Loading Fuel using the FMS

[kmanning 12]

Hi all,I want to be sure I understand this correctly. I've been searching for a fuel planner for the PMDG MD-11 and I have not been able to find it. When I make a flight, I'm not sure how much fuel I need to load on to the MD-11. On the MFS, there's a Fuel loader in the shortcut's page and I understand that I can actually load the fuel on to the MD-11 using the FMS. My question is does the FMS automatically know how much fuel to load on to the MD-11 fuel tanks based on using the destination and arrival entered on page 1 of 3 on the INIT page so that I'll have the correct amount of fuel loaded? Ken Manning

[Turbine777 13]

No it doesn't know based on your waypoints or Dep\Arr, is just gets your Fuel info on page #3 of the INIT (weight) pages for loading. I use it to load, as to simulate going through the ground fueling procedures.I don't use a fuel planner, and if anything get my values from VRoute. They are far from perfect so normally have a lot left over so subtract about 20,000 lbs from it on average.

[downscc 1,327]

I use the MD11 FMS to plan fuel loads. It tells you how much you should have in the tanks at destination, compare that with your contingency and alternate requirements and adjust as necessary. Putting in winds at points along the route helps it with the calculation. It turns out that this FMS is very good at this task.

[Turbine777 13]

It tells you how much you should have in the tanks at destination

Really? Where exactly does it do that? I have yet to see this but then again, my reading on the systems so far have been minimal and my main knowledge is mainly from both tutorials.

[Guest sixfourty]

It says so on the PROG page, estimated time for arrival and estimated fuel left in tanks

[mburkhard 23]

Really? Where exactly does it do that? I have yet to see this but then again, my reading on the systems so far have been minimal and my main knowledge is mainly from both tutorials.

Dan,just put in any amount of block fuel you want before actually fueling the aircraft. The FMC will then display your EFOB using that block fuel entry...Markus

[Turbine777 13]

Thanks for the help, I haven't done the 1st tutorial in some time but found the EFOB (estimated fuel on board) on page 25). Thankfully it was mentioned since I couldn't find out what EFOB stood for in any of the other manuals :)Just to make sure though; Markus, are you talking about entering it on page 2 of the weights page for the UFOB Value? Another question would be, would I enter an amount then just check the Progress page to see if the amount entered is sufficient?What I have done in the past was just enter 40k lbs for 1 hour flights, and then gone off of Vroute's fuel page for longer routes, but using the CDU would seem to be a guess and then check if correct method, or am I not understanding something?

[aentwis 61]

I find that vroute is okay for my purposes, as it gives me fuel estimates for an alternate, which I can choose. Using that figure as a basis and after I have entered my route, I make sure that I have enough fuel on board for the extra final 45 minutes...With flights near to the max. payload, I have to be really careful with the fuel planning to make sure that the alternate and contigency fuel don't push me over MLW...The FMS as a prediction tool I find is extremely accurate, and as the phrase goes, as long as you remain below MLW, there is no such thing as too much fuel, unless you are on fire :)Andrew

[Big_Duke 11]

Here's a quick and dirty method of FMS fuel calculation that I copied from a previous posting. Sorry I don't remember the author to give proper credit. it does provide fairly reasonable results within a reasonable time.

[Turbine777 13]

Nice, thanks Jerry

[aentwis 61]

Agreed... thanks for that Jerry...It reads as if you have real world experience of the aircraft!Andrew

[gman1986 14]

If you have fsbuild with the md11 aircraft profile and also active sky, you can set it up so fsbuild uses the weather information from active sky on your route and all you have to do is enter your payload into fsbuild and the fuel calculations are pretty much spot on.

[Turbine777 13]

If you have fsbuild with the md11 aircraft profile and also active sky, you can set it up so fsbuild uses the weather information from active sky on your route and all you have to do is enter your payload into fsbuild and the fuel calculations are pretty much spot on.

Yeah, I've read about this, but doesn't that only work with a certain Active Sky, or a couple? I heard it doesn't work that way with the newer ASA, which is what I have. I just input the winds from the breifing page of ASA manually.

[realpilotsimpilot 11]

Dan,just put in any amount of block fuel you want before actually fueling the aircraft. The FMC will then display your EFOB using that block fuel entry...Markus

But doesn't this require that you put in the winds aloft to be accurate? Or does it have some sort of assumed value based on direction of flight? I use real time weather, and this time a year it can be pretty stiff up there.

[gman1986 14]

Yeah, I've read about this, but doesn't that only work with a certain Active Sky, or a couple? I heard it doesn't work that way with the newer ASA, which is what I have. I just input the winds from the breifing page of ASA manually.

You still have to enter the winds manually into the fms, but if you set fsbuild up to use the weather snapshot file from asa or previous versions of active sky, then fsbuild inputs the winds aloft data into your navlog and then along with that info, the payload info it calculates the required amount of fuel for your flight, it's spy on every time