It would be very helpful if when sending an alert for Flight Plan Filed you included the full flight plan in the alert email. This is a feature that Flight Explorer has. The usefulness of this is that you get to see the first response to your flight plan by the ATC computer. Sometimes the ATC computer changes what you filed, which is useful to know before you call for a clearance.
Here is an example of Flight Explorer’s email:
The following flight plan has been filed for flight N000XX:
APA.ROCKI4.RLG…4439N/11943W…IMB.BONVL4.HIO
And yours for the same flight is this:
Your tracked aircraft N000XX has just filed a flight plan.
It is scheduled to depart KAPA at 2006-12-04 20:30:00 heading for KHIO.
The content of the alerts is still up for discussion. We’re thinking of offering both “full” and “light” versions of the alert, which can be selected based on the needs of the end user and the capabilities of their device.
Yes, you are correct! I just noticed that fact. What can be done about this? I think it is perhaps an easy improvement for Flight Aware to make that would be very useful.
Actually, in looking at a past flight, the route listed on the screen is the route I filed, not the one that was read to me by clearance delivery, so perhaps this is not as useful as we thought…
Depends. Often it will be true that the ATC computer just feeds back your filed route, in fact, that is the norm. That’s why it gets interesting when it doesn’t. Of course, some of this depends on what you file and how close you are to filing what the system wants. There are times I file a particular departure (the best for me), and that first response is different. Tells me something about what to expect when I pick up the clearance, and later when flying the departure.
We don’t currently display amendments or changes to clearances after it’s initially issued, however my understanding and personal experience is that the route shown is, in fact, what the aircraft is initially cleared.
I flew KMSY-KHOU last week and, in a hurry, ended up filing over the phone “direct” and was amazed to get on FlightAware en route to the airport and see the scheduled route was direct. That’s what I was initially cleared although I wasn’t at all surprised when I was asked to, “advise ready to copy your amended clearance” as I approached the Houston terminal area.
It isn’t uncommon for the computer to give one clearance (as revealed in an email from Flight Explorer), and then to get yet another one when I pick up the clearance from Clearance Delivery. The reason for this in a Class Bravo terminal area is that the clearance from the computer is then processed by Approach Control (TRACON), where they may amend it due to traffic considerations. This seems to mostly affect the departure portion of the clearance.
You must be hallucinating! I just tried it on a Mac with Safari, and it behaves exactly the same way – namely a text edit bar, not a reveal of the flight plan.
