As previously reported, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) and Lockheed Martin were each awarded DUATS (direct user access terminal services) contracts in early May 2015. The service was formerly provided by CSC and Data Transformation Corporation (DTC). So what now?
If you are a DTC DUAT user, know that DTC has been granted a 60-day [until July 15] extension to their DUAT contract.
“We are fully operational and plan to continue operations during and after the 60-day extension,” said DTC DUAT marketing manager Doug Priestley. “DTC DUAT is pursuing alternative avenues to provide the DUAT Service capabilities to its users following the 60 day extension period.”
The CSC and Lockheed Martin contracts are each one-year with four one-year extensions.
So what happens to my Foreflight briefings and flight plan filings that went thru DUATS/DTC? Do I now have to get a new DUATS account with LM or CSC and change everything? What a PITA!
I favored the DTC website and was very disappointed to see this decision. From what I saw DTC added graphics well before CSC. When a briefing was displayed on DTC, the notams were grouped by airport so I only had to look in one place to get those notams. From what I always have seen with CSC, the notams are grouped by type of notam, so the notams for a particular airport are spread out in different paragraphs depending on the type of notam, making it much more likely that a notam may be missed. DTC also abbreviated much better making it possible to usually include a station’s weather report on one line instead of two. I checked the Lockheed Martin site for the first time and it really looks user unfriendly to me. DTC will be missed.
Take a look at ENFLIGHT.COM which provides personal minimums analysis on top of a CSC DUATS briefing. We also separate the NOTAMS at your destination and departures, and had charts and approach plates well before CSC.
Thanks – I’ll check it out.
dtc is hopelessly mired in the stoneage compared to a free service like fltplan.com