Avoid being placed on the FAA’s En-Route CPDLC Block List

Effectivity: All Challenger and Global aircraft  

ATA: 23 

By: Sylvain Cuerrier – Technical Services    

The FAA has asked OEMs to help mitigate certain process issues that lead customers to end up on the FAA block list. 

The FAA has noticed an increasing number of operators experiencing difficulties with logging in or establishing connections with the controller pilot data link communications (CPDLC) system.  

One of the main issues is that some participants have not submitted the mandatory equipage form to be eligible to participate in enroute CPDLC data communication. If the flight crew attempts to log in before having submitted the participation form, the aircraft will be placed on the FAA’s blocked list. 

To help mitigate the impact on operators, the FAA and L3Harris have provided the following reminder checklist (available on L3Harris website): 

1. VERIFY AVIONICS EQUIPAGE 

a. Refer to InFO 23008 

i. Aircraft must be FANS 1/A approved, equipped with VDL Mode 2 with multi-frequency, and “Push to Load” (PTL) capability 

ii. Aircraft must meet avionics requirements per the En-Route CPDLC Participation List on the FAA's Data Comm website 

iii. Contact DCIT@L3Harris.com with completed U.S. Domestic En Route CPDLC Participation Form for single or multiple aircraft

2. APPLY PROCEDURES & TRAINING 

a. Distribute and apply crew, dispatch, and maintenance procedures and training as applicable

3. FILE AS EQUIPPED, LOGON, AND PARTICIPATE  

i. Ensure “J4” is in FPL Item 10a ‘Equipment’ field 

ii. File the correct FPL Item 18 DAT/Code for DCL and en route CPDLC 

iii. FANSE or 1FANSER depending on aircraft type (check with airframe OEM) 

iv. Optionally, add “2PDC” to designate PDC as backup 

v. Refer to the U.S. Domestic CPDLC Flight and Route Planning Guide for additional filing guidance 

vi. Verify Flight ID and Tail Number match the flight plan and logon to KUSA to begin CPDLC participation 

Flight crew, operators, dispatchers and flight plan service providers should be familiar with the information on the FAA’s new participation process for U.S. domestic en route CPDLC. The FAA DataComm website contains plenty of guidance material and technical documents. You could also refer to the Bombardier advisory wire (AW) specific to your platform (AW300-23-0353, AW600-23-2585, AW700-23-0725). 

If you have any questions, please contact your Bombardier field service representative (FSR) or the Customer Response Centre (CRC) team 24/7.