Air carrier first officer reports that the sabre flight planning software provides only sigmets that...

Narrative:

The sabre flight plan only provides crews sigmets as part of the paperwork if they are determined to be 'applicable' to that flight; according to the subject matter expert in flight operations. Pilots can always ask for sigmets on an individual flight basis if they want. If the practice of providing sigmets is not uniform it increases the chance of a crew not reviewing a SIGMET that was not provided but is applicable. If the sigmets are requested enroute via ACARS you get numerous pages of every SIGMET in the world it seems. On this [two hour] flight this was 12 pages worth of worldwide sigmets that tied up the ACARS for 28 minutes. Essentially we were locked out of ACARS use for 28 minutes. I have seen 18 pages of sigmets being sent to the aircraft. If you were flying internationally (especially polar) and were reviewing options enroute due to an emergency; the loss of ACARS communications capability for 30 minutes or more is a significant threat. I am told that this is a known problem with sabre.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier First Officer reports that the Sabre flight planning software provides only SIGMETS that are 'applicable' to the flight. Requesting SIGMETS in flight can tie up the ACARS for extended periods of time.

Narrative: The Sabre Flight Plan only provides crews SIGMETS as part of the paperwork if they are determined to be 'applicable' to that flight; according to the Subject Matter Expert in Flight Operations. Pilots can always ask for SIGMETS on an individual flight basis if they want. If the practice of providing SIGMETS is not uniform it increases the chance of a crew not reviewing a SIGMET that was not provided but is applicable. If the SIGMETs are requested enroute via ACARS you get numerous pages of every SIGMET in the world it seems. On this [two hour] flight this was 12 pages worth of worldwide SIGMETS that tied up the ACARS for 28 minutes. Essentially we were locked out of ACARS use for 28 minutes. I have seen 18 pages of SIGMETS being sent to the aircraft. If you were flying internationally (especially Polar) and were reviewing options enroute due to an emergency; the loss of ACARS communications capability for 30 minutes or more is a significant threat. I am told that this is a known problem with SABRE.

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.

Attributes
ACN	975498
Time
Date	201110
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZAU.ARTCC
State Reference	IL
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 215 Flight Crew Total 14100 Flight Crew Type 4000
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Other / Unknown

Air carrier first officer reports that the sabre flight planning software provides only sigmets that are 'applicable' to the flight. Requesting sigmets in flight can tie up the ACARS for extended periods of time.