Filing a flight plan Using CPDLC

To use CPDLC, an ICAO flight plan must be properly filled out for the flight, or the logon attempt will be rejected by the FAA.  An FAA approved Flight ID must be entered into field 7 of the ICAO flight plan­­­­, or if the flight doesn’t have an approved FAA Flight ID, the aircraft registration must be entered in field 7.  The aircraft registration should always be entered in Field 18. In this field, “REG/” should be entered followed by the aircraft’s registration.

J-Codes are used to indicate what radio, navigation, and capabilities are onboard the aircraft. J-Codes should be entered in Box 10a (Equipment) of the ICAO Flight Plan.

• J3. FANS 1/A VDL Mode A/0. This code is accepted for DCL clearances only.
• J4. FANS 1/A VDL Mode 2. This code is accepted for DCL and enroute CPDLC.

The DAT/ codes are the mechanisms which allow the FAA to generate a CPDLC-DCL, PDC, or voice clearance. To participate in CPDLC-DCL and receive a clearance on the ground at DCL enabled airports, both J3/J4 and a DAT/ code must be entered in Box 18 on the ICAO Flight Plan. Specifying an order in Field 18 under the DAT/ code entry will establish a default method and a backup method.

Example: 1FANS2PDC

In the above example, departure clearance through FANS will be the default method and the pre-departure clearance will be the backup. Please note, departure clearances will not be received through both services.

DAT/ Codes for U.S. Domestic CPDLC Operations:

Table obtained from the Data Link Communications Application Guide.

See below for common Garmin aircraft configurations and corresponding flight plan filing ICAO codes.

 Please note it is the pilot's responsibility to ensure proper ICAO codes are used when filing.