Chapter 6. Flight Data Services
Section 1. General
The primary task of the flight data position is information management. Flight data services include the development, translation, processing, and coordination of aeronautical, meteorological, and aviation information. Flight service specialists performing flight data duties are responsible for:
- The initiation and completion of SAR for aircraft on overdue VFR flights (see Chapter 3, Section 4) and assisting other ATC facilities as needed for SAR involving overdue IFR flights.
- Conducting intra‐facility and inter‐facility coordination.
- Forwarding departures, progress reports, and arrival reports to ATC upon request.
- Compilation, evaluation, recording, and dissemination of data.
- Managing outbound traffic as required.
- Revising flight data as necessary.
- Correctly formatting and editing flight data messages.
- Record all actions taken in the provision of flight data services in the operational system.
- Flight plans and related messages.
NOTE-
FSS operational systems contain an electronic equivalent of authorized FAA flight plan forms.
- Service A/B messages.
- ATC clearances.
- Weather and flight data messages.
- NOTAMs.
- Other operationally significant actions.
- Locally approved procedures may be used to manually record data during heavy traffic periods or system outages and should be logged in the operational system as soon as practicable.
- Use control/clearance symbols, abbreviations, location identifiers, and contractions for recording position reports, traffic clearances, and other data.
- When recording data you may use:
- Plain language to supplement data when it will aid in understanding the recorded information.
- Locally approved contractions and identifiers for frequently used terms and local fixes not listed in either FAA Order JO 7340.2, Contractions, or FAA Order JO 7350.9, Location Identifiers. Use only within your facility, not on data or interphone circuits. All locally approved contractions and identifiers must be placed in facility files for record and reference purposes.
- When recording data manually, use the standard hand-printed characters shown in TBL 4-1-3 to prevent misinterpretation.
- To correct or update data, draw a horizontal line through it and write the correct information adjacent to it.
- Do not erase any item.
Part‐time facilities must forward the following information to the designated guard FSS.
- Inbound flights - all information.
- Outbound flights - VFR and IFR flight plan data when proposed departure time and/or ETA is within the period from one hour prior to closing until one hour after opening.
- All other pertinent information (for example, NOTAMs and pending outages).
- When a telephone request for an ATC clearance is received, positively verify the departure location by airport name or location identifier, and the city name and state.
NOTE-
- Verification of the departure location may prevent a critical safety situation involving similar or identical airport or city names possibly located in different states.
- City refers to a city, town, village, or publicly recognized place.
- Pilots departing from a non-towered airport on an IFR flight plan in the CONUS should be directed to consult the Chart Supplement U.S. to determine the frequency or telephone number to use to contact clearance delivery.
NOTE-
Air traffic facilities providing clearance delivery services via telephone will have their telephone number published in the Chart Supplement U.S. of that airport's entry. This same section may also contain a telephone number to use for cancellation of an IFR flight plan after landing.
- Pilots of MEDEVAC flights in the CONUS may obtain a clearance by calling (877) 543-4733.
- In Alaska, pilots may obtain a clearance via telephone.
- Refer to FAA Order JO 7110.10, paragraph 4-2-7, ATC Clearances, Advisories, or Requests, for guidance on relaying ATC clearances.
Most flight movement data exchanged outside of the facility is processed by automated systems such as NADIN. It is important to adhere to strict format and procedures during normal operations as well as system interruption periods.
- Circuit interruption notifications should be as follows:
- Consult your operational system handbook and standard operating procedures for detailed instructions regarding circuit interruption notification procedures.
- Notify any guarding facility/sector, the AISR customer service center, and NADIN.
- All outage reports should refer to the correct circuit and/or equipment identification numbers. Facilities should obtain and record ticket numbers provided by AISR or the TELCO authority.
- WMSCR and NADIN: contact the FAA NEMC at (855) 322-6362 (FAA-NEMC).
- For ATLANTA (KATLYTYX), press 1;
- For SALT LAKE CITY (KSLCYTYX), press 2.
- AISR help desk: (866) 466-1336.
The following are the types or messages currently accepted by FAA data communication systems.
- Distress messages.
- Messages concerning safety to human life.
- Flight movement/control/safety messages.
- Aviation meteorological observations/forecasts/warnings.
- Administrative messages which pertain to FAA personnel, facilities, or property.
- NOTAM data.
Priority |
Message Type |
Action Required |
---|---|---|
SS |
Involves safety of life or property. Restricted to emergency situations. |
Transmit immediately to all addressees and deliver to all internal/external offices you are responsible for. |
DD |
Priority operational and circuit control data. |
Same as above. |
FF on local agreements |
Flight movement and control data relating safe/efficient operation of aircraft. Also for administrative data of a directive nature. |
Transmit immediately, make internal/external delivery during next available administrative work day, if office is closed. Delivery may be required to duty officer, dependent. |
GG |
Meteorological, NOTAM and routine administrative data. |
Transmit immediately, make internal/external delivery by 10:30 a.m. of the next business day. |
- NADIN has established group codes to allow message originators to input a single address, which will result in dissemination to a selected number of facilities.
