Narrative:

I arrive in flight operations and am told that flight is on decision due to failed comm satellite facilities. Dispatch advises that flight is planned polar 1 with known satcom voice inop; but data is ok. This cannot be true since the flight is planned through the known immarsat satcom shadow where voice and data are both inop. Ri HF problems are forecast and canadian ATC is having comm problems with their satellite again. HF in alaska antenna is inoperative. This information is not provided by dispatch. Advise dispatch of not being willing to go polar 1 given the long report list of NORDO events on this route; the FAA letter requiring proper satcom equipment be installed for these routes by next february; today's ri solar HF degradation and inoperative satcom facilities. I am told that the only other option requires 250 people to be taken off the plane for route R220; or we go on the next day. This seems very strange. I suggest polar 3 or 4; declined. {First] release we see; polar 1 routing into known NORDO and solar flare conditions. Release says that 'satcom datalink will be available but satphone will not due satellite issues.' again call dispatch and decline this route due to all issues stated above. Next release later shows up past departure time. Polar 3 routing we were previously told was not acceptable is now magically available with only 26 minutes extra flying time and all pax-freight can be carried. Unfortunately this release now has divert airport barrow alaska that is having a major snowstorm and is unusable with serious runway contamination and greatly reduced mu as reported via NOTAMS. Divert airport mirny; russia is also listed and is closed by NOTAM. I reject flight release with these divert alternate airports and ask for fairbanks to substitute for barrow and yakutsk to substitute for mirny. Next release with fairbanks and yakutsk da airports arrives at 38 minutes past scheduled departure time. Arrive at the plane shortly thereafter and most passengers are not boarded; two circuit breakers popped for tat requires a maintenance writeup; maintenance check for obstructed pitot static tubes as well as new maintenance release. ATC pre departure clearance clearance is wrong requiring manual full route confirmation. Fueling not completed until well past crew being ready for pushback. Enroute: just an average day so far with someone again trying to cover all these pre-departure goodies up with the usual crew delay false accusation. This act required the crew to interrupt normal flight duties on climb out and type in a crew delay response in order to not have the crew delay remain uncorrectable by the chief pilot and staff due to untimely response from me. Another serious safety distraction playing the crew delay game show after a very heavy preflight workload. [Numerous satcom/HF/ACARS issues enroute]

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Air Carrier Pilot diligently attempts to have Dispatch build a Polar Route to Asia which complies with communication and suitable alternate airport requirements given SATCOM outages and conditions at diversion alternates.

Narrative: I arrive in flight operations and am told that flight is on decision due to failed comm satellite facilities. Dispatch advises that flight is planned Polar 1 with known SATCOM voice inop; but data is OK. This cannot be true since the flight is planned through the known IMMARSAT SATCOM Shadow where voice and data are both inop. RI HF problems are forecast and Canadian ATC is having comm problems with their satellite again. HF in Alaska antenna is inoperative. This information is not provided by dispatch. Advise Dispatch of not being willing to go Polar 1 given the long report list of NORDO events on this route; the FAA letter requiring proper SATCOM equipment be installed for these routes by next February; today's RI solar HF degradation and inoperative SATCOM facilities. I am told that the only other option requires 250 people to be taken off the plane for route R220; or we go on the next day. This seems very strange. I suggest Polar 3 or 4; declined. {First] release we see; Polar 1 routing into known NORDO and solar flare conditions. Release says that 'SATCOM datalink will be available but SATPHONE will not due satellite issues.' Again call Dispatch and decline this route due to all issues stated above. Next release later shows up past departure time. Polar 3 routing we were previously told was not acceptable is now magically available with only 26 minutes extra flying time and all pax-freight can be carried. Unfortunately this release now has divert airport Barrow Alaska that is having a major snowstorm and is unusable with serious runway contamination and greatly reduced Mu as reported via NOTAMS. Divert airport Mirny; Russia is also listed and is closed by NOTAM. I reject flight release with these Divert Alternate airports and ask for Fairbanks to substitute for Barrow and Yakutsk to substitute for Mirny. Next release with Fairbanks and Yakutsk DA airports arrives at 38 minutes past scheduled departure time. Arrive at the plane shortly thereafter and most passengers are not boarded; two circuit breakers popped for TAT requires a maintenance writeup; maintenance check for obstructed pitot static tubes as well as new maintenance release. ATC PDC clearance is wrong requiring manual full route confirmation. Fueling not completed until well past crew being ready for pushback. Enroute: Just an average day so far with someone again trying to cover all these pre-departure goodies up with the usual CREW DELAY false accusation. This act required the crew to interrupt normal flight duties on climb out and type in a crew delay response in order to not have the crew delay remain uncorrectable by the Chief Pilot and staff due to untimely response from me. Another serious safety distraction playing the crew delay game show after a very heavy preflight workload. [Numerous SATCOM/HF/ACARS issues enroute]

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.