<< >> NASA ASRS Report 1415601, January 2017

Air carrier first officer provided an example of a very confusing cpdlc pre departure clearance.

Attributes
ACN	1415601
Time
Date	201701
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	IAD.Airport
State Reference	DC
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Widebody Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 210 Flight Crew Total 11000 Flight Crew Type 8000
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

Data link clearance received was confusing. The filed routing was JCOBY3.swann bross J42 rbv llund bayys. The clearance received through the data link was: cleared to rbv viaroute clearancevia todirect swann N3909.0w07613.7DIRECT. Bross N3911.4w07552.8j42. Rbv N4012.1w07429.7+load new route to rbv+ afterrbv cleared as filed;JCOBY3.swann; climb via SID;expect FL270 10 min aft dp;dpfrq see SID; squawk XXXX;-----kiad JCOBY3.swann BROSSJ42 rbv llund bayys….this clearance is confusing and misleading. If you load the FMC with your filed routing to include the JCOBY3 SID with the swann transition prior to receiving the data link clearance; the route is correct. After receiving the data link clearance you get a load prompt. If you accept the downlinked clearance; it deletes the SID; even though the clearance goes on to say you're cleared via the SID. The data link clearance leads you to believe that the routing was amended; when in fact it is the exact route that was filed. The way the data link clearance is formatted is confusing and could lead to unnecessary errors. On other occasions I've received a different formatting on the data link clearance that is more accurate and clearly states that you are cleared as filed.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier First Officer provided an example of a very confusing CPDLC PDC.

Narrative: Data link clearance received was confusing. The filed routing was JCOBY3.SWANN BROSS J42 RBV LLUND BAYYS. The clearance received through the data link was: CLEARED TO RBV VIAROUTE CLEARANCEVIA TODIRECT SWANN N3909.0W07613.7DIRECT. BROSS N3911.4W07552.8J42. RBV N4012.1W07429.7+LOAD NEW RTE TO RBV+ AFTERRBV CLEARED AS FILED;JCOBY3.SWANN; CLIMB VIA SID;EXPECT FL270 10 MIN AFT DP;DPFRQ SEE SID; SQUAWK XXXX;-----KIAD JCOBY3.SWANN BROSSJ42 RBV LLUND BAYYS….This clearance is confusing and misleading. If you load the FMC with your filed routing to include the JCOBY3 SID with the SWANN transition prior to receiving the data link clearance; the route is correct. After receiving the data link clearance you get a load prompt. If you accept the downlinked clearance; it deletes the SID; even though the clearance goes on to say you're cleared via the SID. The data link clearance leads you to believe that the routing was amended; when in fact it is the exact route that was filed. The way the data link clearance is formatted is confusing and could lead to unnecessary errors. On other occasions I've received a different formatting on the data link clearance that is more accurate and clearly states that you are cleared as filed.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.