- System‐wide group codes have been established for the primary use of RWA/KRWAYAYX and the ATCSCC (KCFCZDZX). These codes are KDOMYFYX and KDOMYYYX respectively.
- A group code has also been established for each regional office and ARTCC primarily for the issuance of regional office notices (RENOT) and all ARTCC instructions. They are as follows for regional offices in TBL 6-1-2 and ARTCCs in TBL 6-1-3.
Region |
ID |
---|---|
Alaska |
PANCYGYX |
Central |
XKC |
Eastern |
XNY |
Great Lakes |
XGC |
New England |
XBW |
Northwest Mountain |
XST |
Southern |
XTL |
Southwest |
XFE |
Western‐Pacific |
XLA |
ARTCC |
ID |
---|---|
Albuquerque |
XXI |
Atlanta |
XXN |
Boston |
XXU |
Chicago |
XXC |
Cleveland |
XXD |
Denver |
XXO |
Ft. Worth |
XXJ |
Houston |
XXH |
Indianapolis |
XXA |
Jacksonville |
XXK |
Kansas City |
XXS |
Los Angeles |
XXF |
Memphis |
XXM |
Miami |
XXL |
Minneapolis |
XXE |
New York |
XXR |
Oakland |
XXG |
Salt Lake City |
XXP |
Seattle |
XXT |
Washington |
XXQ |
NOTE-
Except in Alaska, all of the group codes can be converted to a full eight‐character address by placing a K in front of the group code and YFYX following the three characters listed in TBL 6-1-2 and TBL 6-1-3.
- In addition, a group code, KFSSYFYX, was established for the CONUS.
- Using a group code, the operational system automatically transmits all VFR flight plans to the Drug Enforcement Administration in addition to the destination at the time of activation.
NOTE-
All filed flight plans, as well as all logged in‐flight, pre‐flight and contact briefings, are routed through NAS Defense Program, which is responsible for forwarding to the AMOC using the address KRIVYYYX. These transmissions are transparent.
- Specialists should follow the transmit formats defined for the operational system in use. Failure to comply can result in the message being rejected by either NADIN or WMSCR. This may result in non‐delivery to the intended recipients.
- Full keyboard punctuation is allowed on all messages destined for internal FAA, DoD, and NWS dissemination. For international dissemination, punctuation should be limited to those characters identified in pertinent ICAO documents.
- Contractions and abbreviations should be used to shorten data transmissions to the extent possible. In no case should one be used that is not documented in FAA Order JO 7340.2, Contractions. For international communications, be aware that the foreign correspondent may not understand all FAA contractions and may not have a full command of the English language. Care should be exercised in international communications to avoid slang phrases and non‐ICAO approved abbreviations.
- The operational system can obtain weather or aeronautical information, including WMO collectives, by request/reply for data not stored in the system. Specific examples can be found in each operational system user guide.
- WMSCR automatically generates a negative response to request/reply inputs for which it cannot deliver.
- NO REPORT AVBL. This response means the current data has not been received by WMSCR.
- NOT IN SYSTEM. This response means WMSCR does not receive and store the requested data.
- INVALID FORMAT. This response means the computer cannot process the request because of an input error.
- WMSCR will generate only one negative response message to a request/reply transmission that requests multiple reports and only when none of the data requested can be delivered.
Q signals are shortened forms of communication used to request or transmit information. TBL 6-1-4 (followed by the letter Q when it is a question), their meanings, and required answers.
Signal |
Meaning |
Answer |
---|---|---|
QAL |
Has aircraft… landed at your location (or at…)? |
Aircraft… landed here at… hours (or landed… at… hours). |
QRU |
Have you anything for me [or for… (location or person)]? |
I have nothing for you [or for… (location or person)]. |
QSL |
Can you acknowledge receipt of transmission number… (or type of message)? |
I acknowledge receipt of transmission number… (or type of message). |
QSM |
Shall I repeat the last message (transmission or portion indicated sent to me or transmission(s) from…)? |
Repeat the last message (transmission or portion indicated) sent to me (or transmission(s) from…). A--not received. B--partially received (garbled). |
QTA |
Shall I cancel message number… (or other identification)? |
Cancel message number… (or other identification. |
EXAMPLE-
Message |
Meaning |
---|---|
QALQ N677JA |
Has N677JA landed at your location? |
QAL N677JA CHS 1744Z |
N677JA landed at CHS at 1744Z. |