DUAT/DUATS etc.

tonycondon

tonycondon

Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
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Tony
ok techno wizard pilots, teach me. I know that DUAT and DUATS exist and give weather briefings etc. but i never use them and have no real idea how to use them. Are they free? I know the nice thing a bout them is that they are an 'approved' briefing source as they keep a log of your briefing. Are there any other options out there for online briefings that are 'approved' and free? any other good sites that have a centralized database of TFRs, NOTAMs, and weather, and of course, free? Thanks!
 
You never use them? What do you use? Is this a troll?
 
well i usually just call flight service, supplemented with my own personal weather briefing via aviationweather.gov and other sources.
 
Yes, they are free. They are easy to use -- if you have an internet connection and computer handy. I use 'em all the time. Except when I don't have an internet connection and/or computer handy. Then it's 1-800-BAD-SRVC, er, wx-brief
 
They work great if you have 12 hours to read through 400 pages of information that isn't applicable. As official as they may be--I would much rather just use way better online sources and then call 800-WX-BRIEF on the way to the airport for my "official" source.

They might be worth it if you are IFR and want to file before hand.
 
tonycondon said:
ok techno wizard pilots, teach me. I know that DUAT and DUATS exist and give weather briefings etc. but i never use them and have no real idea how to use them. Are they free? I know the nice thing a bout them is that they are an 'approved' briefing source as they keep a log of your briefing. Are there any other options out there for online briefings that are 'approved' and free? any other good sites that have a centralized database of TFRs, NOTAMs, and weather, and of course, free? Thanks!
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After the LM debacle, I started using DUAT to file, and have been very happy. Between the tools available on DUAT and ADDS, one can get a very complete weather/notams briefing. Piece of cake.

Like Ken, I now only use 1800WXBRIEF as a last resort.
 
Ken Ibold said:
Yes, they are free. They are easy to use -- if you have an internet connection and computer handy. I use 'em all the time. Except when I don't have an internet connection and/or computer handy. Then it's 1-800-BAD-SRVC, er, wx-brief
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DUATS still has a dialup telnet connection (800.767.9989) if you can't get the web. Still need a computer though.
 
jesse said:
They work great if you have 12 hours to read through 400 pages of information that isn't applicable.
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400 pages? No.

Yes, it is somewhat long, but once you go through them a few times, you learn how to get thru it quickly. A standard brief for a 250nm flight takes maybe 5min to read and understand.
 
Here's the output for a flight down the Colorado front range, skirting Denver to the east. Standard route brief and flight planner output.

Edit: Didn't notice the text file didn't upload due to size. What's the deal with a 19.5 K limit. I converted to Word format.
 

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Tony,

DUAT and DUATS are free, courtesy of funding by the FAA. The format tends to be verbose, including all the NOTAMS you can stand. Unfortunately the format is fixed by contract with the FAA. Those sites also have fairly good weather graphics so that you can get the bigger picture easily. I've used DUATS since it first started.

By default both services give you weather information in standard FAA/IACO contraction form. Unless you are at the top of your game decoding that stuff, it's helpful to select the "English translation". The translators are dumb and quirky: "MNTN WV" will be translated as "mountain West Virginia" instead of "mountain wave". But once you get to know them and cross-check them against the contractions it becomes pretty clear what's being said. I employ the translator as I've missed a few important things in the contractions and prefer not to make those mistakes again.

The DUAT/DUATS contracts expired a few months ago and the FAA had stated they'd let them die - LockMart wanted to handle the business. But due to the LockMart fiasco the FAA has extended the DUAT/DUATS contracts until sometime next year. Nobody knows what's going to happen then.

There are other services out there which can give you an approved briefing and allow you to file flight plans (eg: fltplan.com). They typically have an introductory level which is free (and funded by advertising) and advanced levels which cost.

Regards,
Joe
 
Joe B said:
The DUAT/DUATS contracts expired a few months ago and the FAA had stated they'd let them die - LockMart wanted to handle the business. But due to the LockMart fiasco the FAA has extended the DUAT/DUATS contracts until sometime next year. Nobody knows what's going to happen then.
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Damn, that is scary.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Between the tools available on DUAT .
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Oh, and I don't know about DUATS, but DUAT has a nifty graphical arrival selector that shows your proposed route of flight and all of the STARs for the airport. You can mouse over on the different STAR routes, and it highlights them. Click on one, and it automatically adds it to your flight plan. Nice.
 

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Duats has Golden Eagle which, IMHO, is the best FREE flight planning and briefing package available to people. I use it all the time and I file my flight plans with it. A neat feature of Flightaware.com is that when I file an IFR flight plan via DUATS once it is in the system flightaware.com send a text message to my cellphone. So I KNOW it is there. I hardly speak with the people in 'Locknut TroyMartin FSS version 2.3' any more.

Tony go here, http://www.duats.com/ and try it all. You owe it to your students to let them know about DUATS.

