Pre Departure Clearance
Get your IFR clearance as text instead of waiting for a gap on the frequency. How PDC and DCL work, and where to find them in your cockpit.
PDC (Pre Departure Clearance) or DCL (Datalink Clearance) delivers your IFR clearance as text through Hoppie ACARS. Most common add-ons support it, and so do most active controllers on VATSIM.
No datalink in your aircraft? easyCPDLC is a standalone client that does the same job.
Before you send anything, read the controller info of the station issuing clearances. It names the code you need, usually the airport's ICAO code such as EDDF, EDDM or EDDB.
The clearance covers your route, so read the message to the end: it can include start-up approval. If it does not, you still call. In Munich you always call Delivery for start-up after a datalink clearance.
Every datalink clearance is one voice transmission less on a busy frequency, and you can read route, SID and squawk as often as you need without asking again. In Frankfurt it is the preferred way, and in Munich especially during events.
On most Airbus MCDUs your flight data is already in. You only add your gate or stand, the current ATIS ID and the station code, then send.
Fenix: MCDU MENU → ATSU → AOC MENU → ATC REQ → PRE DEP CLRNCE
The clearance shows up with destination, runway, SID and squawk. Check it, then acknowledge it with WILCO.
Fenix: MCDU MENU → ATSU → AOC MENU → ATC REQ → PRE DEP CLRNCE
Open ATC COM, then REQUEST, CLEARANCE and DEPARTURE, and fill in the form. XFR TO MAILBOX moves the request to the centre MFD, SEND sends it, and the clearance comes back on the same display.
iniBuilds A350: ATC COM → REQUEST → CLEARANCE → DEPARTURE
Click COMM, then on the lower EICAS display choose FLIGHT INFORMATION and DEPARTURE CLEARANCE REQ and add your data. The clearance appears in the EICAS message block and under NEW MESSAGES. Click ACCEPT to acknowledge it.
PMDG 777: COMM → FLIGHT INFORMATION → DEPARTURE CLEARANCE REQ
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Checked against: VATSIM Germany Knowledgebase and our own tests in the simulator, 5 Nov 2026. For flight simulation only, never for real-world navigation. Procedures change, so your current charts and ATC always win.
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