SkyDemon has a function to close flight plans and I find that very useful.
Activation is done, if the departure Tower aren’t able for some reason (or not present at all), over the RT with the first en-route frequency. I think I have actually, in the past, activated with London Info on box 2 before leaving French airspace.
I have never trusted the French onward distribution system for flight plans. Too many times calling for taxi and being told “I do not ’ave your flight plan”, so I always manually add departure and destination ZTZX addresses. If they don’t get it having done that then either the AFTN is down or they have a local problem at the airport.
Jujupilote wrote:
Does any app allows to activate FPLs ? Like some offer a ‘close’ button
Fore Flight seemed to be able to do amend/activate/close FPLs filed on the app, comes handy in some places
Does any app allows to activate FPLs
I think the autorouter telegram interface might, but only for a flight plan which was filed with it. I don’t use it for VFR flight plans; back when I was a tester there was a hack to do VFR (authorised users only; the view was that VFR users generate a high % of problem reports) and I can’t remember how you do it. Anyway I prefer to use a variety of tools, for redundancy 
One can send a DEP message with AFPEX. That is a client side java app and it needs a laptop. That would be a last resort.
Wow, it is far worse than I thought if TWR cannot open a FPL that was sent to them, neither Lille FIS.
Le Touquet would try to call somebody to do it, if they could.
I don’t have a clue 
Does any app allows to activate FPLs ? Like some offer a ‘close’ button.
The notam about the strike says that all big airports operate as normal. So CAT is probably not harmed.
Peter_G wrote:
much easier to get out of the congested South East that way without “being sent to the sun to get around the moon”.
I guess Peter is already in the “sea” (Shoreham ) and follows “no VFR” policy over “land”
Peter wrote:
You would have had to “depart VFR”
Most of my ‘IFR’ flights are ‘Z’ ones, especially in the South of England, since I find it usually so much easier to get out of the congested South East that way without “being sent to the sun to get around the moon”.
EuroFPL follows the French AIP, which is to only send the FPL to the adequate (geographically) BRIA.
I checked the FP confirmation. Original addressees:
EGKAZTZX EGZYVFRT LFATZTZX LFFFZFZX LFYNZPZX LFQQZTZX
All flight plans go to departure, destination, alternate, AFAIK, as well as the (AIP specified) other addresses.
Of course LFAT tower are pragmatic and do everything with a smile
If one was flying IFR, I presume that one cannot enter Controlled Airspace without one being activated. Whether yesterday that would have allowed a ‘Pop Up’ IFR flight plan, I do not know.
Yes indeed; I don’t think you could have departed France on a Eurocontrol IFR FP to say the UK. You would have had to “depart VFR” and once in UK airspace called up London Info and get them to do the handover to London Control, but no CAS until you got that. I wonder how the airlines dealt with it. You can’t really do “pop up” IFR in the UK (Class A) but OTOH the UK would have got a copy of the FP ok.
Peter wrote:
The tower could not open the flight plan; they didn’t even have it.
I was at Calais yesterday, at the same time, and Lille could not open my return VFR Flight Plan also.
As I was flying back to Lydd, I called them early and got them to activate it.
As to ‘legality’: I presume that on a VFR flight one needs a Flight Plan to ‘legally’ cross the FIR. Hence the need to ‘activate’ it before crossing i.e. either with Lydd (in my case) or London Information.
If one was flying IFR, I presume that one cannot enter Controlled Airspace without one being activated. Whether yesterday that would have allowed a ‘Pop Up’ IFR flight plan, I do not know.
Filing with an app with the addresses on ZxZX would be a great idea during a strike. You avoid the BRIA strike with this strategy.
Thanks chflyer.
EuroFPL follows the French AIP, which is to only send the FPL to the adequate (geographically) BRIA.
The FP would have been addressed to LFATZTZX for sure, since that is its departure or destination. But still they told me they didn’t have it. So it looks like the AFTN in France got shut down, or some part of it.
I filed it with EuroFPL which I use for
To file a FP used previously is really fast; under a minute. It is a bit painful to use on a phone, however, but most things are
My Plan B would be AFPEX but that takes the idea of pain to a higher level
