how’s about making that an MS-DOS device?
No; that would be too easy, because anything that can run windoze can have DOS 6.22 installed. You just need a USB-attached 3.5" disk drive. Also the HD has to be a FAT16 partition… hmmm actually you may have a point there! 
Would the CAA create a logon for me, as a foreigner, too?
You need to supply a UK address.
You do not need to have any UK CAA licenses. A lot of people think you do but I don’t think so, and it has been (for many years; not any more I believe, unless there has been a recent change) 100% legal to operate a G-reg, worldwide, on any ICAO PPL.
Where you are in the world when you actually use it, doesn’t matter at all and I know of people who have used it on the opposite side of the globe. It’s a powerful app, which “just works” (well, once you get your head around the requirements – e.g. I do this which simplifies it because most people think they need to run it via a web browser) and is reliable because there is nothing in the way. I find EuroFPL reliable but have had two occasions when it simply failed and that was it, and when it happened it was extremely inconvenient.
AFPEX goes direct to the AFTN, via an interface used by every UK airport 24/7 (the small ones have AFPEX whose login is modified to never log itself out; the big ones use other stuff like Copperchase) so if it falls over an awful lot of big people will be making an awful lot of noise in real time…
One can run AFPEX on an Ipad over Remote Desktop – examples – but you need (a) a good internet connection and (b) enjoy punishment. But then anybody running IOS for anything serious enjoys punishment so that’s OK Actually it is pretty usable that way, subject to the tacky mapping between the touch screen and the AFPEX pulldown menus etc, but obviously configuring the practically-necessary VPN (or one of the other methods of remote access) is not completely trivial.
I use it for all my European flight planning (VFR). It’s the only reason I carry a laptop nowadays. I’ve also used it remote desktop from iPad, but that’s not ideal.
The thing I like about Afpex (there’s plenty to dislike) is the fantastic helpline service who take your queries very seriously. So next time a foreign AIS complain about your not having copied x or y (or not at all if you live dangerously and file ‘DOF’) you can refer to the Afpex helpline and get them to share the blame. Several times I’ve boldly approached an international border while ATC scrabble about trying to find my FPL knowing that I have the power of Afpex behind me!
NAIPS is the Australian equivalent to Afpex….and if I recall does not require the huge download every time you log on…which makes it a bit friendlier when you are paying by the Mb when roaming….however they do make a point of asking that you only use it in Australia or for Australian operations…not sure why…it is just an AFTN messaging service
does not require the huge download every time you log on
The way to – in my experience virtually – guarantee to avoid that 3MB download is to start up the AFPEX terminal back home, before the trip, at which point it will download the 3MB app if it feels like it, and then use hibernation for the laptop, instead of a shutdown.
Obviously hibernation has the drawback that the machine gets less and less stable every time it is brought out of it, and some hardware features like bluetooth don’t work properly when the machine wakes up. Maybe “standby” would work equally; I never tried it because it draws a lot of power.
Another way is a mod to the java loader whose standard source is shown below
which somebody did once, but later it stopped working. It was something that disabled the app version checking.
I still use AfPex from time to time – what a user-unfriendly faff it is too! However, some of my habitual routes are plumbed into the system, so quite easy just to change the date and time.
I run it on a Mac via safari, as it won’t run on Google Chrome.
FWIW, the French were horrified when it was released, as the idea of pilots having direct access to the flight-planning system was an anathema to them. Also, there were glitches in the VRR addressing of early version, whereby copies of of a Pilot’s f/p to go from Lydd to Calais got copied to every BRIA in France, thus swamping the system. To this day, the French don’t like AfPex and Afpex tend to bounce flight-plans filed via Olivia. Recently, I got a call from some complete arse at the “AfPex help=desk” complaining about the way that my flight-plan had been filed via Olivia. and suggested that it was some sort of tin-pot outfit. He claimed not to have heard of either Olivia or the DGAC and, when asked why, he replied “because I’m not French”. I would have filed an MOR if I had been able to work out who to send it to.
I run it on a Mac via safari, as it won’t run on Google Chrome.
The browser should not be anything to do with it. You don’t need a browser at all. That is just the way the product has been presented to the public. You just need a computer that can run a Java app i.e. you need to have Java installed. See my earlier post about running Afpex without a browser.
the French don’t like AfPex and Afpex tend to bounce flight-plans filed via Olivia.
I wonder what is happening there. Afpex (as in the NATS server which gets the AFTN messages addressed to it) should not bounce anything. If it gets a FPL message from somewhere, that should be forwarded to the addressed recipients, plus a copy to the FIS, plus a copy to the “secret national security database” as always. What did they tell you?
NATS operates the message switch. What we know as “Afpex” is just that office with some people sitting in there, which has a 24/7 “helpdesk” for people who have problems, and they also accept faxed flight plans because so many people in the UK can’t get the AFTN access (they don’t like to advertise that facility because they have to type the whole thing in afterwards). Also they run the database which holds your past flight plans etc but that is completely separate from anything you do in the Olivia database, the EuroFPL database, etc. None of these databases talk to each other.
Does anybody know how to get direct AFTN access if you can not provide an address in UK? And are there any experiences passing oceanic position reports via AFTN. I read the airlines do much of their reporting that way.
Digging up an old thread…
A non-UK colleague recently departed from a small UK airfield. The guy there told him, in vague terms, they can’t do anything for him in terms of provisional clearance or opening a flight plan because CAA/NATS charge too much. I’ve been trying to find out what this charge is. A Q posted in the usual UK places on FB produced a beating-up from a well known ex NATS ATCO / former CAA infringements guy, and some others with an axe to grind so wasn’t particularly productive. The problem is that FB attracts all these types…
More digging suggests that the claimed cost is probably the NATS charge for the “business” AFPEX account which seems to be £500/year or £2000/year local copy.
I remember this happening because it caught up private pilots too if they had their Afpex account in the name of a company – as many do have Probably all of those just dumped it, because there are much better ways to file a flight plan, but airports didn’t have this option.
This £500 or £2000 is the cost to the airfield of being able to send a DEP message, for example. Quite understandably, a small airfield isn’t going to want to pay this, when the pilot can do it by calling up London Info when airborne… the resulting delay (up to 30 mins IME) and the hassle of having to hack around UK OCAS, are not the airfield’s problem!
I can’t find a charge for the ability to phone up London Control for the provisional departure clearance, but it is possible that this can’t be done if the DEP message has not been filed i.e. London Control may not want to do it, or may not even see the FP if no DEP message has been generated previously. That, in turn, would mean that an airfield without an AFTN connection cannot practically obtain the provisional departure clearance from London Control. The counter argument to this is the existence of a London Control phone number (+442380401110 / 1100) which you can call to obtain this provisional departure clearance…
Perhaps someone here knows.
Further input, off-forum, suggests the above is exactly what happens. Airfields don’t want to pay the £2k.
Does anyone still use AFPEX?
I keep it as a backup means of sending AFTN messages but have just found that the URL https://flightplanningonline.co.uk/index.html no longer works. It just takes you to a NATS website which attempts to download a center.cadas file, which one can’t do anything with.
