A319
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown; Confusion
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure
MCDU indicated flight plans and winds were auto loading for unknown reasons. While loading the flight plan I noticed the secondary [route] had a company route that had somehow auto loaded. The winds uplink had also auto loaded. I called Dispatch to see if there was a policy or procedural change that we had not been told about. Our dispatcher and the supervisor were not aware of any changes and could not explain why this was happening to our aircraft. We were conferenced with a chief pilot and it was revealed by him that a test program was being conducted to auto load the flight plan and winds when the PDC is received. However it was not yet released; he didn't know why this was happening prematurely. Another concern was; had the company flight plan 'auto loaded' in the secondary on the previous leg and bumped out our single-engine return procedure without us knowing; could have created more problems for a crew dealing with and emergency. We loaded the MCDU with no more problems. Any kind of new procedure; even in the test phase; needs to be communicated and staffed thoroughly with all the concerned or potentially affected departments. A 'Heads up' was all we needed to deal with this situation instead of seeing the aircraft do something unusual and utter the proverbial airbus phrase 'why is it doing this'; waking up a chief pilot [early in the morning] and causing a delay.
While loading the FMGC during preflight; an A319 Captain noticed the secondary flight plan had a company route that had somehow auto loaded. The winds uplink had also auto loaded. A call to the Duty manager indicates that a test program to perform automatic uplinks when the PDC is requested was in the planning stages; but should not be occurring at this time.