You use it online or download Golden Eagle and have a very good package that work on and off line, through firewalls, allows for expansion with some fee based stuff, but has free runway charts built in. It can also overlay NEXRAD onto your chart to help you get a better WX picture.
 
FSS was great when I used to be able to call Macon directly. I pretty much consider the service a joke. Now, these guys sound so boring they could play straight-faced actors on a show about the secret service.

Now, it's back to DUAT. I used to use DUATS but like the former better. At least the interface seems much more user friendly. AOPAFP seems to link up with DUAT much better as well.

Likewise, DUAT isn't hard to read. Once you figure out how to scan through the undesired METARs and FDCs, you get the data you want. But, you're given all that data for a reason... sort of a forced compliance with 91.103.
 
You can reduce the clutter in DUATS considerably by using less than the default values for the two corridor widths on the briefing request form -- I use 25/150 vice the standard 50/250.
 
smigaldi said:
A neat feature of Flightaware.com is that when I file an IFR flight plan via DUATS once it is in the system flightaware.com send a text message to my cellphone. So I KNOW it is there.
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Ditto, DUAT xmits the plan to center (or whatever) 1 hr before proposed, and I like getting the text to know the plan is on file.
 
DUAT and DUATS are more user friendly front ends to the FAA's big iron systems. If you wanted to learn the syntax you can, indeed, use the telnet access. What the two web sites do is ask you what you want and make up the cryptic command to the FAA's system for you. You can even see what the command looks like. On DUATS you'll see the error message from the real system when you do as I do for example and always forget to fill in the altitude planned.

You'll gain a new respect for the FSS breifers, because they always made up those cryptic commands and see exactly what output you get from DUAT(S).

You can see the whole messy transaction in Golden Eagle and CIRRUS from DUAT, too.

BTW, is is THE big iron system that gets your flight plan and sends it the ATC system (which is prolly on the same iron.)

The "We don't have your flight plan" happens because they update in batch from the DUAT iron to the ATC iron every nn minutes, which is why you have to enter it at least 30 minutes prior to departure.
 
I use it all the time. Great tool for the brief as well as to file the flight plan. And you quickly learn what stuff you need. Like the FDC and D NOTAMS for the area and your destination and alternate. Most of my flights are local, and I like getting the area weather right after the update (near the hour) and then look at the forcast for the destination/alternate/home drome for the duration of flight to the arrival time, as a quick way to decide if flying is a good idea. Sometimes you can get up, but you can't get back. My home airport has no instrument approaches.
 
It's been years since I logged on to DUAT or DUATS directly. If I want a record of the briefing I usually do it through AOPAs RTFP. It's reasonably easy to use and lets you overlay the wx graphics on the enroute chart. Otherwise I self brief though ADDs and other sites.
 
I'll swear by fltplan.com! I've tried DUAT(S) and didn't have the patience to figure it out. Fltplan is incredibly simple and does everything that a FSS can do. Combined with aviationweather, it's all I really need. I don't know if they've been certified yet as an "official source" for a briefing, but I usually just check everything and file online, then call FSS for my "official breifing" that I only pay enough attention to to make sure I didn't miss anything online (I'm a visual person, anyways, verbal briefings don't do much for me), then by that time fltplan has does their magic with the Center and you can see the route that you're going to get from Clnc Del along side the flight plan form that gives you more enroute data than you can ever need.
 
I use DUATS exclusively. Like most have already said there's a lot of info there that you may not need but after a while you learn where to look for exactly what you need and exclude the rest.
 
I use DUAT/DUATS through the free Real Time Flight Planner that AOPA gives us and I like it because its much easier to get the new minimums visually then to quickly write them down during a phone brief. I think it comes down to a personality thing. Use DUAT/DUATS if you are a visual person and the FSS if you're an aural person.

The FAA contract for this service is an example of the proper way to do gov contracts. Did you know that the 2 competeing companies get paid based on how many people use them? If only LM had a similar competition I think few of you guys would be complaining.
 
Pi1otguy said:
I use DUAT/DUATS through the free Real Time Flight Planner that AOPA gives us and I like it because its much easier to get the new minimums visually then to quickly write them down during a phone brief. I think it comes down to a personality thing. Use DUAT/DUATS if you are a visual person and the FSS if you're an aural person.

The FAA contract for this service is an example of the proper way to do gov contracts. Did you know that the 2 competeing companies get paid based on how many people use them? If only LM had a similar competition I think few of you guys would be complaining.
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DUAT(S) get paid $2.50 per briefing. It amounts to millions per year for each of them.

THAT IS how LM should have been paid.
 
mikea said:
DUAT(S) get paid $2.50 per briefing. It amounts to millions per year for each of them.

THAT IS how LM should have been paid.
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But, LM should also be subject to losses based on performance and pilot evaluations. That's not the case. They are pretty much a "no loss" deal in spite of the FAA coming down on them. Or, that's what the FAA stated.
 
