AIRINC PHONE PATCH

Phone Patch Connections

Phone patch connections to company operational offices to and from aircraft operating over the continental United States, Hawaii, Mexico and coastal areas of Alaska are made through VHF voice networks. Patches to and from aircraft operating on oceanic routes are accommodated on the HF Single Sideband (SSB) LDOCF frequencies. Each ARINC Communications Center is equipped to switch telephone calls, placed through the Center’s nonpublished telephone number, to applicable radio station equipment so that two-way communications can be exchanged between the aircraft and ground personnel.

Long distance calls to ARINC Communications Centers’ phone patch numbers must be placed on a station-to-station basis prepaid; a collect call will not be accepted. The same procedure applies for calls made from the ARINC Communications Center to aircraft operators, except the associated

toll charge is included in the Air/Ground message charge.

ARINC Communications Center

Phone Patch Numbers:

NYC

631-589-7224

    or

631-589-7272

SFO

925-294-8297

    or

800-621-0140

Phone Patch Authorization

A list of personnel authorized to originate or receive phone patch calls is maintained by ARINC Headquarters in the ARINC Phone Patch and Routing Guide List (APRL). This database is available to the NYC and SFO Communications Centers as a full-time reference through the ARINC Intranet. Communications Center personnel refer to this database to verify

the authenticity of the office and telephone number when a request is

received from an aircraft operator’s ground personnel. A request for a

ground-to-air connection that cannot be authenticated will be politely

refused.

Communications Center personnel will honor a request for a phone patch to any telephone number provided by the flight crew, unless otherwise

previously advised by the aircraft operator that phone patches are to be

limited to numbers coordinated and listed on the operator’s ARINC Phone

Patch Page.

Operation

The Air/Ground/Air radio channel is one way (send or receive) only; breakins and interruptions are not possible. In the normal “at rest” condition, the ground talker receives the aircraft transmission. When the ground talkerspeaks, a voice-operated relay switches the radio channel from receive to send and the aircraft receives the transmission. If the ground talker and aircraft transmit simultaneously, neither will receive the other.3 The ground talker should maintain a firm, even level of speech and avoid shouting. Each

transmission by the ground talker should be preceded with an “err” or “uhh” to allow the voice-operated relay to complete its switching function.

• ACARS/AFIS-Equipped Aircraft Operating within the contiguous

U. S.

− Company ID/Job Title

− Authorized telephone number

− Flight identification and/or aircraft tail number

− Approximate geographic location of the aircraft

After authentication of the request, a Radio Operator will establish

communications with the aircraft and inform the caller "Your flight is

standing by, go ahead." At the conclusion of this phrase, the connection between the telephone facilities and ARINC radio equipment will be activated and the conversation can proceed.

At the conclusion of the conversation, the Radio Operator will deactivate the

telephone and radio connection. The ground party should be familiar with

and maintain proper radio discipline during phone patch connections.