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Pre-departure clearances through ForeFlight.


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ForeFlight Users Tap Pre-departure Clearances

ForeFlight Mobile app users can now receive pre-departure clearances (PDC) and digital-automated terminal information service (D-ATIS) messages via text and email via a partnership with Satcom Direct. PDCs are available at more than 70 airports in North America, and once signed up for the ForeFlight service, pilots can receive D-ATIS and PDC messages 30 minutes or sooner before departure time.

“PDCs are official text clearances issued for U.S. IFR flight plans, and include the filed route, the cleared altitude, transponder code, departure frequency, and any special instructions,” according to ForeFlight. Using the PDC service eliminates the need for pilots to contact clearance delivery via radio. However, for clearance changes, pilots do need to contact clearance delivery.

There are some limitations to the new PDC service. Aircraft can currently receive a PDC at a particular airport only once every 18 hours. And aircraft can’t be signed up for PDC services from multiple service providers. ForeFlight users can use the app’s route advisor to help choose routing that is likely to be cleared as filed, as PDC clearances are only for as-filed routes. If ATC chooses different routing, then the pilot won’t receive a PDC but will get an expected route notification.

The number of PDC-capable airports is growing and includes Teterboro, Westchester County, Burbank, Chicago Midway, and John Wayne Orange County.

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3 hours ago, Steve W said:

I'm still hopeful that the rumored, eventual app for getting and closing clearances at any airport eventually exists.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2017/november/30/app-could-deliver-ifr-clearances-to-mobile-devices

I couldn't agree more. Although I am hopeful in addition to an APP, Mitre (if they pursue this to completion), additionally provides the web services that all our favorite E6B apps can use to integrate the technology directly; such as GP and FF.

The current PDC by FF is nice, but its only a small step in what we've had since Flightware began giving the expected ATC clearance many years ago. Its only drawback is it's  out of the FAA central computer before a local TRACON adds in a departure procedure to the clearance (even if its only to fly some specific heading or a departure procedure), but otherwise its exactly what we get. And we get it right after filing.  

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3 hours ago, DXB said:

You gotta hand it to Foreflight - not the cheapest option but they always push the innovation hard.

Being a technology guy, I am consistently amazed with what they continue to innovate and deliver on.  Some of my colleagues that fly have even gone so far to call it one of the best ios apps in existence.  They certainly have remarkable leadership and execution teams and it's clear they are passionate about the product and making things better for pilots.  

I bet we'll have widespread bidirectional non-verbal IFR clearances within 2 years.

Edited by 81X
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+1

Are the PDC’s valid for an hour before and two hours after the expected departure time?  And what do you do at a towered airport, just get taxi instructions, pull up to the line and say you are ready for takeoff?  What safety is there at that point to insure there has not been an error of some kind?  You take off and it turns out when you try to switch to departure that your PDC had dropped out of the system.  There you are in the clouds, no clearance.

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That’s a new one.  I have never asked tower for IFR release.  Sometimes - often - they hold you for IFR release and tell you so.  But you pull up to the line and tell them you are ready to go, sometimes they hold you, sometimes they are ready for you and send you off right away. Typically if its an IFR takeoff, they give you a heading instruction and that’s it, and I have gotten identical instructions for VFR takeoffs.  That is not much to prevent a takeoff where the clearance got dropped out of the system for some reason.

 

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It's only available at 70 airports, and it is actually done by that airport's Clearance Delivery people.  This means that it's a big airport with Tower, Ground, and Clearance Delivery frequencies.  There won't be a chance of blasting off into the clag without an IFR release.

My bet is that when folks find out which 70 airports this applies to, the over-riding reaction here will be "Meh".

But it is a great indicator of things to come, hopefully.

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There is nothing new about PDCs.  They've been around for a long time and they work well.  This announcement is just about the delivery.  Foreflight is filling the gap between ACARS/EFIS and the smaller operators.

I suspect this is a short-term deal.  The future will be a PDC texted to your phone...in any location and will eventually include a separate IFR release with void time via text.

At least I can hope.  ^_^

 

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This is the same level of service that Fltplan.com users could sign up for.  

So this is an extension of Foreflight's expansion into the turbine space with their performance subscriptions.  

With Garmin acquiring flightplan.com, they will want to make sure that clients don't have to get services like PDC and Tracking anonymity from the *other* vendor. 

