs or whatever, enter in my flight plan and file it. From there it gets uploaded into the National Airspace System (NAS) Flight data computer. This process takes up to 10 minutes. At that time it goes into the proposed flight plan list. If you are filed at an altitude that will utilize the en route structure, then someone at TMU at the en route center that corresponds with the departure airport should check to ensure the routing is good. For example, if you file KBOS direct KDCA at FL240 you will get a reroute to conform with traffic flow. Sometimes this process happens automatically.

Thirty minutes before the proposed departure time, a paper strip will print out in the tower of your departure airport and/or the departure radar controller's work station. If your pilot is early, ATC will have to fetch the flight plan manually. My technique is to just update the flight plan's departure time to be within that 30 minute window, because if you are outside a certain amount of time and just request a strip, a beacon code has not always been assigned. However, this can backfire if there are EDCTs because updating the time moves you to the end of the line. Moral of the story, file your flight plans for a reasonable time. Under normal circumstances a flight plan will remain in the system for 2 hours after the proposed departure time. ATC can keep any individual flight plan open on request by updating the proposal time. TMU can adjust the dropout times universally on days with heavy across-the-board delays.

In towers equipped with PDC/CPDLC the clearance will be sent out by a controller (not automatically) roughly 30 minutes prior to the proposal time. PDC clearances only work if the aircraft will be cleared as filed. If there has been any revision to the flight plan OR if multiple flight plans have been filed for the same callsign, PDC will not work. This is not an issue with CPDLC equipped aircraft.

You should avoid filing multiple flight plans to the same destination. In the northeast at least, TMU will take care of rerouting flight plans on to open routes in the case of bad weather. This is not much of an issue at small towers, but at big facilities like JFK it can become a really big PITA (I am looking at you JBU). To answer your question, it is a better idea to call the command center and ask them to amend a flight plan for you or remove the flight plan before you re-file. Filing multiple routes to see what sticks is the worst thing you can do, especially since weather is always changing. All it does is gum up the system and increase controller workload.

Common reasons for a flight plan to not be on file as expected is the date of the flight being wrong or the departure airport being wrong.

Hope this helps.
 
greg1016 said:
Okay first, filing a flight plan and receiving a clearance are two totally separate events. However, you can never receive a clearance without filing a flight plan. This is how I understand the process but as a tower controller I am by no means an expert. When you file a flight plan, it is not an instantaneous process from when you hit the file button and when it gets to clearance delivery.

I have used DUATs so I will use that as an example. I don't know if in the airline world there is a direct connection to the NAS or if everything passes through DUATs. Anyway, when you file a flight plan, it often takes several minutes to filter through the system. I go on DUATs or whatever, enter in my flight plan and file it. From there it gets uploaded into the National Airspace System (NAS) Flight data computer. This process takes up to 10 minutes. At that time it goes into the proposed flight plan list. If you are filed at an altitude that will utilize the en route structure, then someone at TMU at the en route center that corresponds with the departure airport should check to ensure the routing is good. For example, if you file KBOS direct KDCA at FL240 you will get a reroute to conform with traffic flow. Sometimes this process happens automatically.

Thirty minutes before the proposed departure time, a paper strip will print out in the tower of your departure airport and/or the departure radar controller's work station. If your pilot is early, ATC will have to fetch the flight plan manually. My technique is to just update the flight plan's departure time to be within that 30 minute window, because if you are outside a certain amount of time and just request a strip, a beacon code has not always been assigned. However, this can backfire if there are EDCTs because updating the time moves you to the end of the line. Moral of the story, file your flight plans for a reasonable time. Under normal circumstances a flight plan will remain in the system for 2 hours after the proposed departure time. ATC can keep any individual flight plan open on request by updating the proposal time. TMU can adjust the dropout times universally on days with heavy across-the-board delays.

In towers equipped with PDC/CPDLC the clearance will be sent out by a controller (not automatically) roughly 30 minutes prior to the proposal time. PDC clearances only work if the aircraft will be cleared as filed. If there has been any revision to the flight plan OR if multiple flight plans have been filed for the same callsign, PDC will not work. This is not an issue with CPDLC equipped aircraft.

You should avoid filing multiple flight plans to the same destination. In the northeast at least, TMU will take care of rerouting flight plans on to open routes in the case of bad weather. This is not much of an issue at small towers, but at big facilities like JFK it can become a really big PITA (I am looking at you JBU). To answer your question, it is a better idea to call the command center and ask them to amend a flight plan for you or remove the flight plan before you re-file. Filing multiple routes to see what sticks is the worst thing you can do, especially since weather is always changing. All it does is gum up the system and increase controller workload.

Common reasons for a flight plan to not be on file as expected is the date of the flight being wrong or the departure airport being wrong.

Hope this helps.
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Thank you! I appreciate the clarity you provided and this will help me do my job better.
 
So without knowing which software you use and how “advanced” your workplace is..
Generally speaking your flight plan will be filed through AFTN directly to the NAS. At my company, releasing the OFP will also send the filing.
If a captain calls me up and says that ATC has nothing on file for them, the first thing I would do is check in my system if I got “FPL ACK” answer from the centers.
If it rejects for whatever reason, you will see “FPL REJ”. ATC won’t have anything on file.

If the plan did get ACK or if there is no response (happens sometimes), then I would just simply refile (no need to issue an entirely new release).

If the captain calls again and says ATC still has nothing on file, I would call the flight data number for the departing center and see if they have anything on file.

