ACR PLT RPTS THAT COMPANY MANUALS ARE INCORRECT IN RPTING ACTIVATION OF AUTO DEPENDENT SURVEILLANCE (ADS) ON THE NORTH ATLANTIC TRACKS BEFORE IT IS ACTUALLY IN USE.

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ATC FACILITY: GANDER CTR. JUST FLEW XA ORD-LHR AND XB BACK. OUR LATEST CHANGE TO NORTH ATLANTIC COMMERCIAL CHART COM PAGES DATED SEP/XA/99 STATES THAT FOR THE B777 ADS IS NOW IN OP ON THE NATS AND THAT NO OR FEW HF POS RPTS NEED BE GIVEN ON THE NATS AS THEY ARE NOW SENT AUTOMATICALLY (AT WAYPOINT PASSAGE) TO GANDER/SHANWICK AND THEY IN TURN FORWARD THEM TO THE CTLING AGENCY AND THE COMPANY. WELL; YOU GUESSED IT. NOT ONLY IS IT NOT 'TURNED ON' THEY DON'T KNOW WHERE WE GOT THE INFO THAT IT WAS TURNED ON. WE INFORMED BOTH GANDER CTR AND GANDER RADIO (AS PER THE PRINTED PROC) THAT WE WERE DATA LINK ON INITIAL CONTACT AND PRESSED ON ACROSS THE NORTH ATLANTIC ASSUMING THAT ALL WAS WELL AND NOT RPTING OUR 50 MI W POS. ABOUT 45 MI W WE WERE SELCAL'ED BY GANDER WANTING OUR 50W POS RPT -- THE REST IS HISTORY. I CALLED DISPATCH ON SATCOM AND THEY SAID THEY HAD NEVER HEARD OF THE TERM 'ADS' BUT WOULD CHK INTO IT. I ASKED THEM TO APPEND A J-8 TO THE NORTH ATLANTIC FLT PLANS STATING THAT THE COM PAGES WERE INCORRECT AND THEY SAID THEY WOULD. WELL; YOU GUESSED IT. NO J-8. DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON CONCERNING THIS SUBJECT? CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE RPTR INDICATED IN THE CALLBACK CONVERSATION THAT B777 DOES IN FACT HAVE ADS. THE DISPATCH SPECIALIST IN CHARGE OF THEIR ADS PROGRAM INDICATED THAT THE SYS IS UP AND RUNNING OVER THE ATLANTIC ON A TEST BASIS. THE TEST PERIOD HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR AT LEAST A YR BUT THERE ARE ERRORS. THE TEST PERIOD WILL GO ON UNTIL THERE ARE AT LEAST 2 MONTHS OF ERROR FREE RPTING. THE RPTR INDICATED THAT THE RECENT CHANGE TO THEIR COMMERCIAL CHART PRINTED OPS MANUAL WAS IN ERROR.