Add-on for Microsoft Flight Simulator also compatible with FS2004 & Prepar3D Professional Flight Planner Manual
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Software Development: Christian Grill, Judith Blaschegg Manual: Christian Grill Installation: Andreas Mügge Copyright: © 2013/ Aerosoft GmbH Flughafen Paderborn/Lippstadt D-33142 Büren, Germany Tel: +49 (0) 29 55 / 76 03-10 Fax: +49 (0) 29 55 / 76 03-33 E-Mail: Internet: info@aerosoft.de www.aerosoft.de www.aerosoft.com All trademarks and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
PFPX Professional Flight Planner X Manual Add-on for Microsoft Flight Simulator X FS2004 Prepar3D 3
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Content Introduction................................................................7 General ................................................................................. 7 System Requirements........................................................... 8 Support and Updates........................................................... 8 Installation............................................................................ 9 Product Activation.........................
Waypoint & Airway Editor.......................................... 38 Fuel policy editor........................................................ 39 Weather..................................................................... 41 Organized Track System............................................. 42 The PFPX Program Interface....................................44 Schedule Panel.................................................................... 44 Schedule.....................................................
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Flight Planning..........................................................72 General................................................................................ 72 The role of the flight dispatcher.................................. 73 Regulations......................................................................... 73 Which authority should you use for flight planning?... 74 Fuel policies.........................................................................
Introduction General The PFPX program is for use with flight simulation software only. It shall not be used in any connection with real-world flying. PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X - is a valuable and realistic addition to your flight simulation experiences. Given the inputs you provide for a flight, the pro-gram enables flight simulator pilots to create professional quality flight plans similar to those used by real-world airlines.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X This User Guide contains 3 main elements: • An Overview of PFPX program functions and workflows (Chapter II) • The PFPX program interface (Chapter III) • a description of the flight planning processes (Chapter IV) System Requirements • Microsoft® Windows® XP, Windows® Vista, Windows® 7, Windows® 8 • Pentium 4 Processor with 1 GB RAM or more • OpenGL 1.
Installation Before installing PFPX read the End User License Agreement (EULA) carefully. PFPX comes as a Microsoft® Windows® 32bit and 64bit executable installation package including an uninstall function. Execute the installer file and follow the instructions on the screen. Product Activation When starting PFPX for the first time a product activation is required to verify the validity of the licence key. An internet connection is recommended for product activation.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X PFPX Data Sources PFPX has several external data input feeds, apart from user input. These data feeds provide real time information required for accurate flight planning. Navigational Database PFPX comes with an initial, world-wide navigation data set containing airports, navaids, waypoints and airways. Navigational Databases are updated every 28 days to incorporate changes in navigational facilities. These updates are called Navdata Cycles.
PFPX Program Options Before using the program for your first time it is recommended to configure the program to meet your personal requirements. Click onto the PFPX globe icon to open the main menu and choose program options at the bottom of the drop-down. The program options window shows eight tabs. Press the Ok button validate the changes you made. To switch back to the program without saving your changes press the Cancel button.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X General The General tab informs you about basic user details (Dispatcher´s name, User ID, Contact details) which are printed onto the Operational Flight Plan. The User ID and Email/Phone/Contact details fields are optional and not evaluated by PFPX and not transmitted to the server. These fields can be left empty for privacy reasons. The next section shows information about the PFPX program version in use and the latest version available (requires internet connection).
Configure your default fuel policy used for domestic, international and long range flights and set the default Taxi-out/Taxi-in and default Circuit out/Circuit in distances (refer to page 72 - Flight Planning). A default Hold Time value at the destination and the alternate can be set to cater for expected arrival delays. These settings will be used as default when planning a new flight.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Weights The Weights tab shows the standard weights of passenger for different types of flight: Scheduled, Non-Scheduled, General Aviation, Military and Other. Enter standard weights of baggage for different type of operation: Domestic, International, Long Range and Other. Furthermore a flight is considered Long Range if the distance between origin and destination exceeds the desired nautical miles. Use the Reset button to revert to PFPX standard values.
