I have an official Qantas computer generated flight plan for a B747 from Sydney to Singapore. When I input the details from this into the PMDG B744 FMC the aircraft:a) uses the entire "official" route fuel before it reaches 1/3rd of the flight;:( won't climb beyond FL310 - FMC gives a "can't get to cruise level" message.Something is obviously wrong here. Who's at fault? PMDG? Me? Qantas?CheersBrian

Brianmight need a few more details to see what is wrong here, what is the fuel total the plan gives you? and is the plan converted in to .rte or are you inputting it manually?Fynn

Brian:Make sure, the ZFW is the same as the Qantas flight plan. The fligth plan will be very specific to that day, remember too. The winds change every day, the the fuel consumption rates of individual aircraf change, as do other factors. Are you flying exactly the same route as them, have you inputted your route winds into the FMC winds page, and is your wind component roughly the same?You may not know about the wind component if you do not ahve a flight planning program such as FSBuild/FOC?Tell us a bit more, and welcome to the forum!Rudy

Here are the pertinent details (weights in kg):TOW 173.4 ZFW 122.7 LGW 129.2 FOD 7.5 REQ FOD 4.0TRIP FUEL 44.2 TAXI FUEL 0.4 T/OFF FUEL 50.7PLANNED FUEL 51.1 PLANNED 10 MINS HOLD AT WSSSROUTE YSSY.RIC.H76.NBR.B587.OMUBI.A464.SJ.WSSSI entered all these details into the FMC manually except for the SID and STAR.As far as winds are concerned, I'm not advanced enough yet to look into that side of things. It has taken me some frustrating days to simply work out the FMC and get it happening. The winds I did have were favourable for the flight - mostly light tailwind but I did hit a couple of rough patches between KAT and NBR which is not surprising given our current WX here - but I didn't get the feeling that the a/c was struggling.Hope this gives a bit better picture.CheersBrian

Hey there - (check your email!)VH-OGT is a Boeing 767-300ER, unlike VH-OJT which is a Boeing 747-400!No wonder you were running out of fuel, you had a Boeing 767 fuel load!! :( Hope this helpsRudy

G'day, Brian.Last time I gassed up a 744 bound for SIN, I think the total fuel for the flight was in excess of 80 tonnes ;)Cheers.Q>

I sent a copy of the flight plan to Rudy to have a look at. He found out that the aircraft for which the plan was filed was in fact a B767-300ER and not a B744 as I was led to believe.As Rudy said it's no wonder I ran out of fuel! Guess I should check the aircraft registration next time :-)CheersBrian

Guess I should check the aircraft registration next time :-)Don't laugh...it's serious. There have been cases of crews boarding the wrong aircraft...even worse, I've heard of a case where the crew was contacted in flight and told that the took the wrong plane (An A320 I think it was).Apart from the chaos it causes in the operations office, the performance paperwork given to the crew is specific to each airframe/engine combination. Putting data for the wrong plane into the FMC makes it invalid.Paul