Yesterday it was sometimes (but not always) taking up to 5 hours for the acknowledgement to come through from Atlas, so don't file for 2 hours hence and expect to get away. Also the Atlas phone number was engaged for long periods so if you haven't received your approval by your ETD you might not get through to ask about it.
One problem we've identified is air tests. What if you get airborne to test something, get 3 or 4 miles away on your planned and approved route, then find you need to land again to make an adjustment; you'll need to get airborne again asap to check if the adjustment works but you can't as you'll have to re-file and wait for approval again.
Last edited by chevvron; 14th Jul 2012 at 11:21.