Acars

[Jet_Dreamer]

What does this stand for (ACARS) and do you RJ drivers have this equipment on board.

 

[Rotorhead]

Gotta love google............


ACARS ([A]ircraft [C]ommunication [A]ddressing and [R]eporting ystem) is a digital data link system transmitted via VHF radio which allows airline flight operations departments to communicate with the various aircraft in their fleet.

This VHF digital transmission system, used by many civilian aircraft and business jets, can be likened to "email for airplanes," as the registration of each aircraft is it's unique address in the system developed by aeronautical radio giant ARINC (Aeronautical Radio, Inc.). Traffic is routed via ARINC computers to the proper company, relieving some of the necessity for routine voice communication with the company. With ACARS, such routine items as departure reports, arrival reports, passenger loads, fuel data, engine performance data, and much more, can be requested by the company and retrieved from the aircraft at automatic intervals. Before the advent of ACARS, flight crews had to use VHF to relay this data to their operations on the ground.

ACA has it in all fleet types......

 

[Twotter76]

We have ACARS in the Jetstream 41 at ACA; dont know of many other turboprop operators that use it. Neat system to use when its working. Only works when both parties (ie dispatch and you) are checking their messages however... sometimes its just faster to use the radio.

 

[EagleRJ]

All the planes at Eagle have it. We use it to pull up weather and clearances, and talk to our dispatcher. It really saves time and hassle, plus the printer is a convenient source of scratch paper!

 

[cl-65link]

Pinnacle CRJ's have it. It is integrated into the FMS.

 

[asarjfo]

See....now you guys are missing all of the fun!

At ASA we still get to carry around a 6 inch thick airport analysis manual, talk to wonderful people in ops, talk to dispatch on Delta Radio so the whole world can here your problems, but most important........relay our own out/in times!

Come over to the dark side!!!!

 

[IFLYASA]

Yes we are behind times at ASA without ACARS. It's supposed to be in the works for the RJ's only. I'll believe it when I see it. It's ashamed these brand new 70's lack such a system. There is nothing worse than those annoying voices at ATL ops...

 

[asarjfo]

I agree with that....

I for one would miss the nasal "Rooooogggg" (because roger requires more effort)

And the crowd favorite "copy dat...I told da fuelers twice....what else can I do now"

 

[mikecanfly]

airport analysis manual?

hey asarjfo,

What is the "airport analysis manual"? What do you guys use it for? When, etc....

Thanks!

 

[asarjfo]

Its a big heavy book (the size of a Jepp book) that does not fit well anywhere in the airplane.

It is basically a performance book for every airport we fly to with data for different runways at flaps 8 and 20 takeoffs on dry, wet, contaminated runways etc......

It also has landing data for the same conditions as well as any special departure procedures in the event you lose an engine on takeoff.

If you are lucky enough to have ACARS, your dispathcer will usually "run the nubmers" for you.....we still do it the old fashioned way.

 

[IAHERJ]

We have a pretty neat version on our ERJ's at Express. They now tell you your gate assignment/employ#'s and next gate for the crew so you know 40 minutes out if you will be doing the "bag drag" in the hub. They also allow all types of communication with dispatch/maintenance/customer service. The best thing is picking up PDC's and ATIS without having to talk/listen etc. I've even ordered crew meals passing through Newark on ACARS and it worked.

IAHERJ

 

[asarjfo]

Crew Meal?!?! What is that?!?!

 

[Anaconda]

crew meal is the thing that a comair crew made the mistake of ordering one day from delta and ended up getting a nice little deduction out of their pay check to cover the expense...something like $15 a meal give or take...

nice to see others are up in technology while we at com/asa are still in the stone age...

 

[IAHERJ]

It's funny how varied the crew meals can be though. I've ordered them and received leftover Kosher meals off of the plane at the next gate once and other times we get the first class cold plate as crew meals. It sucks when they forget the ERJ has no oven and give us the cheeseburger or BBQ sandwich and we have to heat it up on the dash.

Lately they have been very stingy with crew meals given that we are in contract negotiations and those are items we will negotiate in the upcomming months.

ACARS now has a page that requests CAT II landing information like who made the landing so it can automatically credit that pilot with a cat II for currency or if the landing was rejected a typed reason as to why is required but I haven't had to use either of those functions yet.

IAHERJ