boredcounter,
There is no requirement under ICAO or national requirements to engage a representative to act as a go-between for pilot (operator) and ATC.
Unfortunately, Afpex is limited to UK operators. Even if a foreign operator had a laptop with mobile internet, they are barred from using the system.
I think that the only answer to the question for my friend is to ring the relevant ACC supervisor and request to file a FPL over the phone. If that is refused then file an MOR since this inability to file a flight plan is covered by the MOR system.
Unfortunately with regard to overdue action, the lack of alerting has been mentioned in several accident reports. All refer to the "responsible person" but none recomend that the responsible person be appropriately trained.
The ATC training sylabus has mandatory training elements covering alerting action / overdue action etc.
This is the basic ICAO requirement. How does the CAA ensure that responsible persons are appropriately trained to provide the alerting service NATs is refusing to provide?
How many police stations are going to give the reply "well the person has to be missing for 24 hours before we would file a missing persons report sir" to your friend DC10Realman.
Under the previous system, the responsible person had to be given the Parent Unit number. Under this system there is no parent system as such and no clear number to ring where appropriate action can be taken.
Ringing 999 and reporting an accident is not appropriate unless one knows that an accident has really occurred and not appropriate just because the flight is delayed by 32 minutes and ATS units enroute refused to provide an updated eta to the responsible person.
Thanks for the replies - I think that the answer is for such operations the only answer is to use French, Dutch, Swiss, German or Austrian ATS facilities for operations in the UK.
How long before EASA fix this I wonder?
Regards,
DFC