This thread is music for my eyes. Where do I start? Helicopters are a useful tool primarily because they operate away from airports and fixed bases. But the new system is almost entirely designed to suit fixed base urban operations - accordingly, it does not suit hardly any helicopter operators I know.
I can't remember when I last landed in a hole in the trees and had access via the computer installation convientiently placed at the bottom of the nearest tree!! Oh - and now I can only activate and cancel SAR by telephone - well there is also mobile coverage and public telephones in every hole in the trees I have operated into!! Oh - and now I can easliy get a weather briefing - it is so simple to continually annoy your employer for more phone cards or go through your phone bill and individually bill him/her for the calls each month (especially because I now have so much time on my hands)!! Oh - it also now so easy to obtain area QNH, latest MET, NOTAMS, etc over the radio - all I have to do is climb to flight level nosebleed (where all helicopters operate) to get coverage with flightwatch. Lots of our customers love us to waste the 10 minutes of climb/descend flight time to achieve all these aims (only $200 or so in a light SE turbine). Oh - and while I am up there at FL nosebleed, I might get enough coverage to cancel SAR over the radio (if they will accept it) - well before I do the most dangerous part of the flight: the landing into a confined area. User pays? User pays heaps in bucks and safety!!!
About those flight planning phone calls, I count four:
1. Weather briefing.
2. Flight plan submission.
3. Check your flight plan has been recieved as required by AIP.
4. Call from briefing to fix your ICAO formatting.
And that brings me to my favourite - flight plans. Now I have to do two flight plans - one that I can use in flight, and one that I have to spend 40 mins burning through AIP to translate into ICAO. I love doing this. "But", I hear them say, "you can get a program that does it for you". Well, when they install those computer terminals in every hole in the trees, and when I can afford the software licencing for each machine......
I once asked Airservices at their promo meetings for the introduction of all this crap (or should I say: the withdrawal of a useful system), how many Airservices personnel are there that input flight plans into the new system. If memory serves, the answer was 14 or so. So I sez: "why dont you just teach those 14 how to use our pilot data and convert it into ICAO data so the the 40,000 pilots dont have to do two plans every time? Maybe teaching 14 Vs 40,000 to learn a whole new system is cost effective? Seeing as how the 14 are likely to have a computer, perhaps even buying them the software may help them do it automatically?"
Nope - it seems teaching 40,000 was the way to go.....................
Current situation: Very few helicopter operators I know of (fixed base offshore and EMS aside) use ANY of the services because almost none of it is practical given their work. Almost none use Censar. Few get any weather briefing. Almost none talk to flightwatch for QNH or weather info. It has really enhanced our operations, don't you think?
Mine helmet is now well and truly alight, I must retire imediately to the bar........