Do you guys in the USA also get your clearances via datalink from ATC?

Question

I mean, here in Germany, when you are at airport A and go to airport B, you get your clearance while on the gate at airport A via datalink. But I think in the USA you must still turn the frequency in your NAV to get your clearance, right?

(If right, why is that)?

Answer 1

yes

Answer 2

There are two ways we get it in the USA... really more, but at the larger airports with the standard clearance delivery, ground, tower, etc.... we can contact clearance delivery via the radio for our clearance.

At some airport and with some airlines we can get a PDC (pre departure clearance) which is done via a datalink.

The limitation really has to do with what airports offer the service and what airlines are set up to recieve the data.  So, at the same airport two aircraft from different airlines could be sitting side by side and one gets theirs via datalink and the other one calls ATC for their verbal clearance.

Hope this helps!