The PFPX Program - Overview This chapter will give you insight to the PFPX user interface and an overview of the options provided by PFPX.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Website transfers you to the official FlightSimSoft homepage (www.flightsimsoft.com) with details about PFPX and other products, customer support and access to the PFPX Forum. About shows the version of your product, copyright information and the EULA - End User License Agreement. Exit causes PFPX to close. Your work will automatically be saved when taking this action.
Traffic Graphical display of either IVAO, VATSIM or Microsoft Flight Simulator traffic and routes on the world map Browser A set of customizable online sources like weather charts, support and flight planning resources. Ribbon Bar Each main panel features its own Ribbon Bar containing a set of functions and options arranged in various categories. These options are described in more detail in chapter “Main Panels”.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Docking Windows PFPX allows you to adjust the interface for your personal requirements. Depending on your screen resolution you might be able to dock further windows beside the work space window or drag it to a preferred docking position. If you are using multiple monitors you are even able to drag the preferred docking window to another screen.
• Click the Wind button to enable the wind vectors at the flight planned altitudes for the shown height, date and time. When using online weather you are able to see a trend for the next hours by moving the control pusher. • The Adequate Airports icon will display threshold distance and ETOPS circles if an ETOPS flight is planned. Weather & NOTAMs The Weather & NOTAMs window allows you either to enter, to search for or to display automatically airport and FIR information.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Status Bar The Status Bar at the foot of the main PFPX window contains: • The Status Text field shows the actual program operation, normally displaying ‘Ready’ when waiting for user input. A green icon indicates that internet connection to the PFPX server has been established. A red icon indicates a connection problem or no internet connection available. An hourglass is shown during lengthy operations. During this time, user input is inhibited.
Aircraft Database The Aircraft Database dialog shows a list of all your aircraft. Aircraft approved for Long Range operation (ETOPS) are indicated by a blue “E” icon. Apply The selected airplane will be used for flight planning the presently selected flight. New Add a new aircraft to the database New from template Creates a new aircraft based on a previously saved template. PFPX comes with a pre-defined set of templates (e.g. PMDG 747-400).
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Aircraft Editor The Aircraft editor enables the recording of new aircraft records and their modification. . For each aircraft, you may specify the aircraft type, its engines, units and weights used and aircraft specific parameters like fuel burn adjustments, default speed schedule, diversion speed schedule, equipment and configuration, extended range (ETOPS) operations scenarios, etc.
Aircraft On the aircraft tab you are able to specify basic aircraft properties as described below. • Registration: The registration consists of a prefix and up to six characters. The prefix is usually one or two characters and defines a country registration (for example N5678; N stands for United States). A registration uniquely identifies an aircraft. • Type: Selecting an aircraft type defines aircraft basic characteristics used for flight planning.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X • Cargo capacity: Cargo capacity incorporates the maximum weight of baggage and cargo the airplane is certified for. Note: field can be left blank, if no weight limit is defined. • Fuel capacity: The maximum amount of fuel the aircraft can carry. • Taxi Fuel/min: The amount of fuel used per minute with the aircraft on ground during taxiing. Note: Microsoft Flight Simulator airplanes usually use more fuel during idle/low power setting than real-world equivalents.
• Drag: In PFPX the Drag value can be configured to adjust performance variations for different add-ons. Note: A Drag value of 105% means that the True Airspeed (TAS) is reduced by 5% below aircraft performance values. • Evaluate: The Evaluate dialog allows to quickly determine Bias and Drag values for a specific aircraft type by comparing PFPX values with in-flight readings of a specific Flight Simulator addon.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X • Threshold Time: Regulations require an aeroplane not to operate on a route where the flight time at single engine cruise speed to an adequate en-route alternate aerodrome exceeds a Threshold Time established by the State (refer to page 62 – ETOPS). Note: When operating without Threshold Time limit, check the ‘No Threshold Time Limit’ option • Diversion TAS: Single engine cruise speed based on one-engineout cruise speed in standard atmospheric conditions.
