ACARS - CPDLC

[Lee Sacharin]

Has anyone been requested or inquired about the use of ACARS CPDLC via (another) 3rd party client during the enroute phase of US operations?  I was asked by a few separate pilots if I was CPDLC capable and utilizing that service.  I have found the client that was referred to for review.  I don't know if it is acceptable (or restricted) since it is not listed in Vatsim's policies for approved clients. 

I am not promoting for them, just inquiring with the brain-trust on here.  This is the link to their homepage.

 http://www.hoppie.nl/acars/prg/atc/

[Rick Rump]

As Hoppie does not utilize the network, it is not restricted. Given the FSL Airbus’ increased usage of it, I think it’s warranted to look into it for everyone (but it can be a bit of juggling between it and the controller client). But you are under no obligation to provide service with it.

[Robert Shearman Jr]

The flip-side of that is, since it operates outside of the VATSIM network, it's hit-or-miss to find a controller that uses it.  I think you'll find growing awareness of it, though - - go to forums.vatsim.net and use the search function on the word "Hoppie" and you'll find quite a bit of discussion, including some posts from today.  Apparently one aircraft developer released an update which includes native CPDLC integration, and there's hope from some that it's the first domino to fall in the chain of gaining more mainstream VATSIM use and support for it.

[Sean Harrison]

Great for Oceanic environment.

[Lee Sacharin]

Obviously it adds an element to oceanic ops that can provide another level to the experience on the flight deck and controller side.  For domestic operations....I can understand what RR eluded to regarding juggling another client in ones background that is not functional directly with Vatsim.  Very difficult (for me..) to determine who has the on-board capability and is using it.  With rapid changes in domestic en-route operations, particularly near airspace boundaries, I think voice service is the only way to go.  After all, how many people have advocated the elimination of 'text pilot' with the newest system capabilities?  Perhaps a more robust domestic CPDLC product, integrated within common/approved clients, could be somewhere in Vatsims distant future and serve as the text replacement.

[Matt Bromback]

How are facilities handling ATC codes for now? In the RW its one logon for the entire country, KUSA. However for VATSIM purposes are we doing same thing?

[Brad Littlejohn]

Obviously it adds an element to oceanic ops that can provide another level to the experience on the flight deck and controller side.  For domestic operations....I can understand what RR eluded to regarding juggling another client in ones background that is not functional directly with Vatsim.  Very difficult (for me..) to determine who has the on-board capability and is using it.  With rapid changes in domestic en-route operations, particularly near airspace boundaries, I think voice service is the only way to go.  After all, how many people have advocated the elimination of 'text pilot' with the newest system capabilities?  Perhaps a more robust domestic CPDLC product, integrated within common/approved clients, could be somewhere in Vatsims distant future and serve as the text replacement.

I can definitely see pros and cons to this, and a huge pro being what is in bold.

However, the biggest con I also see in the use of CPDLC, and this even extends to RW ops, is the decreased use of the DEL position. With clearances now being given via CPDLC, it has all but made the DEL position obsolete, as less and less comms are being handled at that level, unless something is happening with that aircraft's access to CPDLC, or if the pilot has a question.

As currently it is optional here, we'll see not as much reliance on it as in the real world, but would we start to see that much less reliability on DEL should CPDLC be used more? and would we have need to have someone dedicated to handling all of the clearances with it, say during an event?

BL.

[Karl Mathias Moberg]

The hoppie network has been in use for close to two decades now by a very small amount of controllers and pilots, but even so, it's become much more popular in the last few years. Euroscope has plugins for automatically sending and receiving CPDLC messages inside the radar client, so you do not have to use the horrible controller client.

Unfortunately, since most of us use VRC/vSTARS/vERAM do not support plugins, so unless Ross decides he wants to refresh both VRC and vERAM (possibly vSTARS, but then again, CPDLC is not used in terminal environments...) I don't see that support happening anytime soon.