Finally! Predeparture Clearance Standardization

For those of you capable of receiving a Predeparture Clearance (PDC), have you noticed a change since the first week of April? The FAA changed the way it issues PDCs. Gone are the days of trying to decide if you got a reroute in the PDC. The FAA recognized there was a problem with standardization with regards to reroutes. For example, Dallas used a dash to denote a change, while Chicago would use a star, and LAX would use a dash and a star but flip the order of filed versus cleared. When I would ask clearance delivery to verify, I would get the audio equivalent of a blank stare like it’s my first day flying with the big boys.

Starting in the first week of April, you will only be issued a PDC if there are no changes to the route that you filed. If there are changes, the controller must verbally give them to you. You will also notice the new phraseology “climb via” in the PDC.

I’m not sure what LGA is going to do when they assign the LGA4 with multiple changes because ATC is no longer allowed to give Instructions in the PDC. While I’m looking forward to not having to decipher the different formats around the country, the flip side is a lot more congestion on the clearance delivery frequency.

You can review additional information at FAA Document Library web page: Order JO 7110.113D Procedures for Issuing Automated Clearances