Good topic for comment.
And the recent switch of Dectalk from the convenient and efficient service to the paycard access only bull---- system which means you have to make two calls, one to get your weather, and then another to submit your plan once completed.
Yes we know the push is towards utilising NAIPS, but think about it Airservices Aust., we are not all sitting on our arses in an office full of NAIPS terminals at the ready.
Tell me which scenario is logistically simpler:
Scenario A. Early flight required to Melbourne from Bendigo. Wake up early, careful not to wake the kids, grab the phone, jot down weather off Dectalk in a back room, finish off plan and phone it through on the way to the airport. Easy.
Scenario B. Same early flight. The one phone socket in the house requires the dragging of a connection cable through half the house. Starting up the computer takes awhile and Oh dear it has decided to crash. Re boot required -minutes passing by and eventually get into NAIPS, but isn't it slow this morning! Read TAFs etc and wouldn't it be nice to print them off, but if I do I have to connect the printer and it will make a hell of a sound guaranteeing to wake up those kids. So I jot down the weather that I could have jotted down off DECTALK while on the crapper half an hour ago. Already running late do I spend another 15-20 minutes duplicating my hand written flight plan onto NAIPS or say stuff it have to go, could have driven half way to Melbourne by now so I'll phone through my plan by phone on the way to the airport.
Where is the logic? Why cannot DECTALK simply be a return charged call on your phone bill?
Seems the system is being directed by propeller heads, not propeller drivers