The function of the AFPEx helpdesk

[IO540]

For IFR flight plans I use a combination of EuroFPL (http://www.eurofpl.eu/) and the UK NATS AFPEx facility.

This morning I filed a flight plan using AFPEx. The reason was that there was a reasonable expectation of the departure being delayed but I would not have internet access at the relevant time, and AFPEx have the telephone helpdesk.

Sure enough it needed delaying so I phoned the helpdesk, which on past occassions was always totally helpful with these kinds of things.

This time I got a very "short" individual who told me in no uncertain terms that delaying flight plans is the job of the airport and that if I had a phone to call them with, I could equally call the airport..

He then promptly disconnected the call so I did not have enough time to explain that this may not be possible for various reasons, e.g. no English speaking personnel available, no published (or working) phone numbers, no 3G and the seemingly random 3MB Java app download (which incidentally I got hit with last night; luckily still in the hotel, on ADSL, and it still took about 20 mins to download) takes over half an hour on GPRS, etc.

To ensure this was not just one individual who fell off the wrong side of his bed, I phoned again 10 mins later and got someone else who was a lot better but confirmed it had been the Manager I spoke to earlier, and yes the helpdesk function is limited to internet issues and maybe helping somebody in the middle of a farm strip.

Having always spoken highly of AFPEx, this was news to me and it highlights the need for getting one's flight plan arrangements to be well sorted, with a laptop with mobile internet on it to be always available, and have at least one other flight plan filing/managing service apart from AFPEx but one which you may have to pay for. I believe EuroFPL will soon have SMS facilities for doing this stuff, which is really the most general-purpose way. I can't recommend Homebriefing.com anymore since they bloated-up their website and their helpdesk has been a bit "random" too.

It will probably suit NATS down to the ground to have people paying for 3rd party solutions, while NATS have nominally discharged their ICAO obligations with AFPEx, having done the admittedly businesswise-obvious thing of shutting the FBUs.

In the end I got the mandatory-handling handling agent to delay the flight plan, which it subsequently turned out he failed to do, presumably because he could not speak English and just said Yes Yes Yes. Fortunately ATC had not binned the flight plan (as would normally happen after an hour or more's delay) and were able to re-file it.

[Contacttower]

This does beg the question why can't Swanwick be a bit more helpful?

I didn't know how to use the AFPEx system (because most airports in the UK I believe use it on behalf of the pilot) until one day when I was at an airfield that had a terminal but no one there seemed to know how to use it. :ugh: After finally finding an instructor who could help me the computer froze for ages. As it happened it didn't matter that I was delayed but it was really frustrating to have to try and use it (Not the fault of the system itself I might add which I believe generally works well). I rang Swanwick and all they said was that the airfield should do it for me and that he wasn't allowed to process flight plans for airfields that were on the system...

I just don't understand why this is...as far as I know the help desk is at Swanwick itself, surely they should be able to help people out in situations like this when equipment is not working or internet is not available. Could anyone who knows the system better shed any light on this?

[Talkdownman]

An aircraft engineering company for which I do some work has, for many years, assisted pilots by offering them use of its fax to submit flight plans. Until afpex was introduced these were faxed to Heathrow FBU who were extremely helpful both in processing flight plans and resolving any difficulties. When Swanwick took over the task from Heathrow FBU the FPLs were faxed to the new number. One day the company received a most irate telephone call from a gentleman supervisor at the 'Help Desk' informing us in no uncertain terms that we may not fax FPLs because we 'have an afpex account' and must use that. This was news to us so we asked how FPLs should be submitted. We were rudely informed that they should be input directly to afpex. On investigation it transpired that when BT withdrew the Telex facility we were connected to afpex to enable continued receipt of incoming FPLs. This afpex connection cannot be conveniently switched to enable submission of FPLs. nats have been most unhelpful so we are no further forward. When the aircraft are collected the pilots are forced to seek alternative methods of filing eg. via expensive agencies. Maybe it is just one individual at the 'Help Desk' but such rude unhelpfulness is simply poor customer service from nats and reflects badly upon them.

[Molesworth 1]

I have on two occasions asked them to close my flight plan which they were quite happy to do.

They wouldn't accept a delay or change, however. That I had to do via the Afpex app.

Maybe they should give some thought to the practicalities of this. Filing through AfPex sitting in front of my computer is a doddle. Making changes on the flying clubs wind up computer a bit more difficult (more than a bit actually). What you are supposed to do at a foreign airfield I really don't know. Last time I filed the return flight before leaving the UK and thankfully it didn't need to be changed.

I suppose they feel that if they allow everyone just to phone in there will be no point in having the software and they will not be able to justify the money they spent developing it (although the website says it's a "off the shelf package" which they have adapted. Sure - they bought it at Tesco. :cool:)

[Contacttower]

I have on two occasions asked them to close my flight plan which they were quite happy to do.