• Diversion Climb, Cruise and Descent Speed schedule: Adjust the settings for the default speed schedule used for climb, cruise and descent calculations from the Destination Aerodrome to an Alternate Aerodrome. Equipment/Configurations Airlines choose different aircraft configurations to suit their marketplaces. A wide variety of aircraft equipment and configurations can be entered on this tab.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X • Equipment Category The appropriate ATC wake turbulence category of the selected aircraft depending on maximum take-off weight (MTOW). • Light (L): MTOW < 7.000 kg (15.500 lb) • Medium (M): MTOW 7.000 kg to 136.000 kg (15.500 lb to 300.000 lb) • Heavy (H): MTOW > 136.000 kg (300.000 lb) • Super (S): for Airbus A380-800 Equipment A coded string of navigation and communication equipment installed. Checkboxes below can be used to adapt the aircraft equipment.
• SEL Special Code, for aircraft so equipped CODE Aircraft address RVR Minimum Runway Visual Range required for landing OPR ICAO designator or name of the aircraft operating agency ORGN Originator´s 8-letter AFTN address or other appropriate contact details PER Aircraft Performance Data RMK Other Remarks Configurations PFPX allows defining different configurations for a single aircraft.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X • • ETOPS scenario list New Add a new scenario Duplicate Duplicate an existing scenario Rename Rename an existing scenario Delete Delete an existing scenario ETOPS scenario details Max Diversion Time Maximum one-engine-out flight time to an ETOPS diversion airport in still air and ISA conditions. Diversion Weight Assumed weight at the beginning of the diversion.
Max Diversion Dist Maximum distance from an ETOPS diversion airport. No Diversion Time limit Some operations (e.g. cargo flights) may be conducted without distance limit from an ETOPS diversion airport. APU on Some aircraft types require the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) to be running during operations within an ETOPS segment for redundancy reasons. Check the box accordingly. ETOPS cases Up to three cases can be defined per scenario.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X You are able to perform several functions with your routes: Save Save route property changes. New Create a new route or sub-route. Check Check, if the selected route is compliant with the present navigation database cycle installed. Edit Edit the selected route (refer to page 32 - Route Editor) Validate Verify, if the selected route is compliant with Central Flow Management Unit (CFMU) restrictions of Eurocontrol.
Combined with route finding features like wind and flight level optimizations, customized routes can be created in just a few steps. Save Save route to database. Load Load an existing route from the database. Find Pressing the Find button displays the following route finding options: Upper Airspace Find a route in upper airspace Lower Airspace Find a route in lower airspace Advanced Call up the advanced route finder (refer to page 35- Advanced Route Finder).
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Clear Clear the present route. Build Routes can be modified manually by altering the route string at the bottom of the dialog. If the route string has been modified its colour changes to magenta and the Build button is unlocked. Pressing this button causes PFPX to rebuild the route from this string. This function can also be used to build routes obtained from other sources (like online route finders).
Advanced Route Finder Sometimes, the shortest route may not be the optimum route related to operational, weather and air traffic control (ATC) requirements. Therefore the advanced route finder can be used to optimize your routes on the basis of cruise Altitude restrictions or wind optimization. • Route Finder Options Via Up to two ‚via‘ waypoints may be defined. The resulting route will be planned via these waypoints.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Ignore Airway directions Some airways are unidirectional; i.e. the airway may only be flown in a certain direction. The route finder will usually adhere to these limitations. Check this box to ignore directional limitations. Non-RNAV • Some airways may require area navigation (RNAV) equipment to be used to meet navigational requirements. If an aircraft is not RNAV equipped check this box to find routes allowing conventional navigation to be used.
Airport Main planning characteristics of an airport can be defined on the airport tab. Enter the identifier of an airport to edit its properties. The General Information text field can be used to indicate important information of an airport. Planning Data Normally default Taxi Out/In, Circuit Out/In and Hold time values from the program settings are used for flight planning (refer to page 12 - Program Options: Planning / Units). The planning data section allows specifying values for an airport, if required.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Define if an airport should be used as a Destination, Take-off and/or Enroute Alternate, as an Adequate Airport or if it is isolated. Preferred departure/arrival runways PFPX automatically selects the most favourable departure/arrival runways, taking into account present wind conditions and runway length. Traffic or other operational reasons may require planning a different runway. Use the input mask to optimize automatic runway selection.
