Hoppie’s ACARS

About

ACARS is a real-world digital datalink system used to transmit short messages between aircraft and ground stations via airband radio or satellite. It is effectively texting while in the air! In flight sim we simulate this using Hoppie’s ACARS, produced by ‘Jeroen “Hoppie” Hoppenbrouwers’. His website is available here.

While it is not a completely faithful recreation of how ACARS works in real life, it is good enough for flight simulation and is used on both VATSIM and IVAO.

How to use

In order to use Hoppie’s ACARS, you must have either an aircraft with built in Hoppie functionality (e.g. iniBuilds A350, Fenix A320, Tollis Airbus range) or a an ACARS client (found here on the Hoppie website). You must also have a Hoppie logon code. This can be acquired from here. It is important to keep your Hoppie logon code private.

Once you have got a Hoppie logon code, it must be copied and pasted into either your client or the appropriate place in your aircraft. Note: Hoppie logon codes are case sensitive. Tutorials for individual products can be found here:

• iniBuilds A350

Changing network affiliation

By default, your Hoppie network affiliation is VATSIM. This is important in case two controllers on different networks are both trying to staff the same airport position and use the Hoppie Network. Your request will be sent to the network you are affiliated with. If you wish to use a different network you must change your network affiliation.

In order to change your network affiliation you must visit the account management page. You will need both your Hoppie logon code and the email address you used to get the logon code.

Troubleshooting

If you are not recieving Hoppie messages in your aircraft or client, the first step is to ensure that your Hoppie code has been inserted correctly. The best way to do this is just to copy and paste directly from the email with the logon code.

Failing this it is important to see whether the messages are being sent to the Hoppie ACARS network. You can do this from the Hoppie’s ACARS message log. Look for your callsign and see whether you can see any messages being sent.

If you can see the messages being sent, contact the developer of your aircraft or client. If you cannot, visit the Hoppie web page for support.