Yes that is my experience as well, which is great, but in some ways just adds to my frustration since if they can easily close a flight plan it surely isn't a problem for them to amend it. :ugh:

[S-Works]

I wrote an article on this nearly two years ago for the LAA magazine saying this was coming(incidentally told I was wrong at the time by some despite the mag checking the facts.....). It has always been stated that the helpdesk would do what the old unit did as an interim measure but long term they would be an application support unit. So this is no surprise.

[IO540]

I can't really fault AFPEx if you are sitting in front of a PC on ADSL, or you are travelling with a laptop and have a 3G connection. I like the simplicity and immediacy of filling in the flight plan form and getting an ACK (or a REJ) within seconds. Anybody who can use a website or a bit of software on a PC can use it (if shown how).

In all other situations the system can screw you.

The need for a fast connection is not because it needs one for normal operation - it is caused by the server occassionally insisting on downloading the whole application, and this event is totally unpredictable. I normally work around it by not closing the application and using Hibernation to shut down the laptop, but sometimes a reboot is required due to something else (e.g. installing or removing some software) and then you better be on a good connection to reload the application.

A lot of the time, the need to delay a flight plan becomes apparent while one is e.g. driving, or on a train, etc.

I think a long term solution to all this will be an SMS service because that is the only cost effective means of doing this H24, and it will come, but not from AFPEx who bought an off the shelf program (from Comsoft in Germany) and have to pay dearly for any changes to it. And since some 99% of GA doesn't pay....

AFPEx did delay flight plans for me in the past, and they also did stuff like retrieving and re-filing a flight plan which I filed with the wrong DOF. All done instantly and cheerfully. I suspect they have recently had some "staff cost accounting" issues and, given the heavily political nature of the system which is privatised but still mandated to deliver certain specified services, have probably decided to chop a few things off around the edges.

[S-Works]

What we need is a HTML only service that runs on any device.

[Fuji Abound]

They say they still accept faxed fpls - is this correct?

[Talkdownman]

They say they still accept faxed fpls - is this correct?

Not, apparently, if one has an afpex account.

nats will not accept faxed FPLs from our company because they claim that we have the facility to file via afpex when in fact we do not.

[Fuji Abound]

But with no account they suggest otherwise.

It just set me wondering if you are better of without an account sometimes.

Remote fax software will run on anything with almost no overheads. My old nokia even came with a fax driver.

[IO540]

Fax is not a good solution because then some person (costing 5 figures p.a.) has to read the fax and transcribe it into the AFTN.

I use fax all the time, for confirming PPR etc, using email2fax, but I don't think anybody these days is willingly going to support fax for flight plan filing.

[Fuji Abound]

Yes BUT they say on their web site if you don't have an account you can send a fax.

I was just trying to find you a possible solution.
;)

[IO540]

Yes, several.

Homebriefing (http://www.homebriefing.com) has been around for years. There is EuroFPL, mentioned above, and some others appear to be setting up.

Anybody with an AFTN terminal, even if located in Mongolia, can do this. The trick is making it commercially viable. If one was only filing flight plans, with no supporting service for stuff like delays, cancels, closures, etc, one could do it for next to nothing.

Homebriefing has been pretty good and I used it for about 5 years, but they let me down, apparently due to staffing issues, badly and at the worst possible time. This was an isolated incident, I am certain, but clearly there is no single solution to this; one needs two methods.

I have never seen actual downtime with AFPEx and for the "99%" UK PPL popping over to Le Touquet etc this works fine, and one files both flight plans from back at home.

[LH2]

What we need is a HTML only service that runs on any device.

That's about right, and therefore...

There is EuroFPL, mentioned above

If I may ask, not having any experience with AFPEx and only limited experience with EuroFPL, what does the former do that the latter doesn't that you would reasonably have a need for on your regular flying? i.e., not counting bells and whistles.

The idea of being able to amend flight plans over SMS is brilliant, btw. :ok:

I use fax all the time, for confirming PPR etc, using email2fax, but I don't think anybody these days is willingly going to support fax for flight plan filing.

South of the channel fax appears to be alive and kicking in aviation use.

As an aside, I don't really understand what's so wrong with fax that the "first world" has decided to obliterate it. Sure, there are more modern technologies, but the thing is cheap and reliable, simple to use and (eventually) works wherever there is a phone line of some description. It also has the advantage that signatures on faxed documents are legally recognised in most countries and the traditional use of a fax provides at least some measure of traceability and non-repudiation (via phone company records, if sent from POTS line to POTS line). While much better integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation can be achieved via PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) solutions and e-mail, I only know a handful of people who know how to use the technology, and they're all geeks :ugh:

[IO540]

If I may ask, not having any experience with AFPEx and only limited experience with EuroFPL, what does the former do that the latter doesn't that youFor GA ops, nothing. EuroFPL now does the lot.

