Definition
An FAA-funded service that allowed certified pilots to receive official preflight weather briefings and to file domestic VFR and IFR flight plans directly through a computer connection, without speaking to a Flight Service specialist. DUATS was retired in May 2018 and replaced by the Leidos Flight Service pilot web portal (1800wxbrief.com).
Plain English
A government-provided online system pilots used to get their weather briefing and file a flight plan themselves, instead of calling Flight Service. It is no longer in operation.
Context Anchor
Seen in older FAA handbooks and training discussions about preflight weather briefings and flight plan filing.
Derivation
Direct (the pilot connects straight to the source), User (the pilot themselves), Access Terminal (a computer terminal that reaches the system). The name reflects the original idea: a pilot sitting at their own terminal could reach official flight planning data directly, bypassing the phone briefer.
Why Pilots Care
It let pilots retrieve needed preflight data quickly on their own schedule without waiting for a verbal briefing.
Intuition Check
Do not read “terminal” here as an airport building or an aircraft terminal. In this term, it means a computer access point for getting preflight information.
Example Sentence 1
Older training texts describe pilots using DUATS to obtain a standard weather briefing before departure.
Example Sentence 2
When internet access was available, many pilots chose the system over a telephone briefing for routine domestic flights.