Definition
Flight and coordination information exchanged electronically between separate air traffic control facilities, allowing one facility to hand off responsibility for an aircraft to another without manual re-entry of data.
Plain English
Information about a flight that one ATC facility automatically sends to the next so they both have the same details when control is passed over.
Context Anchor
Seen in FAA abbreviation lists, operational messages, and facility coordination references when information is being shared between aviation facilities.
Derivation
Inter- (between) + facility (an ATC site such as a tower, TRACON, or ARTCC) + data (information). The word simply names what it is: data shared between facilities.
Why Pilots Care
Supports continuous tracking and safe handoffs when a flight crosses from one facility's airspace into another's.
Intuition Check
Do not read “facility” as just a building. Here it means an aviation operating unit or service location that handles information or coordination.
Example Sentence 1
The controller mentioned that the IDAT link to the next center was down, so the handoff would have to be coordinated by phone.
Example Sentence 2
Updated IDAT allowed the next facility to display the flight on their scope without delay.