AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2014 - D1

AOPA Edition

Benefits of using CSC DUATS
In today's world, you have access to many weather and flight
planning sources. Although they may provide you with what
your immediate needs are, there are many behind-the-scenes
advantages to using the CSC DUATS site. They include:


Security

The CSC site undergoes periodic security audits, not only by the
CSC DUATS program, but by the FAA. CSC DUATS undergoes the same strict security standards as other systems operated
by the FAA. A yearly FAA security review, called a SCAP
(Security Certification and Authorization Package) is a comprehensive review and testing of the system to insure that all federal and FAA security requirements are met. This assures you
that your personal information is safe and protected from unauthorized users.
Furthermore CSC DUATS is set up to allow only certificated
pilots to be assigned a user access code and enter the system.
This lessens the risk of unauthorized users having access to the
system and causing security risks, including filing flight plans
intentionally or unintentionally for your aircraft.


Safety

The CSC site has been developed under FAA safety program
requirements . Safety, consistent with mission requirements, has
been designed into the system in a timely, cost-effective manner.
As a part of the program, hazards associated with the system
(and its component subsystems) are identified, tracked, evaluated, and eliminated, or the associated risk is reduced to a level
acceptable to FAA management throughout the entire life cycle
of a system. Furthermore, this safety program is ongoing as all
risks are identified continuously and mitigated or eliminated.
CSC DUATS is reviewed every 6 months by the FAA safety
program to insure adherence to the safety program.
What does this mean to you? It means that the service is delivered to you in a safe and reliable fashion and is proactive in
identifying risks and eliminating or mitigating them before it
affects your safety.


Event Recording

CSC DUATS records every keystroke and request you make
while logged on to our system. This information is kept for 365
days and is made available to the FAA upon request. This recently added feature extends the FAA required retention by
350 days.

Issue No. 109

April 2014

Why is this important? Besides providing valuable information
to the FAA in case of search and rescue, it proves to the FAA
that you obtained a weather briefing before your flight and
have adhered to AIM requirements. For your convenience, a
recent enhancement in the system now allows you to view your
own past briefing and flight plan filing histories. Note that only
the last 15 days are online and older retrieval is by request.


FAA Certified Weather

CSC DUATS weather source is FAA's Weather Message
Switching Center, which is the same source that is used by all
the Air Route Traffic Control Centers. CSC DUATS meets the
requirements for the source of weather described in Appendix
B of FAA Notice N8900.199 OpSpec/MSpec A010, Aviation
Weather Information.
What does this mean? CSC DUATS is fully approved for use
as a single source of weather by pilots as well as briefers in
part 91K, 121, 125, and 135 operations.


FAA quality control

CSC DUATS is regularly monitored by the FAA Technical
Center at Atlantic City. The FAA Technical Center is responsible for testing the CSC DUATS system to insure that it meets
all the specifications in the FAA's DUAT contract and that it
maintains adherence to those specifications.


24 by 7 live support

CSC DUATS has a 24 by 7 Operations Center which provides
you with "live person" support for help with any CSC DUATS
service including WEB, mobile or dial-in. This center can be
reached at 1-800-345-3828. In addition, the center provides
behind the scenes support insuring that your flight plans have
been filed and accepted by the ARTCC or FSS. Although CSC
DUATS does extensive rule checking, fully following FAA
7110.10 requirements on your entered flight plans, occasionally
they are returned by the center. In those cases, our Operations
Center will correct the error and insure that they are accepted
by the FAA.


Third party support

Many third party websites and flight planning programs use
CSC DUATS for part or all of their weather and flight plan
filing functions. If you are asked and use the CSC access code
and password, then all functions provided by the third party via
CSC DUATS will take advantage of the above benefits.

AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2014