diff --git a/src/Aircraft/replay.cxx b/src/Aircraft/replay.cxx
index d938122cc..0b3b36e45 100644
--- a/src/Aircraft/replay.cxx
+++ b/src/Aircraft/replay.cxx
@@ -1992,7 +1992,7 @@ void FGReplay::call_indexContinuousRecording(void* ref, const void* data, size_t
  * Actual data and signal configuration is not read when in "Preview" mode.
  */
 bool
-FGReplay::loadTape(const SGPath& Filename, bool Preview, SGPropertyNode& MetaMeta, simgear::HTTP::FileRequest* filerequest)
+FGReplay::loadTape(const SGPath& Filename, bool Preview, SGPropertyNode& MetaMeta, simgear::HTTP::FileRequestRef filerequest)
 {
     SG_LOG(SG_SYSTEMS, SG_DEBUG, "loading Preview=" << Preview << " Filename=" << Filename);
 
@@ -2026,14 +2026,16 @@ FGReplay::loadTape(const SGPath& Filename, bool Preview, SGPropertyNode& MetaMet
         m_num_frames_multiplayer = 0;
         m_continuous_indexing_in.open(Filename.str());
         m_continuous_indexing_pos = in.tellg();
-        SG_LOG(SG_SYSTEMS, SG_DEBUG, "filerequest=" << filerequest);
+        SG_LOG(SG_SYSTEMS, SG_DEBUG, "filerequest=" << filerequest.get());
 
         // Make an in-memory index of the recording.
         if (filerequest) {
-            // Always call indexContinuousRecording once in case there is
-            // nothing to download.
-            indexContinuousRecording(nullptr, 1 /*Zero means EOF. */);
-            filerequest->setCallback(call_indexContinuousRecording, this);
+            filerequest->setCallback(
+                    [this](const void* data, size_t numbytes)
+                    {
+                        indexContinuousRecording(data, numbytes);
+                    }
+                    );
         }
         else {
             indexContinuousRecording(nullptr, 0);
diff --git a/src/Aircraft/replay.hxx b/src/Aircraft/replay.hxx
index 8d307136f..fe7545057 100644
--- a/src/Aircraft/replay.hxx
+++ b/src/Aircraft/replay.hxx
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ public:
             const SGPath& Filename,
             bool Preview,
             SGPropertyNode& MetaMeta,
-            simgear::HTTP::FileRequest* filerequest=nullptr
+            simgear::HTTP::FileRequestRef filerequest=nullptr
             );
     
     // Attempts to load Continuous recording header properties into
diff --git a/src/Main/options.cxx b/src/Main/options.cxx
index 72fecd81a..ecd938bae 100644
--- a/src/Main/options.cxx
+++ b/src/Main/options.cxx
@@ -1595,7 +1595,7 @@ fgOptLoadTape(const char* arg)
     //
     struct DelayedTapeLoader : SGPropertyChangeListener {
     
-        DelayedTapeLoader( const char * tape, simgear::HTTP::FileRequest* filerequest) :
+        DelayedTapeLoader( const char * tape, simgear::HTTP::FileRequestRef filerequest) :
             _tape(SGPath::fromUtf8(tape)),
             _filerequest(filerequest)
         {
@@ -1627,11 +1627,11 @@ fgOptLoadTape(const char* arg)
         }
     private:
         SGPath _tape;
-        simgear::HTTP::FileRequest* _filerequest;
+        simgear::HTTP::FileRequestRef _filerequest;
     };
     
     SGPropertyNode_ptr properties(new SGPropertyNode);
-    simgear::HTTP::FileRequest* filerequest = nullptr;
+    simgear::HTTP::FileRequestRef filerequest;
     
     std::string path = urlToLocalPath(arg);
     if (path == "") {
@@ -1653,7 +1653,7 @@ fgOptLoadTape(const char* arg)
         const char* url = arg;
         FGHTTPClient* http = globals->add_new_subsystem<FGHTTPClient>();
         http->init();
-        filerequest = new simgear::HTTP::FileRequest(url, path, true /*append*/);
+        filerequest.reset(new simgear::HTTP::FileRequest(url, path, true /*append*/));
         long max_download_speed = fgGetLong("/sim/replay/download-max-bytes-per-sec");
         if (max_download_speed != 0) {
             // Can be useful to limite download speed for testing background