ACARS a no-go item?

Doggtyred

Doggtyred

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My buddy is sitting on a plane waiting to dispatch, and apparently the ACARS system is down over the oceanic portion of their route.

UAL.. to Tokyo..

Trying to understand why that is a no-go... is it about flight following requirements?
 
(No idea, but this is the perfect question to ask on the tech/ops forum at airliners.net. If you haven't been, it's worth a look.)
 
At most US carriers, we can leave overseas without acars to come back home, but we may not leave the US without it.
 
Interesting. I worked at an airline that never had ACARS installed in MD-11 and 747 and we flew oceanic operations daily. Could it be something else broken?


dispatcher said:
At most US carriers, we can leave overseas without acars to come back home, but we may not leave the US without it.
Click to expand...
 
jonnyjetprop said:
Interesting. I worked at an airline that never had ACARS installed in MD-11 and 747 and we flew oceanic operations daily. Could it be something else broken?
Click to expand...

My friend, who is NOT a wingnut like us, specifically said it was the ACARS that was down, and it wasn't the plane's ACARS it was the network itself, in the ocean areas they needed to transit. She couldn't have made this up if she wanted to. Shes repeating what she was told.
 
Relax. I wasn't implying that your friend made it up. ACARS is the datalink system that among other things allows FANS 1/A position reporting. There are back ups, so there must be more going on that what she is being told.


Doggtyred said:
My friend, who is NOT a wingnut like us, specifically said it was the ACARS that was down, and it wasn't the plane's ACARS it was the network itself, in the ocean areas they needed to transit. She couldn't have made this up if she wanted to. Shes repeating what she was told.
Click to expand...
 
There are many things in a carrier's OpSpecs that us little folks will never encounter or understand.

Bob Gardner
 
The passengers are not always told the truth.
 
ACARS is the plane's link to the company and is essential to coordinate operations (arrivals departures, routing and others). It is not required by ATC. Oceanic ATC position reports are mostly done verbally through HF. When ACARS is inop the pilot has the option of contacting the company via an HF LDOC station or through Inmarsat.

José
 
There are at least a few ACARS network providers too. Sometimes the crew can select which network to obtain coverage from. Some are more expensive than others.


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Piloto said:
It is not required by ATC. Oceanic ATC position reports are mostly done verbally through HF. When ACARS is inop the pilot has the option of contacting the company via an HF LDOC station or through Inmarsat.

José
Click to expand...

Sort of, for now. However, over the North Atlantic tracks, CPDLC, ADS-B, FANS (and thus ACARS) will be required to fly on a NAT Track next year as a part of a reduced lateral separation trial that starts next Feb. After the trial, full FANS equipment (and thus ACARS) will be required to operate on the North Atlantic tracks.

If your CPDLC gear works, I know on the rides I've done, after you checkon with an Oceanic ATC provider, and do a SELCAL check, after that you are told to provide position reports via CPDLC, and that while the HF freqs are dialed in, but never used again, except to occasionally pull down a VOLMET broadcast.

Plus, most airliners have SATCOM, and can dial me directly without the call sounding like its being bounced off the moon. We dont use HF unless its our last option. HF equipage is still required to operate in Oceanic airspace.
 
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