What does this mean?

[evilroy]

I was going through the recently released transcripts from 9/11, and a saw a term I was not familiar with:

9:06:21 — Indianapolis Control, Dacos Radar Associate: Falmouth Decos.

9:06:22 — Indianapolis Control, Henderson Sector Radar Associate: this is henderson American seventy seven do you guys have radar on him is he over falmouth or - .

9:06:25 — Indianapolis Control, Dacos Radar Associate: no we just moved the track there we never you know.

What's Dacos or Decos? Is it a sector name? A name for an ATC position? I've never heard it used in Oz. The only thing close I'm aware of is Deputy Assistant Chief Of Staff (DACOS) - and somehow, that doesn't seem to fit.

[evilroy]

Hello? Is this thing on?

Has no-one heard of it? Surely there must be some US controllers here somewhere.

Is it maybe a transcription error, in that it's the phonetic pronounciation of another word?

[Hold West]

DACOS is a fix in ZID airspace, so I'm sure it's a sector name.

[av8boy]

Scott should be along shortly with the correct answer. In the mean time, being a tracon guy, all I can offer is that DACOS is a fix on J78 in ZID airspace (38-12-15.170N / 084-14-27.750W). Whether it has lent its name to a position at ZID, I can't say.

Dave

Edited to say, "Obviously written at the same time as HW's answer"

[evilroy]

Ah! Many thanks for clearing that up.

On a related note, when you lodge a flight plan in the US, can all ATC stations access it or does it only go to the units concerned? In my day, we'd figure out what airspace the plan concerned was going to involve, give it the relevent routing indicators (addresses) and throw it on the AFTN. If a flight had a major diversion from its planned track or alternates, someone would have to re-route / retransmit the plan to the affected stations.

I'd imagine that with the systems of today, any station can call up a plan?

[Hold West]

Ah! Many thanks for clearing that up.

On a related note, when you lodge a flight plan in the US, can all ATC stations access it or does it only go to the units concerned? In my day, we'd figure out what airspace the plan concerned was going to involve, give it the relevent routing indicators (addresses) and throw it on the AFTN. If a flight had a major diversion from its planned track or alternates, someone would have to re-route / retransmit the plan to the affected stations.

I'd imagine that with the systems of today, any station can call up a plan?

No, only those concerned can look at the flight plan. If there's a major reroute, the concerned controller just enters it in his flight data system (called URET in CONUS) and it's sent along to those that need it by the automated system. At the same time it's taken down from the sectors that no longer need it.

[evilroy]

Cheers - thanks for all the replies.