What Is ACARS & How Do Pilots And Airlines Use It?

Simple Flying

By Mohamed Anas Maaz

Published Oct 12, 2023

Not so long ago, a system was introduced primarily for communication between pilots and airline operations.

Photo: Jordan Tan | Shutterstock.com

ACARS is a system developed in the 1970s to automate data transfers between pilots and airline operations.
It started as a simple system called ‘OOOI,’ which tracked the time of pushback, liftoff, landing, and arrival at the gate.
ACARS uses VHF, SATCOM, and HF as data transfer mediums, with VHF being the most common and cheapest method, SATCOM used for long-distance transfers, and HF as a backup option.