Fuel Planner for the 744F

[jetlover1118 0]

Anyone know where i can find a fuel planner for the 747-400F?Thanks Alex

[Tabs 2,790]

>Anyone know where i can find a fuel planner for the>747-400F?Best one you could possibly have is already in the plane - the FMC! Just enter your route and complete the FMC preflighting, then look at the PROG page fuel amount at destination. Add a bit for reserve and taxi/holds and you're good to go.If you want something more akin to how it's done in real life by a dispatcher, I use FSBuild 2...

[jetlover1118 0]

Ok, Thanks for the reply.Alex

[Guest D17S]

Ryan's right. I setup a flight to duplicate a real world 744 flight a bit back. The PMDG 744's FMC got it within 1000 lbs on a 250,000 lb burn. FSBuild just didn't come close. . . . but that brings to mind:It would be real handy if FSBuild could accurately model fuel for the 744. How about a PMDG Software Dev Kit (SDK) for supporting programs. Heck, MSFS provides SDKs for you guys. How about something similar for your support programmers. Just a thought. Something for all that spare time ya'll have!

[Check_Airman 3]

Anyone ever noticed that the FSB opt crz alts are sometimes off by several thousand feet? I corrected the data, but unfortunately lost the config file, so I wasn't able to upload it. Just RW flightplans, sometimes, you have to make a constant correction to the dispatch computer fuel figure. I think this gives FS a more real world feel, as many times, things don't act as they're supposed to.Paul

[Guest Chris1001]

I am going to try the FMC as a cross check to FSBuild. FSBuild was off by 10K pounds on a flight from India to UK. Hate to think what that will translate to on a 12 hour flight.Having said that does anyone else add 10K 'for the wife and kids' for those situations where weight allows ?

[Guest]

do you use active sky so FSBuild can get the correct temperatures and wind data when it builds that profile?

[blueridgeflyer 1]

As a side note to Ryan's comment, you will want to make sure to enter the winds aloft criteria into the LEGS DATA pages. This is especially crucial when flying those westerly Pan Pacific routes between North America and Asia.FSBuild will provide very accurate fuel burn data with the underlying assumption that your FSBuild Zero Fuel Weight settings match that of the Queen. I have my Passenger and Freighter models set to 495.7k & 442.3k pounds respectively within PMDG's Load Manager. Below are my FSBuild Aircraft settings for each model. I find that my most accurate fuel planning yields occur with DEST FUEL + :45 Reserve + :50 Min contingency. -400495728 ZFW394088 Empty101640 Pay-400F442301 ZFW364526 EMPTY77775 PAYRyan

[Guest Chris1001]

I had Wx disabled because I wanted to see what fuel results I get as a basleine for FSBuild and FMC without me creating error's by inaccurate entering in the FMC.

[Guest D17S]

If you want to experiment, try setting up FSB to use Active Sky 6 (AS6) weather. It's a royal pain, but once you get things all plugged in right, FSB will use the various AS6 winds aloft data presentations build your flight plan in FSB. Let FSB calculate its own step climb points, etc. I really like FSB's "convert to .PDF" option. So let FSB print you out a nice .PDF flight plan. FSB will also output the flight plan in PMDG format, so load it up into the 744s FMC. Now take your FSB flight plan in hand and manually enter the FSB/AS6 winds aloft data -way point by waypoint- into the 744's FMC's legs page/winds aloft data entry points. Let the FMC 'do it's thing' calculating step climbs, etc. The FMC will get you a burn number. Check the 744's FMC burn against the FSB burn. Remember, you're using the same flight plan and the same winds. I was getting a significant difference. The FMC ended up being right. The best use of FSB might to use it ONLY to calculate your 'additional required' fuel. Use the 'additional fuel' number from the FSB plan, plus the FMC's calculated burn as your ramp fuel load. Now fly with AS6 running, hooked-up and providing MSFS the winds you entered into the 744's FMC. This should be a totally boring and monotonous flight, but fly it just like a crew would. Note your time, winds, temp and fuel remaining at each waypoint. Continuously compare those numbers to what the FMC had projected. It should stay right on the nose. -- Note: Make sure you know if you are using real time or historical winds from AS6. Historical winds should simply be re-created in MSFS exactly like what you entered into the FMC. If this is the case, big yawn. But if you are using Real Time winds, they might shift. I think AS6 updates winds every 12 hours. If you fly through one of those cycles, you might get a whole different wind environment. Now we're having fun. "Gander radio, Gander radio, D17 declaring fuel emergency!" -- Essentially, this drill is just checking how well the PMDG airplane interfaces with the AS6 generated, MSFS environment. You'll be able to tell how well things are going by watching actual vs. projected. Actually, you'll be bored silly . . . with any luck . . . just like a real pilot. You wouldn

[simbio 56]

I am tryng my self to recreate a good profile but i ma blind where did you get those info.for the F -400F442301 ZFW364526 EMPTY77775 PAYBelow mine changed on checking fs option the incredible thing is there is not write on PMDG manuals the correct value for the cargo version.I hope one day to sort out this value :)[b747-400F Cargo PMDG]WeightUnit=LBSOperEmptyWeight=363954 PayloadWeight=270450ReserveFuel=:45AlternateFuel=HoldFuel=:15TaxiFuel=89/min //This is from a real world 744 pilot. Change as neededExtraFuel=:20ApproachFuel=500MaxTakeoffWeight=875000MaxZeroFuelWeight=635000MaxLandingWeight=665900MaxFuelWeight=240024PerformanceData=PMDG744.prfToldData=PMDG744.tldDefaultTOFlaps=10DefaultLDGFlaps=30ImageFile=PMDG744.jpgMaxCruise=43000

[Guest D17S]

This is all necessary too, but the most difficult-to-obtain information will be accurate fuel flow charts. PMDG has 'em and is using them as their baseline for fuel flow modeling. It appears Vangelis did a magnificent job intergrating highly accurate fuel flow data into the model. We need this same fuel flow data intergrated into an external flight planner. Its already intergrated into the internal 744's FMC. That's why PMDG's FMC -- on board the airplane -- is still the best fuel planner available for a 747-400 add-on. To date, nothing else is even coming close.

[Guest aarskringspier]

I use FSBUILD with the 744 profile, ASV weather processing etc etc and its always within 1000-1500 pounds of what I plan to land with. You have to do a little work and make sure you have it set up properly, cross check the weather make sure it was grabbed and entered correctly your times etc etc.

[simbio 56]

Use of the FMC is fine but before to fireup FS and PMDG i normally plan before to get everithng ready to fly on vatsim.The 744 pax profile is not the same, now is there someone from support who can tell us the corretc value for.TaxiFuel=89/min is this correctOperEmptyWeight=363954 is this correctMaxTakeoffWeight=875000 is this correctMaxZeroFuelWeight=635000 is this correctMaxLandingWeight=665900 is this correctMaxFuelWeight=240024 is this correctMaxCruise=43000 is this correctThank you Fabrizio

[Tabs 2,790]

Guys,Vangelis is the one who would be able to tell you if those values are correct. I'll see if he can take a look at this thread, but it may be a while, he's been very busy with non-FS work lately.