Definition
A satellite-based communications system used by the FAA to carry voice and data traffic between air traffic facilities, weather sites, navigation aids, and other agency locations across the United States and its territories.
Plain English
A satellite link the FAA uses to move its own phone calls, radar data, and weather information between its facilities.
Context Anchor
Seen in FAA acronym lists, system descriptions, or notices that identify an FAA communications link or service.
Derivation
Built from FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) plus SAT, the common shorthand for satellite. The name simply states what it is: the FAA's satellite link.
Why Pilots Care
When FAATSAT has an outage, services pilots rely on — such as flight service communications, weather data feeds, or remote facility links — can be affected. Knowing the term helps when reading NOTAMs about system disruptions.
Example Sentence 1
A FAATSAT outage delayed weather updates to several remote flight service stations.
Example Sentence 2
Maintenance logs noted an outage on the FAATSAT link that briefly affected data exchange between centers.