My greetings to all Captains!As far as I understand I can use PMDG and LDS load managers to add both passengers and cargo to the aircraft. Thanks to Internet and AVSIM's Flight Plan forum I can get hundreds of real-world flight plans and load them into FMC to provide more realistic flighting environment.I often use flight data and track logs from FlightAware.com. Sometimes I can see that initial cruise altitudes differ from those I have, i.e. after I'd use load manager and make necessary take-off calculations. I understand this difference as an influence of preflight conditions such as winds, weather conditions and most importantly the PAYLOAD on aircraft's planned flight performance. Apart from the weather data which is available through ActiveSky and other weather add-ons, I would like to ask ***whether it's possible to obtain a real-world payload data?*** As far as I know FlightAware, Red One Aviation and FBOWEB do not provide this information.Also, I know that some load managers like LDS's do not allow precise payload editing except random selections. Is it possible therefore, to edit LDS aircraft.cfg for the above purpose?And the last question. How significant is the effect of payload on airlines' flight schedules apart from aircraft's takeoff condition? Is this effect (if any) tangible in terms of flight route selection, flight level?Regards,Rustam

Hi Rustam,Sorry for the late reply, but I've been very busy last week.The best option to get real-world payload data, is probably to get a copy of the operational flightplan for the flight you want to simulate. Since this will be very difficult, I'll give two alternative ways. Some airlines use a system called ACARS to transmit load sheets to their aircraft. You'll be able to get these messages yourself with an airband radio or a web-based 'decoder', like http://www.acarsd.org. For example, here's part of a message I got from a BA aircraft...ZFW 177.1TOW 235.3PAX 134...which I think is exactly what you need.Another option might be to lookup the aircraft's weight in some cruise performance tables, if you have any. For example, if you know (from the flightplan) the initial cruise altitude is FL330 and after 500 nm there's a climb to FL350, you can guess the optimum altitude after 500 nm will be about FL340 (right between FL330 and FL350). Then you'll be able to find the weight at that point, and knowing the fuel used in the first 500 nm (use the charts), you can calculate the take-off weight. But beware, flightplans are not always filed at optimum altitude because of airway restrictions.> Also, I know that some load managers like LDS's do not allow > precise payload editing except random selections. Is it possible > therefore, to edit LDS aircraft.cfg for the above purpose?I think that's possible, but I'm not much of a help there. Perhaps it's easier to go through some random weight selections and take the one that fits your flight best...> How significant is the effect of payload on airlines' flight > schedules apart from aircraft's takeoff condition? Is this effect > (if any) tangible in terms of flight route selection, flight level?Yes, it certainly is. To give an example, the difference in optimum altitude for an empty and a fully loaded B763 is about 12000 feet, so that really has impact on route planning. Not only on the flight level, but also on the route itself, because of minimum flight levels, restrictions, etc.Cheers,http://home.planet.nl/~duijn181/cu2/koen.jpg