NavCanada has decided that the Pilot Information Kiosks in various airports across Canada will be decommissioned by the end of August of this year.
The main reason? Lack of use.
PIK were introduced in the early 2000s when the availability of the Internet, cell phone, and other mobile technologies were limited. Due to the emergence of this technology NAV CANADA has seen dramatic decreases in the use of PIK, to a point where further investment is no longer practical.
Not surprising that they are getting rid of them given the reasons stated above. The eventual replacement? The new Collaborative Flight Planning System (CFPS). This new system is both web and mobile based and allows users to do pre-flight briefing (weather, notams, etc..) online. This is the “major upgrade” needed to the Aviation Weather Web Site (AWWS).
You can access “version 1” of the CFPS at plan.navcanada.ca. Right now you can only file your flight plans, briefing functionality will be added in the future.
For more information, see AIC 41/12.
I never even saw a PIK, and I’ve been licensed and reasonably consistent flying private FVR since.
I am surprised how far behind NAV CANADA is as far as digital products. No digital VNC charts, and no co-operation with apps like ForeFlight for digital flight planning… yet.
I sent a frustrated tweet to NAV CANADA about that and surprisingly got a reply that full support is coming soon… interesting.
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