Fuel policy editor Depending on the regulations used for flight planning, different fuel planning rules may apply. As delivered, PFPX supports several fuel policies, like flights conducted under US Domestic operations, US Flag operations and EU-OPS. You may specify additional policies, especially if you fly for operators registered outside the United States and those countries regulated by EU-OPS.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X To add a fuel policy, provide a unique name and remarks for the record. The minimum required fuel amount usually consists of Trip fuel (Fuel burn from origin to destination) plus reserves, if deviations should occur.
• no adjustment. In addition to the trip fuel minimum amount, alternate fuel, contingency/IFR reserve and final reserve/holding fuel can also specify required fuel and minimum/maximum amount using the same choices.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Load load weather from previously saved weather file Save to save weather data to hard disk ActiveSky Use ActiveSky weather (requires ‘current_wx_snapshot.txt’ and ‘wx_station_list.txt’ files) REX Use Real Environment Extreme (REX) weather (requires ‘metar_report.xml’ file) None clear all weather settings. Config to reach the program configuration window to configure weather data.
• Australian Tracks (AUSOTS) connecting Southeast Asia with Australia You may allow PFPX to auto-update this information as it is published, load saved OTS data from your own disk, save OTS data to your own disk, and clear all organized tracks from PFPX if you wish. Loading the data from your own disk will automatically suspend auto-updating of the data until you again choose the auto-update option.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X The PFPX Program Interface Schedule Panel The Schedule tab will display all current scheduled flights. After installing PFPX and using PFPX for the first time, there are no flights in your schedule table. The Schedule tab allows creating or modifying scheduled flights. Schedule The schedule list displays all current scheduled flights.
Flights whose scheduled time of departure (STD) is more than 6 hours ago are shown in grey font, as are flights whose STD is more than 36 hours in the future. Flights whose STD is overdue are shown in red font and have a red button to their left. Flights whose STD is within the next 2 hours are shown in amber font and have an amber button to their left. Note: You are able to change an aircraft, ETD, ETA and Notes for a flight easily on the Schedule tab by double-clicking into the specified field.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X The Origin/Departure and planned Destination airports are specified using their International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) airport codes. If you are unsure of a code for an airport, press the drop-down arrow on either field to display the Airport Lookup window. Specify the scheduled time of departure (STD), scheduled time of arrival (STA) and/or estimated en route time (EET). PFPX will provide estimates for each field if you specify values for the other two.
Pressing the lower part of the ‘Add’ button unveils the following options: Return Flight Add a Return Flight to selected flight Import Import Schedule from file Export Export Schedule to file Edit If you want to alter the scheduled flight, press the Edit button. Delete/Delete all Use the Delete or the Delete all buttons to clear the selected or all flights in your schedule. Please note that it is not possible to delete just a single flight of a repetitive schedule.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Flight Plan (OFP) Once a flight has been released you are returned to the Schedule tab, the flight turns green and the buttons in the Flight Plan (OFP) Ribbon category is enabled.
The Flight Panel is subdivided into two sub-tabs: The General tab and the Advanced tab. Basic flight planning options are grouped in the General tab, more sophisticated features required for special operations are summarized in the Advanced tab. Note: The Advanced tab displays additional data that you may have to enter to specify a re-dispatch plan, extended range ETOPS and intermediate alternate airports, a custom altitude/ speed profile, and flight plan and air traffic control remarks.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Flight To plan your flight, please ensure that the airline code, flight number, origin and destination airports are correctly specified. PFPX automatically selects the optimum runways based on reported wind conditions. The Taxi In and Out fields are average times required to taxi from the parking position to the runway and vice versa. These values can be manually altered or configured in the Program configuration window (refer to page 11- Program Options).
Aircraft The aircraft assigned to the flight must be specified. The drop-down arrow will display the aircraft available in your aircraft database. An aircraft can have different configurations based on the planned type of operation (e.g. different catering for short and/or long flights or no catering at all for maintenance flights). If different configurations have been defined in the aircraft record, these can be selected here. Selecting a configuration adjusts the empty weight (Weight of the aircraft).
