BACARS - PDC/Oceanic Clearances on VATSIM

[ScudRunner]

Hi everyone,

I am keen to understand if/how others utilise the PDC/Oceanic clearance functions within BACARS on VATSIM. For example on the recent Cross the Pond event was anyone able to obtain clearances from controllers using these functions or does it remain in the VATSIM to-do list to accommodate this kind of functionality.

I realise historically there have been some methods (eg Hoppies ACARS client) to do this - but specifically can BACARS be utilised for this now? 

Many thanks
Scud

[Toga]

As far as I know BACARS still utilises Hoppie's acars network so you need a login code, other than that BACARS is all you need.

[ScudRunner]

Thanks for the response TOGA,

I do have BACARS successfully connected to Hoppies' ACARS server  -  to clarify my question is whether anyone is actually able to use the system on VATSIM to obtain clearances.  I believe the Simfest crews (and others) might utilise it during WorldFlight but I suspect that is because the controllers are specifically set up for it. I saw nothing about it on the recent Cross the Pond event where the traffic loads were so high that ACARS would have been ideal for communicating clearances etc in lieu of voice.

Web searches reveal a lot of (mainly years old) articles about ACARS on VATSIM - I did not readily find anything that shows ACARS is actually being used on the VATSIM network currently and wanted to know if this has been others' experience. My experience has been that controllers use private messages to communicate when the voice frequencies get overloaded.

chrs
SCUD

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

As far as I know, there is no 'official' use of ACARS (any ACARS) on VATSIM. But specific FIRs may have a semi-official policy that their controllers use some kind of ACARS/CPDLC/PDC at their discretion.

There is also non-CPDLC PDC, which is semi-used, mostly by Worldflight.
http://www.hoppie.nl/wf/pdc.php
For these clearances, all work except the initial setup is automated. So there is zero controller interaction required. You basically pull a ticket out of the machine when you request the clearance. WF controllers loved it  :-)

For practical reasons, the ATC interface has one single 'account' so this wasn't made for more than WF. But I can easily add accounts, or plug in the existing ACARS account system.


Hoppie

[ScudRunner]

thanks Hoppie,

that explanation concurs with my experiences on Vatsim to date. It is a pity they have not moved ahead with utilising this. Possibly the (in)frequent major events and associated traffic loads do not warrant the investment in time and training to incorporate ACARS into common usage.

chrs

[Gary Oliver]

Scud,

BACARS sends a oceanic clearance request as a normal TELEX message to the controller.

The PDC clearence sends in a Telex in a format accepted by certain controller client plugins, so should work as either a normal message or a client plugin.

We are also planning on a vpilot plugin to pull any private PDC messages and send them to BACARS as and ACARS message.

This should cover the 3 different ways VATSIM controllers use Hoppies network and PDC clearences.

<Insert comment about VATSIM politics here>

Cheers
G

[ScudRunner]

chrs Gary,

I think I follow - can't recall the last time that a controller offered PDC via text other than some Cross the Pond airfields or Worldflight but will give it a go next time I try one of those events.

Noted ref Vatsim politics - I think that is the likely stumbling block for widespread adoption. 

In any case thanks for the responses folks.

Scud.