I'm looking at some flights in FlightAware. With the scheduled air carrier flights, their call-sign can be crossreferenced with a flight schedule database to determine the origin and destination. How are they populating the origin and destination fields on small Part 91 IFR flights being conducted by a Cessna 172?
Do they have some sort of access to the Aeronautical Message Handling System (AMHS) or Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunications Network (AFTN). If not, how else could they be receiving this data?
In reference to the possible duplicate question, it's unclear to me if the term "flight data" in the context of that thread is in reference to the near real-time (NRT) flight track flight data, or a more robust data set which includes the details of a flight's route, as filed and/or cleared.
Normally that type of flight plan routing data is transmitted over the AFTN/AMHS. It would be very very interesting if the FAA is integrating AMHS flight plan FAA data into the ADS-B/SSR flight track data.
Whilst I doubt know for sure, I’m relatively certain the flight plan routing data is integrated with track data by air traffic management (ATM) system and available to ATC personnel. What I need a better understanding of is how and at what point that integration occurs.
Is it an automated process occurring upstream or is it entered manually by the ATC personnel? If it's automated then is it AFTN/AMHS data or another source? If FlightAware is receiving this data, is it included as a single feed our do they have a separate feed? If the flight is scheduled, assuming the majority of origin/destination information results from callsign/ flight schedule cross-referencing, if either sources routing information conflicts with the other, which has primacy?
I concur that I understand the 5 minute FAA track feed delay was eliminated, but I don’t have a source to confirm.