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X By default, this Step Size is set to the ICAO standard of 2.000ft (600m) and can be modified to 4.000ft (1.200m) if required. If no step-climbs are desired, select None. Note: If a Cruise Altitude/FL is manually entered a climb to this altitude is scheduled, irrespective of any airway flight level restrictions and the Step Climb field will be disabled. Further level changes can be applied on the Advanced/Speed/Altitude tab.
In this case you are able to use the Inflight method by pressing the respective button on the Ribbon. Complete the required data for Aircraft Position, Altitude/FL (Flight Level), Destination, Zero Fuel Weight, Fuel on Board and Aircraft Weight. PFPX will automatically propose nearby diversion airfields. Press Apply to continue your flight planning as usually.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X PFPX chooses, by default, an upwind runway, which may be altered if required. Shortening of the runway, notified by airport NOTAMs, may be achieved by specifying the shortening of either the beginning or end of the runway. The take-off and landing conditions that may be specified are the flaps configuration, the thrust configuration or the landing mode, and whether the air conditioning and anti-ice will be on or off.
• Press the Empty button to clear all payload weights or • Press the Max(imum) button to set maximum payload values or • Use the Random button to randomize passenger, baggage and cargo values. Fuel There are many different fuel planning rules and regulations worldwide or even differences between various aircraft types or the kind of operation within the same authority.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X • MEL/CDL fuel: Same as above, but the increased fuel requirement is given in a fixed amount of fuel for the entire flight. A value of 1000 [kg/lb] means that the minimum required fuel is increased by 1000 [kg/lb]. • Ballast fuel: Ballast or unusable fuel may be required if not all of the fuel on board can be used. This may occur when fuel pumps are inoperative or to obtain a minimum airplane weight.
Route Initially there may be no route available for the flight, so you´d have to build one. There are several methods available for finding the optimum route for a flight. Find Pressing the Find button displays the following route finding options: Upper Airspace: Find a route in upper airspace Lower Airspace: Find a route in lower airspace Advanced:Call up the advanced route finder (refer to page 35 -Advanced Route Finder).
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Build Routes can be modified manually by altering the route string at the bottom of the dialog. If the route string has been modified its colour changes to magenta and the Build button is unlocked. Pressing this button tells PFPX to rebuild the route from this string. This function can also be used to generate routes obtained from other sources (like online route finders).
Alternates Here we have to nominate the airports that are to be listed. Obviously, if the value of the ‚Altn Required‘ field is either ‚None‘ or ‚Isolated‘, there is no need to specify destination alternate airports at all. However, for numeric values we need to nominate either 1 or 2 airports (refer to page 80 -Alternate Airports). For each destination alternate airport, PFPX will calculate a route from the planned destination airport to that airport.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X You may choose an appropriate Alt/FL. ‚OPT‘, the default, allows the aircraft to climb to the optimum flight level. ‚MAX‘ commands the aircraft to climb to the maximum achievable flight level. You may also enter any value of circuit distance, hold time and altitude or flight level required for the flight to the destination alternate airport. PFPX calculates the nearest suitable destination alternate airports available from which you can choose.
The Airport must be located within a pre-defined circle centred at a certain distance from the destination. PFPX will automatically check this requirement. Redispatch A redispatch plan consists of specifying a redispatch fix and short release destination airport. Developing a redispatch plan may reduce your contingency fuel requirement, as you need to carry reserve fuel only for the part from the redispatch fix to the destination instead the entire route (refer to page 82 - Redispatch Planning).
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X • Choosing the Adequate airports icon will enable you to automatically search for suitable alternate airports. This is usually done automatically by PFPX. • If icing conditions for the ETOPS diversion are expected, enable the Icing field to cater for increased fuel consumption required by anti-ice equipment.
In the Altitude/FL field, you can choose the values optimum (OPT), maximum (MAX) or specify an altitude or flight level. The flight plan, when computed, will contain these constraints for the nominated waypoints. Flight Crew/Remarks • Fill in your Flight Crew members if required. • Type in important information at the ATC flight plan fields.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Flight Release If you are sure, that your results are ready for publication, press the Release button to let PFPX create your individual flight briefing package. Before releasing a flight, select all necessary information you would like to have added into your flight briefing package (e.g. Weather, NOTAMs or Track Messages). Once a flight is released, you are returned to the Schedule page, with the created flight in green colour.
