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PDCs are departure clearances received via datalink and are available at many airports in the United States to datalink-equipped aircraft. The aircraft, including any callsigns, must be registered through the GDC with the FAA. Use of PDCs at participating airports is expected by ATC once registered; please refer to the GDC Air Traffic Services Airports document for a list of participating airports.
A PDC is based on a filed IFR flight plan, regardless of whether the flight plan was filed by the GDC, through an FSS, or via DUATS. Approximately 20 minutes prior to the filed time of departure of the flight plan, ATC will generate and then forward the PDC to the GDC for storage. With this in mind, request the PDC no earlier than 15 minutes prior to the filed time of departure. Because this short time is often insufficient to receive the clearance and depart as planned, the GDC recommends filing the flight plan with a time of departure 30 minutes earlier than the actual intended time of departure. For detailed instructions to request a PDC, please refer to the appropriate GDC Services Reference Guide for information specific to each datalink platform.
If ATC has forwarded the PDC to the GDC, the PDC is sent to the aircraft as a datalink message. If the GDC has not received the PDC from ATC, a datalink message is sent to the aircraft indicating that the PDC has not been received from ATC and that the PDC may be requested again in 5 minutes. Multiple PDC requests may be sent until 10 minutes prior to the filed time of departure, after which ATC should be contacted by voice to obtain the departure clearance.
Once the PDC is received, the flight crew is required to follow the clearance. Be sure to page forward through the clearance until END OF CLEARANCE is displayed. An aircraft may receive only one PDC per airport per day and a PDC will not be available if there is any significant change to the filed route and/or altitude or if the clearance needs to be negotiated. A PDC is valid for two hours beyond the filed time of departure.
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