My subscription just expired. How important is it to have access to the server for this program?

The server subscription gives you access to things such as Winds and Tracks.

If you're someone who depends on PFPX to pick your departure Runway and procedure, then I'd go ahead and say it's worth the server subscription, as if the program has no clue what the winds at the airport are like, it can't help you very much with an accurate and suitable departure Runway. This also applies to cruise winds, as it helps PFPX build a more accurate fuel burn figure, and is therefore moderately important.

 

Besides the WX applications, PFPX also uses the server subscription to update your Tracks on a daily basis, therefore if you're someone who uses PFPX to plan for NATS, PACOTS, AUSOTS, and other various tracks, you should probably have access to the server for the most up-to-date information.

As far as I know, if you are using a weather program that integrates with PFPX (such as Active Sky Next) you don't need the subscription for weather planning.

 

-Bryant

You don't need the server subscription for the tracks, either. You can manually paste the daily track messages from appropriate sources into the Track Messages window.

As far as I know, if you are using a weather program that integrates with PFPX (such as Active Sky Next) you don't need the subscription for weather planning.

 

-Bryant

 

You don't need the server subscription for the tracks, either. You can manually paste the daily track messages from appropriate sources into the Track Messages window.

That's correct as far as I know, its absolutely not necessary for sever subscription, although for the sake of convenience - the sever consolidates all this information (hence the subscription fee), you might want to consider it. 

 

Disclaimer: No affiliation to FlightSimSoft...

Yes, obviously you can do it all manually, however, it negates the point of having PFPX in the first place. I bought it so I could have an easy-to-use, comprehensive, and automatic flight planner, so I don't have to spend a few hours trying to find the optimal route (and this can be a problem when flying in lesser covered areas such as Asia). That's why I advocate having the server subscription. 

Yes, obviously you can do it all manually, however, it negates the point of having PFPX in the first place. I bought it so I could have an easy-to-use, comprehensive, and automatic flight planner, so I don't have to spend a few hours trying to find the optimal route (and this can be a problem when flying in lesser covered areas such as Asia). That's why I advocate having the server subscription. 

 

I fail to understand how spending 30 secs to go to https://www.notams.faa.gov/common/nat.html and copy the text into the Track Message window "... negates the point of having PFPX in the first place"? ASN already gives me the weather.

 

 

I fail to understand how spending 30 secs to go to https://www.notams.f...common/nat.html and copy the text into the Track Message window "... negates the point of having PFPX in the first place"? ASN already gives me the weather.

 

That's one facet.

ASN does not factor into the planning of PFPX as far as I know. Yes, you can get a separate printout from ASN, but it doesn't affect how PFPX plans for winds aloft, nor departure/arrival RWs + SIDS/STARS.

Besides, let me clear this up for you by reiterating things, but bolding key points:

 

I bought it so I could have an easy-to-use, comprehensive, and automatic flight planner

 

I'm lazy. I don't want to add another step to my flight planning. I don't want to have to refer to a website. I want it all automatically, in one program. I input, it outputs. Simple. I like that.  ^_^ 


 

If you are a user of live weather, PFPX will grab that form their servers, which beforehand grabbed it from free online sources.

 

Once you are using a weather addon, you are bound to hoping that the weather (+timestamp) your addon uses matches the one from PFPX. Otherwise your sim will use different weather than your planning program, although the offset might not be big unless the weather addon exceeds the data coverage PFPX has available and/or is using interpolation, which PFPX will not be able to match or take into account by design.

 

The case on PFPX' weather source and 'live' limitation becomes very relevant when you are using historical weather (because you want to fly in daylight, or in the summer instead of winter and so on). Then the data won't match the one in the sim and your planning incorporates a significant offset depending on the time you've picked to fly.

 

PFPX solves this by reading the mostly used weather addons' data, so the planning will now be completely independent from any PFPX servers and totally bound to the quality of the addon data. This cures all offset issues, even for that interpolation case explained. There's no reduction in planning capability when using this method, as opposed to Aamir's statement.

 

As others mentioned, if you get your tracks from a simple copy&paste action from the official and free sites and just point PFPX to your weather addon's folder, you not only avoid mentioned offset/data quality issue, you also save some money. No subscription needed.

 

In all fairness, PFPX also catches the latest NOTAMs. If you feel like you need them for your sim flying ("London area computer error" ^_^ ) and don't want to use the official (and free) websites, that's a point when it comes to convenience.

 

tl;dr: No additional data via the subscription when compared to the free official sites. Possible offset when using PFPX weather servers, especially in historical weather situations. Full planning capability ensured with just pointing PFPX to lets say ASN/REX/FSGRW.

 

And.. please print to pdf. Saves you a lot of paper if your are going for the NOTAMs and things. :smile:

Since PFPX was released about a year ago, I think alot of people are going to be running out on their subscription services now. Mine ran out recently too. As it stands, I will not even think about renewing until the IFR ATC bug (http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/86461-pfpx-fsx-ifr-issue/) has been fully resolved. Aerosoft has acknowledged the bug but hasn't even mentioned a release date for a fix. If customers are expected to pay money on a predictable time-table, I expect the same clockwork dependability from their development and support staff to fix bugs introduced by major updates (never mind the lack of beta testing that allowed the bug to be introduced in the first place). 

Thanks everyone for your input. I'll give it a try for a little while without the subscription to see if it is enough. I have ASN and FSGWX so I'm covered there.