ATC In real world, the ATC flight plan is sent to air traffic control prior to flight, where it is processed and dispatched to all ATC units concerned. Flight plans may be rejected if an incorrect format or invalid routes are used (refer to page 58 - CFMU Flight Plan Validation). Modify Manually modify the generated ATC flight plan. Reset Reset a modified ATC flight plan to initial value. DOF (Date) Toggle the Date of Flight (DOF) field in the ATC flight plan (required by some authorities, e.g.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Weather The weather briefing contains the available METARs and terminal aerodrome forecasts for the departure, departure alternate, en route alternate, planned destination and destination alternate airports. NOTAMs The NOTAMs are listed for the departure, departure alternate, en route alternate, planned destination and destination alternate airports.
And finally, have a pleasant and safe flight! 67
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Traffic Panel The Traffic window displays a graphical presentation of online traffic and air traffic control stations of organizations such as IVAO and VATSIM. The actual aircraft position and altitude of your Microsoft Flight Simulator aircraft can also be displayed on the map window (requires FSUIPC/WideFS). The Slew mode will keep the map automatically centered on the selected aircraft.
Home Pressing the Home button leads you back to the main site. Back / Forward The Back and Forward button allows you either to go one site back or one forward. Stop The Stop button aborts the current process. Refresh Pressing the Refresh button updates the actual site. Print The Print button allows you to select a printer to print the site.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Apply Save changes and close window Restore Restore PFPX default groups Add To add a new group. Fill in a name into the Caption field, then insert a link of the required homepage and choose the minutes of refreshing or leave the field blank to avoid auto-refreshing the site. Then click Add to save the new link into your table.
Flight Planning General Flight planning, at its most basic, consists of defining a route to be flown, de-termining fuel requirements; take-off, en route and landing performance. Longer flights may require consideration of special factors which govern the safety of oceanic flights, extended operations (ETOPS) away from available di-version airports, and the methods of redispatch. The main purpose of the flight planning process is to produce a flight plan for a proposed flight.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X The role of the flight dispatcher A flight dispatcher is required to carry out flight planning for an operator, and may also be required to flight watch. Although ICAO has a recommended practice on flight dispatchers, there is no internationally accepted license for dispatchers. In the United States of America, the FAA issues an Aircraft Dispatcher License. The FAA Aircraft Dispatcher License has no ICAO element equivalent to the recommended practice.
The smooth operations of international aviation are made possible by the exis-tence of universally accepted standards to cover all technical and operational aspects of international civil aviation, such as safety, personnel licensing, opera-tion of aircraft, aerodromes, air traffic services, accident investigation and the environment. Each country has a national (or civil) aviation authority (NAA/CAA), a government statutory authority that oversees the approval and regulation of civil aviation.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X • a US-registered carrier operating a flight within the continental US airspace flies it as a FAR 121 Domestic flight; • a US-registered carrier operating a flight outside the continental US airspace flies it as a US Flag Operations flight; • a US-registered carrier operating a flight between Germany and Italy flies it as a US Flag Operations flight; • a US-registered carrier operating a flight within Germany flies it as a US Flag Operations flight; • an Austra
• Safe flight from the departure airport to the planned destination air-port (trip fuel) • Contingency fuel that is the higher of: EITHER • 5% of the planned trip fuel or, in the event of in-flight re-planning, 5% of the trip fuel for the remainder of the flight; or • Not less than 3% of the planned trip fuel or, in the event of in-flight replanning, 3% of the trip fuel for the remainder of the flight, provided that an en-route alternate is available; or • An amount of fuel sufficient for 20 minutes flyi
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X • Thereafter, to fly for 45 minutes at normal cruising fuel consumption (holding fuel). Extended range operations (ETOPS) are not applicable to flights under 14 CFR 121 Domestic rules because of their restriction to flights within the 48 coterminous United States. US FLAG operations US Flag operations which is used for scheduled international flight operations by an operator registered in the United States Under US Flag operations (14 FAR 121.
