Air carrier first officer describes delays in receiving a revised flight plan over ACARS that result...

Attributes
ACN	955605
Time
Date	201106
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	CZQX.ARTCC
State Reference	NF
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Oceanic
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	ACARS
Person 1
Function	Relief Pilot Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 Flight Crew Total 10000 Flight Crew Type 1000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural FAR

Narrative:

When I returned from break as the relief pilot we were about 1 hour prior to gribs and requested oceanic clearance. Half an hour prior to gribs; we still didn't have our clearance. We received a cpdlc message to get the clearance by voice. It was difficult to here the controller and it took some time to get the clearance (about 10 minutes). The clearance involved a route change. We sent a message to the dispatcher to update the computer fight plan which he did. The first flight plan was incorrect (incorrect airspeed) so the dispatcher sent us a second. These flight plans are very long and it took about an hour to get the correct version. While the flight plans are uploading; it is not possible to uplink or downlink other info. We had not received ETOPS weather or sent an acceptance message. The captain had looked at the previous weather so he was comfortable proceeding past the ETOPS entry point. By the time we received the correct flight plan; the ETOPS weather from the dispatcher and sent the acceptance message we were about 60 miles past 50W.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier First Officer describes delays in receiving a revised flight plan over ACARS that results in crossing 50W prior to receiving weather; and sending the acceptance message.

Narrative: When I returned from break as the Relief Pilot we were about 1 hour prior to GRIBS and requested oceanic clearance. Half an hour prior to GRIBS; we still didn't have our clearance. We received a CPDLC message to get the clearance by voice. It was difficult to here the Controller and it took some time to get the clearance (about 10 minutes). The clearance involved a route change. We sent a message to the Dispatcher to update the computer fight plan which he did. The first flight plan was incorrect (incorrect airspeed) so the Dispatcher sent us a second. These flight plans are very long and it took about an hour to get the correct version. While the flight plans are uploading; it is not possible to uplink or downlink other info. We had not received ETOPS weather or sent an acceptance message. The Captain had looked at the previous weather so he was comfortable proceeding past the ETOPS Entry Point. By the time we received the correct flight plan; the ETOPS weather from the Dispatcher and sent the acceptance message we were about 60 miles past 50W.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Air carrier first officer describes delays in receiving a revised flight plan over ACARS that results in crossing 50W prior to receiving weather; and sending the acceptance message.