Hi all,



First of all, I just wanted to say how impressed I am with SkyDemon. It looks as though it will save a huge amount of time logging into various websites to check weather, NOTAMs and file flight plans, and will also make things like PLOGs, weight and balance and fuel planning much easier and less error-prone.



I hope this isn't too much of an insulting question, but I was wondering how tested and reliable the electronic flight plan filing feature is? I have visions of getting airborne only to find my flight plan is 'not in the system'.



Is there some sort of confirmation from SkyDemon that the flight plan has been successfully filed, and does confirmation mean that the plan is guaranteed to be filed? I suppose I could add my own AFPEx AFTN address to the 'additional addresses' field in SkyDemon to check that I receive it myself?



I presume you've tested this hundreds of times and I've not seen any reports of issues with it on the forums but would appreciate the peace of mind before I begin to rely on SkyDemon to file my flight plans.



Thanks again for a fantastic product.



Cheers



Sam

I'm sure Tim will be along shortly to answer your question, but speaking as a user, I've so far placed 3 flight plans using the new SkyDemon functionality and cancelled one.

You get an email for both new flight plans and for cancellations confirming that the plan has been placed and telling you the flight details that have been passed on.

In each case that I've used it, all relevant authorities have received the flight plan. It's a real thumbs up from me for this new functionality, what a time saving.

Maybe GAR will be next? (pretty please)

I'm getting an error message this morning when I click the "addressing" button:

"Flightplan functionality is currently not available due to a communications failure between our system and the AFTN"

Is this likely to be fixed soon?

I got that yesterday, but after 5 mins I tried again and it went straight through.

You can verify a SkyDemon-filed plan has gone through by adding your own AFPEx address to the recipients list, or even by calling the tower just to make sure they've received it. I don't blame anyone for being hesitant before trusting a new tool to do their filing.

The error message mentioned above usually appears when an invalid character (such as an ampersand) is present in a plan. We're working on improving the message in that case because it really doesn't mean what it says at the moment.

Removed the Ampersand (A/C colour was "Maroon & White" - changing to "Maroon AND White" solved it...)

Thanks all for the helpful replies. I'm going to give the flight plan filing a go tomorrow and see how I get on.



Cheers



Sam

By way of a brief update, the flight plan filing worked perfectly. Sadly the flight itself didn't go ahead due to weather - looking forward to giving it another go soon.

Snap!  Same for me!!

We were going to fly south this weekend - to Baden Baden and back via Spa in Belgium - which would have necessitated lots of flight plans for various border crossings... but wx looks dodgy for return on Sunday, so we're heading north instead - and no flight plan required for Scotland (yet!)

Finally succeeded in getting to Le Touquet yesterday. The SkyDemon flight plans worked beautifully for both legs.



I can't tell you how much easier SkyDemon has made the flight planning process. Sitting in the lounge at Le Touquet and checking weather, NOTAMs and filing a flight plan via a netbook, free wifi and SkyDemon is such a huge improvement over the reams of paper and whizz wheels etc that this process used to require.



Once again, thanks for a great product.



Cheers



Sam