Supplemental operations Supplemental operations which is used for unscheduled flight operations, for example chartered flights, by an operator registered in the United States under Supplemental operations, fuel rules are the same as FAR 121 Domestic and US Flag operations. A Supplemental operation must have a destination alternate airport nominated, regardless of weather, except when dispatching under island reserves.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X The runway that is designated the active runway for take-off depends on the wind vector (direc-tion and speed) at the time of take-off, traffic flow considerations and noise limitations. A SID may therefore be part of a route specification. When leaving an airway in order to land the aircraft may be required to fol-low a standard terminal arrival route (STAR) and/or be vectored to the land-ing runway.
As an aircraft burns fuel it loses weight. So, as a flight proceeds, the altitude at which it can fly efficiently increases. Air traffic control will permit the air-craft to step climb to the most efficient altitude if traffic permits. Planning a vertical route between a departure airport and a destination airport there-fore depends on the decreasing weight of the aircraft. Forecasts of the weather to be encountered during the phases of flight have to be taken into account in order to minimise fuel burn.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Cruise Speed Speed control during flight is both a requirement of air traffic control in parts of a flight, and of airlines in controlling fuel burn rates. Constant speed In some segments of flights, aircraft are required to fly at specific speeds. Particularly over oceans and remote territories, where radar coverage is ab-sent, air traffic control may only be able to ensure sufficient aircraft separa-tion if all aircraft in the sector are flying at the same speeds.
A high cost index is used when operating costs are more expensive than fuel or to avoid additional costs due to delay (e.g. passengers missing connecting flights). The aircraft would then fly faster to reduce flight time, but would normally burn more fuel. A control interval of zero results in maximum range airspeed and minimum trip fuel burn. Conversely, a maximum value results in the minimum time speed and ignores the cost of fuel.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X To fly to a planned destination usually requires a re-release by the airline dispatcher. If the short release destination airport is a point along the original route, be-fore or after the redispatch fix, nearer to the redispatch fix than the planned destination, then a decision to route back to the short release destination airport or continue on to the planned destination airport can be made be-fore reaching the redispatch fix.
Either can produce significant cost benefits for the airline in operating the flight. It is critical to the calculation, therefore, to choose a redispatch fix that minimises the contingency fuel element of the fuel plan. The optimal flight plan places the redispatch fix in a location where the contingency fuels for the two scenarios are exactly equal; moving it in either direction increases the fuel required for one scenario or the other.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X The Evolution of ETOPS Starting from 1985 two-engine airplanes were allowed to operate on routes up to 120 minutes from an adequate airport after demonstration of specific levels of in-service experience and systems reliability. It also allowed for an increase of up to 15% to the maximum diversion time of 120 minutes (i.e. to 138 minutes). In 1988 two-engine airplanes were permitted to operate up to 180 minutes from an adequate airport.
The operator’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) may approve ETOPS Maximum Diversion times for various areas of operation in accordance with the re-quirements and limitations: ETOPS type approval ratings have been awarded as ETOPS-90 (90 minutes maximum diversion time), ETOPS-120, ETOPS-138, ETOPS-180 and ETOPS-207.
PFPX - Professional Flight Planner X Designating an ETOPS alternate airport Operators of airplanes with two or more engines are required to designate the nearest available ETOPS alternate airport along the planned route of flight and must remain within a 240 minute diversion time, if possible. Those areas not supported within 180 minute diversion authority tend to be routes over remote areas of the world that are uniquely challenging to the operation.
• all engines operative, cabin depressurisation • one engine inoperative, no cabin depressurisation • one engine inoperative, cabin depressurisation. The ETP is therefore the point from which each flying time is measured. The flight time between pairs of ETOPS alternate airports is unimportant, so long as distance to reach from the ETP is not greater than that allowed by the ETOPS type approval, the ETOPS operational certification, and of the fuel be-ing carried.
Add-on for the Microsoft FSX also compatible with Prepar3D Airbus Extended A320/A321 More products at www.aerosoft.