This takes care of it.
Sometimes whatever the issue was is internal to ATC, they just say “we’ll deal with it” and next thing you know, your flight pushes!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
HeavyModerate said:
So without knowing which software you use and how “advanced” your workplace is..
Generally speaking your flight plan will be filed through AFTN directly to the NAS. At my company, releasing the OFP will also send the filing.
If a captain calls me up and says that ATC has nothing on file for them, the first thing I would do is check in my system if I got “FPL ACK” answer from the centers.
If it rejects for whatever reason, you will see “FPL REJ”. ATC won’t have anything on file.

If the plan did get ACK or if there is no response (happens sometimes), then I would just simply refile (no need to issue an entirely new release).

If the captain calls again and says ATC still has nothing on file, I would call the flight data number for the departing center and see if they have anything on file.

This takes care of it.
Sometimes whatever the issue was is internal to ATC, they just say “we’ll deal with it” and next thing you know, your flight pushes!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Thanks for the information. The worded it wrong in my response I'm not worried about the software I'm using more of what happens when I file the flight plan. Thanks for the clarifications. I have another questions if you don't mind answering. From what I've been told when I need to change or remove the flight plan. The process of who to call is: Flight Data if its before the 30 min mark of departure, call tower if my flight is schedule to depart within 30 mins and TMU if after departure time. Is this correct? I have called these in the order provided and at times been redirected. Hopefully that makes sense if not let me know and ill clarify more!
 
D-60 or earlier: DLA/CNL through your software. You might be able to squeak one of these by at D-45ish. You’ll know if you get a CNL REJ or DLA REJ “Manual Coordination Required”

Anything after that: Call flight data. I would never call the tower or TMU to delay/cancel. They’re too busy and it’s not really their job. Even if you’re so close to departure and your crew has their clearance let’s say.
Flight Data will coordinate with tower themselves.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
HeavyModerate said:
Even if you’re so close to departure and your crew has their clearance let’s say.
Flight Data will coordinate with tower themselves.
Click to expand...

It's nice to give the crew a heads up as well. Ww had a flight plan change due to an ETOPS alternate becoming illegal and while the dispatcher did a nice job of pulling our flight plan and filing a new one (at D-10) they neglected to tell us about it. It was a bit of a surprise to call for taxi and be told to call clearance for an amendment that ended up being at Etops 120, not 180 and was 75 minutes and a whole lot of miles longer.
 
Calling the tower is not that big of a deal. If it is a busy tower, there will be a traffic management coordinator and that is literally their job, if it is a slow tower, we have nothing else going on anyway.
 
BobDDuck said:
It's nice to give the crew a heads up as well. Ww had a flight plan change due to an ETOPS alternate becoming illegal and while the dispatcher did a nice job of pulling our flight plan and filing a new one (at D-10) they neglected to tell us about it. It was a bit of a surprise to call for taxi and be told to call clearance for an amendment that ended up being at Etops 120, not 180 and was 75 minutes and a whole lot of miles longer.
Click to expand...
Good to know thanks!
 
CJFoxy said:
Hey there! As a relatively new flight dispatcher with less than a year of experience under my belt, I have been struggling to fully comprehend the intricacies of how my software works when sending a flight plan to ATC. I'm curious about the differences between sending a flight plan and actually receiving clearance from ATC.

There have been times when I have sent a flight plan to ATC, only to have my crew inform me that they did not receive clearance. In these situations, I've simply re-sent the release and hoped that it would fix itself. However, I would love to understand more about the root of these issues and how I can better support my crew.

If anyone here has any insights or advice on how I can improve my job as a flight dispatcher and help make the process smoother for everyone involved, I would greatly appreciate it! For example, should I be calling to cancel and re-send flight plans when there are updates or changes to my strip, or can I simply re-send them with the new information? Any additional context or guidance would be incredibly helpful for me to better understand my role and prevent issues with ATC for my crews. Thank you all in advance, and I may have more questions to follow!
Click to expand...
Dispatcher here. Doing your annual jumpseat you learn a lot and you should ask those questions. Look at your software if you get a roger or an ACK on AIRINC mail.
 
As far as DLA/CNL, US will allow you to do this up to 45 minutes before departure. The rest of the world will allow it at any time. In the US, you can move a flight earlier using a DLA message as long as both the original and new time are more than 45 minutes out. The rest of the world you can only use a DLA to make it later. As far as the ETOPS alternates, ATC usually does not see these unless you have them listed in remarks. If you get a FPL Rejection message, you can usually call flight data from the departing center and work out why it is rejecting. I have called them numerous times for flights in the Caribbean/Atlantic and they have been able to pull up the strip and figure out what was wrong with it.

As far as who to contact, the general rule of thumb is to contact Flight Data if you are more than 30 minutes out and contact TMU if you are within 30 minutes. If you are about 5 minutes before push or the aircraft has already pushed, it's probably best to contact tower directly. Again, this is US instructions because if you were in Europe, you can send a CNL right up until about push time and it will almost immediately drop out of the system.
 
bbmikej said:
Again, this is US instructions because if you were in Europe, you can send a CNL right up until about push time and it will almost immediately drop out of the system.
Click to expand...

Asia is like this too. Nothing like pulling a clearance via datalink, and then calling for push 15 minutes later and being told (in certainly not level 4 English) that you don't have a clearance anymore.
 
All the reputable flight planning soft’ are having AFTN shooting the FP widely to NAS, so crew can pull the C.R.A.F.T
 
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