The service that we will be at our level will be this one to start:

https://blog.foreflight.com/2018/05/10/foreflight-customers-invited-to-test-mitre-clearance-delivery/

which seems to just be a re-start of what Foreflight was giving us 2 years ago and for some reason stopped.

That was where that any new data from the FAA route computers was given to you as an updated expected route.   and at the -30min time included the anticipated transponder code which is when the strip was printed for the approach controller.   The problem was that local approach procedures could clash with what the computer put out at the last minute, and people would follow the TXT message... and not what the controller actually cleared them.     So that seems to be what they are researching at KHEF.. 

I had a problem with being cleared over the phone "as filed"... which would not match "as expected in the Foreflight system"   usually just the first fix.. 

I would file what the local controllers had given me in the past.. so ETX-LRP etc... but the computer would put in FJC ETX LRP..   Foreflight would send FJC ETX LRP Squawk:1234.. but when I called the controller they give me cleared as filed.. and expected me to go directly to ETX.   I made sure to always clarify the first fix. 

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13 hours ago, jlunseth said:

+1

Are the PDC’s valid for an hour before and two hours after the expected departure time?  And what do you do at a towered airport, just get taxi instructions, pull up to the line and say you are ready for takeoff?  What safety is there at that point to insure there has not been an error of some kind?  You take off and it turns out when you try to switch to departure that your PDC had dropped out of the system.  There you are in the clouds, no clearance.

Remember, I've been retired for over 3 years now, but the way it used to work was you would get the PDC electronically.  You would then call Clearance Delivery and just give them the squawk.  "Minneapolis Clearance, Northwest 123 squawk 5432."  They would usually say something like, "Northwest 123 contact Minneapolis Ground on 121.9 when ready to taxi."

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I have had mixed success with electronic filing.  The first few times I tried it, it was through fltplan.com, and it turned out you needed to instruct them to file at least 24 hours in advance or it does not get done.  I don't like to file that far in advance because many things change including passengers' schedules and the weather, so I reverted to using Lockheed, where I can call right before takeoff and the plan is in the system.

I have also had problems with electronically filed plans just dropping out of the system for whatever unknown reason.  And I have had problems like Paul mentioned, where the clearance is not actually clear, I start flying one thing and the controller expects something else.  Most of the time it gets corrected, but in tight airspaces like FL or the east coast or Chicago, they can be very testy about it.  

I see from Foreflight's blog that the pre-clearance is good for 30 minutes.

I just prefer making sure that both I and ATC are on exactly the same page before take off. 

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10 hours ago, jlunseth said:

That’s a new one.  I have never asked tower for IFR release.  Sometimes - often - they hold you for IFR release and tell you so.  But you pull up to the line and tell them you are ready to go, sometimes they hold you, sometimes they are ready for you and send you off right away. Typically if its an IFR takeoff, they give you a heading instruction and that’s it, and I have gotten identical instructions for VFR takeoffs.  That is not much to prevent a takeoff where the clearance got dropped out of the system for some reason.

 

At a towered airport, when you first contact tower (even though you've gotten your clearance from ground or CD), you should include the statement that you're departing IFR.  I've heard ASRS reports of clearances getting lost and a tower controller clears someone for a presumed VFR takeoff. Then all hell breaks loose when they ask for a frequency change to departure or center.

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At some airports with clearance delivery, it is customary to let the ground controller know that you are an IFR flight when requesting taxi clearance.   I’m not sure if this is universal, but it isn’t hard to do.  And when I have received a PDC by text, I routinely do it.  

 

Brad. 

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1 hour ago, BradB said:

At some airports with clearance delivery, it is customary to let the ground controller know that you are an IFR flight when requesting taxi clearance.   I’m not sure if this is universal, but it isn’t hard to do.  And when I have received a PDC by text, I routinely do it.  

 

Brad. 

That makes sense, since Ground is in a good position to remind Tower that your flight will be IFR, but ground might not remember that info if you got the clearance from CD.  Still, I'd suggest making a routine of reminding Tower yourself when you request takeoff, "xxx Tower, holding short of 31 for takeoff, IFR"

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2 hours ago, jlunseth said:

I have had mixed success with electronic filing.  The first few times I tried it, it was through fltplan.com, and it turned out you needed to instruct them to file at least 24 hours in advance or it does not get done.

