APPROACH REF page in FMC

[Epikk 62]

Dear PMDG Team...Just realized that the "Aircraft Gross Weight"(LSK 1L)in the APP REF page of the FMC doesn't allow manual entry...I was wondering if this is going the be corrected in next release??Anyway, really hope it's going to be released very soon!!

[mburkhard 23]

Fritz,Why would you want to enter a value there manually? And where would you get that value from if not from the Flight Management Computer? On ground you feed the FMC with all the weight data. Once that is completed and you are airborne there is no way you could get a more accurate Gross Weight than from the one calculated by the FMC and displayed on the Approach REF page...Best regards,Markus

[Epikk 62]

Markus,I would want to enter this value manually in order to predict the Vref/Vapp at destination airport...I case you want to anticipate your appraoch briefing, etc...And you can get this value from your Planned Landing Weight...Believe me this is done is real life and this entry in the real thing allows manual entry.But I can live without it though. It was just suggestion/question to PMDG...And I think this "possibility/function" is pretty cool. :(

[mburkhard 23]

>I would want to enter this value manually in order to predict>the Vref/Vapp at destination airport...But isn't there something important missing at that time? How could you predict an accurate Vapp if you have no precise Wind information? I do believe you that pilots do that in real life, it just doesn't make sense to me and I have not seen any pilot bothering about a precise Vapp before listening to ATIS... Maybe I've just flown with the wrong airline? ;)Markus

[Guest TrafficTraffic]

I just verified in the 800/900 upgrade (beta) that you can enter values for GW on the APP REF page, and the VREF speeds change appropriately. If you DEL the GW value, you get the value computed from ZFW + fuel again.Lee Hetherington, PP-ASEL (KBED)

[Epikk 62]

Thanx a lot Lee!!!Great news!!!Markus, again... this is real life practice. Meaning : you can do it "if you want". This is not mandatory. If you don't believe me or if it doesn't make sense to you, that's OK.And when I was saying "I would want to enter this value manually in order to predict the Vref/Vapp at destination airport...". It was assuming OF COURSE that I already have destination ATIS.And thank God you're here with your super-knowledge about listening ATIS.;) . Before you I never ever thought I have to obtain ATIS before calculating my Vapp...

[Mats_J 2]

Hi MarkusReal world procedures today include METARs and TAFs at destination via ACARS. Just request a METAR of your choice from flight dispatch and it will be printed out neatly on your ACARS printer in your center electronics console. Today you don't have to wait until you're in ATIS range to get that.As I was visiting the cockpit on a SAS flight from Stockholm, ESSA to Chicago, KORD, chatting along with the pilot about my job. The first officer was busy printing out METARs for KORD every few minutes to guess what runway they'd be given. Guess those long haul flights get really boring after a while. ;-)Cheers,

[mburkhard 23]

Thanks Mats, I am aware of all that ACARS stuff. Sure it is a great thing to know on which runway you'll land. But my point is why would you calculate your Vapp at such an early time since the wind will have changed anyway when you arrive at the airport..Oh well, disregard all after good morning, I should say, this is a minor detail anyway.. :)Markus

[Guest boxjockey99]

I can't keep track of names so please excuse that, I would confirm that it is indeed normal procedure to input an expected GW inthe APP REF page in order to get a valid Vref speed.The estimation is done by looking at the current Fuel on board and looking at the estimated fuel on board at the arrival airfield. This data can be found on PROG 1. Eg if you had 10.0 on board at present and the estimate was 8.0 at destination then take 2.0 off the GW to get the expected landing weight and the relevant Vref will be the one you use. It is a rough rule of thumb if you are too far out but as you get closer the estimate of weight is more likely to be correct and the GW at laniding therefore correct also. BEar in mind that Vref doesn't change that much, even 2000kg out would result in a negligable change in Vref speed, how many pilots do you knwo that fly to the knot, I know I can't! Kris