Image: ForeFlight
ForeFlight has announced that it is now providing mobile Pre-Departure Clearance (PDC) and Digital Automated Terminal Information Service (D-ATIS) at approximately 75 airports across the United States. To get PDC and D-ATIS via ForeFlight, owners need to register each of their aircraft specifically for the service through the ForeFlight app. Once an aircraft is registered and a flight plan filed, ForeFlight automatically delivers the departure clearance and current ATIS information 20 to 30 minutes before the scheduled departure by email and text message.
“Customers who have flown with the new PDC and D-ATIS features don’t want to fly without them,” said ForeFlight co-founder and CEO Tyson Weihs. “These two valuable tools make flight and avionics setup efficient by eliminating a set of radio communications, they reduce controller workload, and help get the aircraft to the runway faster, which improves on-time performance.”
According to ForeFlight, PDCs are official text clearances for U.S. IFR flight plans, taking the place of a verbal clearance from Clearance Delivery. They include the filed route, cleared altitude, transponder code, departure frequency and any special instructions. To provide these new capabilities, ForeFlight is partnering with Satcom Direct. Mobile PDC and D-ATIS are available as part of ForeFlight’s Performance Plus and Business Performance plans.