Hmmm.  That's very strange.  I routinely use Fltplan.com for filing my IFR's.  I've pressed the "file' button, gotten a verification email and then picked up my clearance in under 10 minutes from start to finish.  For a completely free app/service, it's hard to beat Fltplan.com.  We have dispatchers at work, and I don't think they can do it any quicker.

 

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I always thought it was required phraseology. I can't remember ever clearance delivery or ground, after read back of clearance they always say something like "inform tower you are departing IFR". Then when ready to go, my call to Tower is "Mooney 123.., holding for IFR release" then tower will say "Mooney ... Hold for release" and I have to repeat essentially the same call. Only if the field is co-located with approach control or under center airspace have I ever been immediately cleared for release.
We also get VFR flight following squawk codes from ground and clearance but those do not require a coordinated release with the TRACON.


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Hmmm.  That's very strange.  I routinely use Fltplan.com for filing my IFR's.  I've pressed the "file' button, gotten a verification email and then picked up my clearance in under 10 minutes from start to finish.  For a completely free app/service, it's hard to beat Fltplan.com.  We have dispatchers at work, and I don't think they can do it any quicker.
 

Exactly, my same experience except for a possible departure procedure added by the TRACON. Although I get my expecter clearance via an email from flight aware since they were the very first to provide this service and also GP as a GP users. Always the same.


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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/18/2018 at 2:13 PM, DXB said:

You gotta hand it to Foreflight - not the cheapest option but they always push the innovation hard.

8 and a half dollars per month is pretty damn cheap IMO. Especially considering the fact that I don't need to buy any VFR/IFR charts where ever I go, and I can get live weather with it from ADSB.

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I always say “taxi for VFR takeoff” when I am going to be VFR, but never “IFR takeoff” because I am talking to ground and they just gave me my clearance.  Since ground must gave me my clearance, I never say “IFR takeoff” to tower because they already know.  Never been an issue.  But I think if I were to get a clearance by someone other than ground, such as by email, I would tell tower just to make certain they know.  

99% of the time, there will be a “hold short for IFR release” which tells you they know you are IFR.  On rare occasion they are ready for you, don’t give that instruction.  Also, 100% of the time you will get something like ”turn to 330, cleared for takeoff runway 28,” which might tell you that you are IFR except that about 1 or 2 % of the time you will get the same instruction when taking off VFR because they have traffic and can’t let you just fly your own course.

So in a normal exchange as I am used to it, the only way you know 100% that they have you as IFR, is to get that clearance from ground/clearance. When ground says “cleared to,” that means they have put you into the system, and so even if tower somehow missed that you are IFR, when you go over to your departure frequency they have your flight plan and you are good. But up in the tower, when ground gives you that clearance, you got put on tower’s board as an IFR flight.  

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9 hours ago, Niko182 said:

8 and a half dollars per month is pretty damn cheap IMO. Especially considering the fact that I don't need to buy any VFR/IFR charts where ever I go, and I can get live weather with it from ADSB.

What plan are you on with FF at that cost and does it include Geo Referenced approach plates and charts?

Brian

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On 9/19/2018 at 11:28 AM, jlunseth said:

I have had mixed success with electronic filing.  The first few times I tried it, it was through fltplan.com, and it turned out you needed to instruct them to file at least 24 hours in advance or it does not get done.  I don't like to file that far in advance because many things change including passengers' schedules and the weather, so I reverted to using Lockheed, where I can call right before takeoff and the plan is in the system.

I have also had problems with electronically filed plans just dropping out of the system for whatever unknown reason.  And I have had problems like Paul mentioned, where the clearance is not actually clear, I start flying one thing and the controller expects something else.  Most of the time it gets corrected, but in tight airspaces like FL or the east coast or Chicago, they can be very testy about it.  

I see from Foreflight's blog that the pre-clearance is good for 30 minutes.

I just prefer making sure that both I and ATC are on exactly the same page before take off. 

I'm a heavy ForeFlight user and have been for about five years now. I don't have the top subscription that includes the pre-clearance option. But I haven't talked to a briefer to file IFR in at least five years. (In the US. I did talk to a briefer in Canada last summer.) Every single IFR flight I've made has been filed through ForeFlight. Sometimes I file the night before, but most times I file when I get to the airport. I file a departure time of 30 minutes from now and sometimes am calling to pick up my clearance in under 10 minutes. I've never once had any delay or problem with filing through ForeFlight. 

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