That's kind of a cynical way to add to the conversation. The ACARS software is not right. It needs fixed. Why even have PDCs? What's the purpose? Using your argument of 'it's not so bad to call clearance' then all airlines should not use a digital PDC system. That would be a mess. Have you ever been number 14 on clearance delivery frequency waiting for your turn?

People aren't here complaining about how arduous it is to call for a clearance. Imagine if the FO could send, receive and print every time, most importantly when it ends up seconds within D-0? The FO could then have extra time (even if it's seconds) to help load the flight plan. Be positive, shave off seconds where ever possible, be part of the solution, not the problem. Even regardless of D-0. If you call for push 10 seconds sooner, maybe you won't have to wait for 3 into the alley, one of which is a tow-in. That then saves 6 minutes, which allows the return flight to actually make up some time. And get back to the schedule. And that means the gates are available... Ect ect ect.

Seconds count boys and girls. The sooner we use that mentality, the sooner we can start to win flying again.

Although I somewhat see you point here I don't completely agree with you. There are still other airlines calling for clearance, just like I did at my previous one, and I have never seen or heard of issues. If your a good FO, you will be calling for your clearance right at that 30min mark and even if your number 14 in line, you will still get it with plenty of time to get everything done. We all just get so spoiled with the PDCs, which are nice don't get me wrong, but come on guys....its not the end of the world to actually go above and beyond a few button pushes and now actually write our clearances every once and a while...just saying

Oh boy. Some snow in the Midwest. Let's make sure scheduling freaks out over the 25 or so flights we do a day out of MSP.

Really?????

He has a valid point.....


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Ya it's the lack of a PDC causing delays. You should be in management. I guess it's also cause we send more than 1 runway to Aerodata that it takes too long to come back. I agree it's broken and needs to be fixed. And its an annoying problem but this is a little exaggerated.

Couldn't agree more. Talked to them twice yesterday and got through immediately and the scheduler sounded bored. They like to make a big deal out of minor events.

I understand your point of something being broken, yes its annoying when the flight number sticks and you can't get a PDC. But if you are on a quick turn (which always seems to be the case in LAX), don't you think its quicker to call for a clearance rather than coordinate a ground reset with mx (which the QRH tells you to do)? The airplane will be powered down and back up eventually.

People writing up dumb ****** like that on a quick turn is what is slowing us down. I guarantee if you look hard enough in the airplane you can find one stupid thing to write up at any given time. If you are truly thinking about the big picture tell your FO that is whining about the stupid clearance or printer not printing to call clearance and write down the damn ATIS

Again, that's a very cynical way to look at what I said. "You should be in management" nice...

Is a PDC system there to expedite one of the tasks that we do each and every leg? Yes. Does that system work correctly? No. So we all agree that a tool that we use to make the job faster isn't working correctly. Does the ACARS latching problem cause X amount of delays? No. But an airline's performance is all about the aggregate. High volume of operations with a low margin of error. 30 seconds can cause 10 minutes. 10 minutes can easily cause 30 minutes and so on and so on.

Is the PDC issue the 'biggest fish' in the pond of delays? No I don't think so. However, I'd say that any fish in the pond of delays is worth fixing. Fix enough of the problems and you're back on the top of the D-0 list. The reason we're talking about the PDC thing is because someone else voiced frustration with incorrect ACARS initialization. I have never said that the PDC issue is the top thing we need to address. I've only said that it's ONE thing. Printers not working is yet another small fish. But a fish none the less. High volume aggregate. Small things add up. It's never one thing for an entire operations performance, that's all I'm saying. :cool:

You're right, if the only options are to call in for a clearance or call and coordinate a ground reset, then yes it's faster to call for your clearance. But you're only overlooking the root problem. The best option is to fix the system so crews are not stuck turning a blind eye to the issue. You can't have official policy be for crews to turn a blind eye. Just fix the issue. I totally agree that writing up stupid stuff is a drag on the system, but one step deeper is that stupid stuff is not right.

^^^^^
This.. It's the same as the ACARS frozen QRH. One CB and you're done.