Well, with AFPEx you get your own AFTN address, and you can send or receive "free text" messages. I had hopes this would be good for stuff like PPR/PNR but after a year or so of fairly extensive testing I have decided that - except for the very rare suprise - it is useless for that purpose, presumably due to job demarcation at airports where the man who gets the AFTN message refuses to pass it to the operations dept (for PPR) or to Customs (for Customs PNR) etc because this is 1970 British Leyland and it is not his job. The only situation where I found free text messages to work reliably was when sending to a small (basically one-office) operation like my home airfield where I know the message will be read immediately. But for bigger places it's a waste of time.

The idea of being able to amend flight plans over SMS is brilliantIt is, and I was testing EuroFPL (http://www.eurofpl.eu)'s facility yesterday. It really does work. Absolutely brill. You can select SMS and/or email notifications.

The only thing which caught me was that the SMS manipulation works only within the last 24hrs of the EOBT, so if you file say 4 days ahead, you can't change it using SMS. But then you are very unlikely to need to do that via SMS.

EuroFPL will be charging $10/month or $100/year. It's a good package, where the average UK PPL will spend maybe $30 a year, flying abroad in the summer.

EuroFPL is free for flight plan filing (and you get email notification of FPL messages in that, which can be picked up with any half decent phone these days) but you need the paid subscription to get the SMS feature (obviously; SMS transmission has to be funded somehow).

I couldn't agree more about your comments on fax. It is far more reliable than email, whose usefulness has been trashed by spam, spam filters, and the inability of people and firms to maintain valid addresses over time.

Anyway, here is the EuroFPL SMS functionality:

Filing Messages via SMS
SMS features can be used with any EuroFPL Premier account. Each pilot
can set their individual contact preferences in the Pilot Registry
portion of the site. If PREFERRED CONTACT is set to SMS, then all
ACK/MAN/REJ, SLOT, and miscellaneous messages will be sent in an
abbreviated form to the SMS NUMBER mobile number provided. If
PREFERRED CONTACT is set to CUSTOM, a panel will appear that will
allow you to set SMS or EMAIL contact each message type. Mobile
numbers should be entered as the country code and phone number without
leading zeroes.

It should also be noted that in order for the system to detect
individual pilots and their settings for messages received, the
PILOT-IN-COMMAND line of the flight plan as filed must be unmodified
from the data populated in that field by the Load Pilot menu.[my emphasis - this one caught me out]

Flight Notifications via SMS
SMS features can be used with any EuroFPL Premier account. With a
flight plan filed, users can set up automatic flight notifications in
the Notifications section of the site. These users can input either an
email address or mobile number of personnel they want contacted at
departure (DEP), approach (APP) about 20 minutes from destination, and
upon arrival (ARR). Mobile numbers should be entered as the country
code and phone number without leading zeroes.

ARR, DLA, and CNL via SMS
Upon receiving an SMS-based ACK/MAN/REJ from EuroFPL, users can note
the number/short code the message arrives from and reply back to it
with "HELP" to access remote ARR, DLA, and CNL filing features. This
interface allows these functions for any same-day flight plan(s)
active in the account that the user's mobile number is attached to via
a Pilot Registry profile.

Example arrival...
ARCID ADEP1200 ARR ADES1315
ARCID - tail number/flight callsign
ADEP - departure aero
1200 - departure time
ARR - arrival command
ADES - arrival aero (if different from dest)
1315 - arrival time (current time set if omitted)

Example cancel...
ARCID ADEP1200 CNL
ARCID - tail number/flight callsign
ADEP - departure aero
1200 - departure time
CNL - cancel command

Example delay...
ARCID ADEP1200 DLA 1315
ARCID - tail number/flight callsign
ADEP - departure aero
1200 - departure time
DLA - delay command
1315 - delay to time

[heinke]

For those of you who have experienced problems with the Helpdesk, be assured it will be remedied. In trying to achieve the balance between what is 'mandated' to do and what 'could' be done for AFPEx is not always easy to balance against other responsibilities and demands. Further guidelines will be provided to the guys on the desk, (who I should add are not at fault in this situation and only follow instructions), with a view to providing you with the support required, taking into account the examples at the beginning of this thread.

Finally, please accept our apologies for any difficulties experienced.

[Talkdownman]

Do you mean that the gentleman has been 're-deployed'....?

[heinke]

With respect to that particular incident, we prefer the 're-education' approach as it generally is more effective.

Once again, please accept our apologies and it won't happen again.

[Dan Dare]

I have on two occasions asked them to close my flight plan which they were quite happy to do.


I would be interested to know how they would close your FPL. This is not done in the UK. Your FPL is pending (or inactive) until such a time as a DEP is sent. If you do not arrive by DEP + elapsed time + then ATSU (or your designated responsible person) should initiate alerting action if they notice. If no DEP is sent, no alerting action can be expected. This is quite worrying for IFR to VFR and IFR leaving CAS, which do not genereally have departure messages sent.

[openered]

Requests to close FPL's, or send ARR messages, are generally taken over the phone to the Helpdesk. Details are taken of the person requesting the messaging action. Requests to send ARR's when it is evident the aircraft isn't safely down on the ground are refused, politely. :)