KennyFlys said:
But, LM should also be subject to losses based on performance and pilot evaluations. That's not the case. They are pretty much a "no loss" deal in spite of the FAA coming down on them. Or, that's what the FAA stated.
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Don't get me started. That's one of the scams of outsourced service. They may may have an obligation to survey customer satisfaction. They will survey the pilots who get briefings. They don't have to count those that gave up after waiting on hold or stopped calling.

When services were outsourced at my job, we never got a "random" survey call when the problem was never fixed. When it was a routine request we always got the "random" call on how happy we were. It was an amazing coincidence.
 
mikea said:
DUAT(S) get paid $2.50 per briefing. It amounts to millions per year for each of them.

THAT IS how LM should have been paid.
Click to expand...

And you've noticed that the "real" DUAT(S) site has seen a few upgrades here and there not due to pressure from congress or the FAA, but by market forces.

Given the nature of FSS a 2 company competetive contract like the DUAT(S) arrangement (2 numbers to choose from) would probably work. As to how the radio freqs would be divided up would be a tough thing though.
 
I like Duats. I brief with DUATS and AWC almost exclusively. I check the FAA TFR site, and if I'm VFR I'll call flight service for the TFRs only, just so I have the proof.
 
yea i got on www.duat.com last night and found out that its pretty good. I did see that they do have a nationwide TFR map like AOPA. Be advised though, being IFR does not release you from responsibility to avoid TFRs. I have heard stories of people busted on an IFR flight as well as VFR.
 
tonycondon said:
yea i got on www.duat.com last night and found out that its pretty good. I did see that they do have a nationwide TFR map like AOPA. Be advised though, being IFR does not release you from responsibility to avoid TFRs. I have heard stories of people busted on an IFR flight as well as VFR.
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Download Golden Eagle and prepare to be really impressed. If you have used the AOPA-RTFP and liked it you will really like GE as it has so much more.

You get GE at duats.com
 
yea ive got that steve. i dont think it gives NOTAMS though does it? I havent explored it much. The question was mostly for my latest flight review anyway, my Uncle doesnt have the EAA or AOPA membership to take advantage of their flight planners, but was looking for a nice online source to get a briefing before he goes flying.
 
Aeroplanner has multiple methods for displaying NOTAMS. There's even a tab on the home page to go directly to them. Makes membership in EAA even more of a value.

You can also go to

https://www.notams.jcs.mil/dinsQueryWeb/

and

https://pilotweb.nas.faa.gov/distribution/home.html

to find NOTAMS, but the 3rd party vendors are a little easier to use, imho.


tonycondon said:
yea ive got that steve. i dont think it gives NOTAMS though does it? I havent explored it much. The question was mostly for my latest flight review anyway, my Uncle doesnt have the EAA or AOPA membership to take advantage of their flight planners, but was looking for a nice online source to get a briefing before he goes flying.
Click to expand...
 
Teller1900 said:
I'll swear by fltplan.com! I've tried DUAT(S) and didn't have the patience to figure it out. Fltplan is incredibly simple and does everything that a FSS can do. Combined with aviationweather, it's all I really need. I don't know if they've been certified yet as an "official source" for a briefing, but I usually just check everything and file online, then call FSS for my "official breifing" that I only pay enough attention to to make sure I didn't miss anything online (I'm a visual person, anyways, verbal briefings don't do much for me), then by that time fltplan has does their magic with the Center and you can see the route that you're going to get from Clnc Del along side the flight plan form that gives you more enroute data than you can ever need.
Click to expand...

After using DUAT.com for years I finally saw the light this year and switched to fltplan.com IMHO fltplan.com is becoming the standard in the professional world. I have never had a "dropped" flight plan using thier service..I also love the charts that you can view, ifr enroute, sectionals, plates .as well as good wx and NOTAMS..Its the best . I combine this w/ aviationweather.gov and call FSS as a last resort.
 
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smigaldi said:
You use it online or download Golden Eagle and have a very good package that work on and off line, through firewalls, allows for expansion with some fee based stuff, but has free runway charts built in. It can also overlay NEXRAD onto your chart to help you get a better WX picture.
Click to expand...

Scott, do you use it online or downloaded? I downloaded it, but it doesn't seem to appear correctly on my computer, i.e. some parts of the screen are covered up by other parts, and so I've been a little frustrated getting it to work well for me.
 
nddons said:
Scott, do you use it online or downloaded? I downloaded it, but it doesn't seem to appear correctly on my computer, i.e. some parts of the screen are covered up by other parts, and so I've been a little frustrated getting it to work well for me.
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I have it downloaded and installed on two different computers. The downloads and set ups were real easy and worked like a champ. What OS are you using?
 
smigaldi said:
I have it downloaded and installed on two different computers. The downloads and set ups were real easy and worked like a champ. What OS are you using?
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I have Windows XP on my home laptop. Probably pilot error in setting up the program ...:(
 
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