User manual

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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, the-
se can be selected here. Selecting a configuration adjusts the empty
weight (Weight of the aircraft).
A weight adjustment can be applied by the dispatcher in special circum-
stances by setting the configuration to Manual and entering an adjust-
ment value (+/-).
The Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) and Maximum Landing Weight
(MLW) values are automatically set to the aircraft’s structural limits.
If performance limits are lower than structural limits (Short runway, ob-
stacles, etc.), they may be entered here.
Note: If you own a full version of TOPCAT – Take-Off and Landing
Performance Calculation Tool the performance limit values can be cal-
culated automatically by using the Take-Off and Landing functions.
The planned aircraft speed schedule can be adjusted in the Climb,
Cruise and Descent section. Some aircraft types even allow for Cost In-
dex based cruise schedules (noticeable on the ‘Cost Index’ header over
the Cruise schedule field). Enter the desired cost index in the ‘Cruise’
field instead of selecting a fixed speed/mach schedule (refer to page
80- Cost Index).
Normally, PFPX plans an initial climb to the optimum flight level (OPT)
based on the selected aircraft, cruising altitude restrictions, weight,
temperature, cruise speed, etc. If the MAX value is selected, an initial
climb to the maximum allowed altitude is scheduled.
As the optimum altitude usually increases when fuel is burnt, steps
climbs are planned during the later stage of a flight.