Flight Planner Preps Pilots for Lift-Off

In some of the busiest air space in the world, access to flight planning information for U.S. pilots is critical. For more than 70 years, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has provided the latest weather and navigational data to pilots for free. Since 1989, CSC has helped develop ways to keep this initiative on the cutting edge.

One important element of the FAA and CSC's support to general aviation is the Direct User Access Terminal Service (DUATS), a system that makes pre-flight planning easy and fast for U.S.-certified pilots.

The service is a database of the National Airspace Information, which supports the FAA's Notices to Airmen (NOTAM), weather products and distribution requirements. It provides pilots Internet access to an integrated database of self-briefing capabilities.

Competition spurs innovation

When DUATS was bid in 1989, CSC was one of two vendors awarded the project by the FAA. The service flourishes in a competitive environment where each vendor creates their own portal into DUATS for end users (pilots). It's then left up to users to choose which service best suits their needs.

"The competition puts the onus on the vendors to come up with new capabilities and enhance their usability to provide a service that would much better meet the requirements of the user than their competitor," says Allen Dames, DUATS program manager for the FAA. "It also keeps FAA costs down because the vendors are doing the R&D on their own nickel, so the FAA can offer this free of charge."

The setup works well. More than 5,000 certified pilots across North America, including parts of the Caribbean, log into DUATS multiple times daily to obtain weather briefings and file flight plans.

Following successive contract awards in 1996 and 2000, CSC continues to thrive in assisting the FAA in creating unique features to enhance the service for the FAA and users. As a result, CSC lures approximately 70 percent of all aviators who access DUATS to its portal, over the competitor.

"This is a service that has grown by leaps and bounds every year," Dames says. "As we go on, functionality is being enhanced and we're defining new and better ways to find the data that's required more quickly. Pilots can now look at the exact same information the air traffic controllers are looking at."

"This is one of the most worthwhile activities that the government provides for our citizens," Dames adds. "The flying public can't get a much better bang for the buck."

DUATS constantly changes

In the beginning, DUATS was a dial-in service in which pilots confirmed weather conditions and filed flight plans via phone. Then in 1994, CSC helped lead innovation toward an Internet accessible system and Web DUATS launched in 1995.

For functionality, 2003 saw the largest upgrades to DUATS, as the system became accessible through Golden Eagle FlightPrep, a Windows-based, off-the-shelf communication package.

Leon Thomas, CSC's DUATS program manager, ushered the system through its digital revolution. A former U.S. Coast Guard pilot, commercial airman and FAA executive in air traffic operations, Thomas prides himself in knowing just about everything there is to know about air traffic management.

"We took our extensive knowledge of how and what everything is that pilots need and turned it into an electronic service," Thomas explains. But it doesn't end there. "We are innovators too. We'll attend shows, interface with the pilot community and brief them on what's new. Over the years we've taken a lot of pilot input and grown the system immensely. As a result we have a much better product and we're continually making changes."

DUATS makes flight planning easy

DUATS provides pilots with weather information directly from the FAA’s weather distribution center. Also, flight restrictions are displayed on a map and listed by state along with a synopsis.

For flight planning, a pilot can request trip information and generate a flight log, which can be stored for future use. Flight plans can be filed as early as 24 hours in advance and up to 30 minutes before departure.

Web DUATS also provides system query, analysis, reporting and distribution of current and historical DUATS data via the National Airspace Data Interchange Network. There is storage for up to 300 flight plans per user and the functionality to create and access corporate and individual accounts for easy updates of stored information, including passwords.

Get a fact sheet on DUATS (PDF).

Learn about CSC's long history of support to the FAA.

Read more about CSC's partnership with the U.S. government.

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