Well, I have been flying the MD11 on very short legs especially when compared to the aircraft's Range. So Fuel Calculation is not hard. However I would like too see some exotics areas and what better way to do it than crossing the pacific or whatever in an MD11. I have the aircraft, I know how to fly it, I can calculate Take Off perf, but one problem, I dont know how to accurately come up with a BLOCK FUEL for my desired route. I am aware that oficially (apart from Boeing) nobody has any perf data for the big bird. However I was just wondering what you fellow MD11 pilots do to calculate your desired BLOCK FUEL. I'm very curious to see if anyone has any rules of thumb of any sort. Especially those MD11 pilots more accustomed to those long haul flights :-)

Raphael,I assume that your username is also your real name, but if you would kindly sign your posts, it would be appreciated (forum rules).You'll get a lot of different answers about the various software available to do what you want. Most are pretty good, and one or two are pretty close to the actual software used by airline dispatchers in the "real world". If that's what you're looking for, then search for posts on a program called Flight Operations Center (FOC).Otherwise, if you're looking for a fast, free, web based fuel planner then I'd recommend this one:http://fuel.aerotexas.com/I posted a while back (a year ago, maybe) about how terrible this planner was. It's changed since then, and it's actually pretty darn accurate now.

A quick and dirty method is to use the FMS to calculate block fuel in an iterative process. The attached guide might seem cumbersome at first, but once you try it, you'll find you'll be able to quickly calculate the block fuel very accurately.

Thanks very much guys Im going to look at these straight away and experiment with them :-) Any other suggestions are welcome :-). I'll give you feedback regarding your posts.Raphael Soler :-)

I tried out both options. The more "Manual" way yielded very good results and the the fuel times for holding, reserve and to alternate + 5% contingency factor looked good. Giving me a 11ton fuel capacity at arrival. Which I can increase as I wish depending on traffic, weather, and so on.The other method seems to work well too. However, the fuel planner does not compensate for winds. And since I actually had a tailwind on my route the fuel planner calculated more fuel than I actually needed. However Im not sure if maybe the planner has a safety factor for a headwind component in any case.Both methods work for me. Thanks guys :-) I will continue searching for any other fuel planners. However, the discepancies are not enormous.Raphael Soler PS. could not find anything about FOC yet.

I tried out both options. The more "Manual" way yielded very good results and the the fuel times for holding, reserve and to alternate + 5% contingency factor looked good. Giving me a 11ton fuel capacity at arrival. Which I can increase as I wish depending on traffic, weather, and so on.The other method seems to work well too. However, the fuel planner does not compensate for winds. And since I actually had a tailwind on my route the fuel planner calculated more fuel than I actually needed. However Im not sure if maybe the planner has a safety factor for a headwind component in any case.Both methods work for me. Thanks guys :-) I will continue searching for any other fuel planners. However, the discepancies are not enormous.Raphael Soler PS. could not find anything about FOC yet.

Hi Ralph,Check out the Aerosoft site.You can read about FOC .Norman Bowman

Raphael Soler PS. could not find anything about FOC yet.

http://www.danur.com/frontpage/index.htmUnfortunately their navdata provider did not want to renew the contract, so currently you cannot get updates.

in the foc sotware you ll get datas for PW engines in kilos and GE in lbs and they re real datas.Phil

Try vRoute, the fuel planner is not bad, has the pmdg MD-11 as an option for fuel planning. It lets you choose an alt airport, payload, captain's reserve fuel, and altitude......and uses those to calculate the taxi, total trip, contingency, alternate, final reserve, minimum landing, and total fuel amounts.I flew the same route twice from KLAS-KLAX (BOACH HEC CIVET) using both vroute and aerotexas for fuel planning, vroute spit out the following:OptionsAlt: KSANPayload: 104,423 lbs (PAX & Cargo via the PMDG Load Manager)FL300Captain's Reserve: 500lbs (default)ResultsTaxi: 4500Total trip: 11230Contingency: 1060Alternate: 6930Final reserve: 6360Minimum landing: 2000Captain's Reserve: 500 (can be modified)Total - 32580I thought this was still too much but yielded better results than aerotexas which spit out 37000 lbs total fuel, although I could not choose a FL, Alt, or Payload so the results could've been lower.....or higher!I'm sure the manual way yields the most accurate results since you can calculate wind and other factors not included in these planners.

Thanks very much for your input guys. I have been reading a few reviews about FOC and it seems like its a very immersive program. So I might give it a try. With regards to Vroute I will also try that out in due course. Raphael Soler :-)

Thanks very much for your input guys. I have been reading a few reviews about FOC and it seems like its a very immersive program. So I might give it a try. With regards to Vroute I will also try that out in due course. Raphael Soler :-)

I recently began to use TOPCAT for my heavy metal needs. I'm honestly blown away with this program, it does SO much for planning. For the MD-11 for example, it'll calculate fuel required, FLEX, optimal flaps and a bunch of other stuff besides. You can download a trial version (only 747 IIRC), give it a try.Cheers, Chris Dalgarno

Thanks Chris,Yes the praise for TOPCAT just never seems to end. It certainly is attracting my purchase. I didnt know that TOPCAT calculated BLOCK fuel I thought it was uniquely constructed for t/o perf purposes. Well I guess its a surprisingly added bonus :-)

From the PMDG FMS manual- BLOCK entry: "Pilot entry in this field allows trial entries for fuel planning purposes"Are people confusing this with the actual fuel on board, or are people saying the BLOCK fuel calculator is inaccurate and so go to other fuel planner software?Clark

Edited January 12, 201214 yr by clarkTX

@JeffTaxi fuel 4500? That is way too much!. Maybe a typo?I have never found a good fuel programm and I've tried them all. When putting in fuel just check your alternate destination. When it's having there 10000 KG of fuel it's ok. When your true destination is on it's minima's (weather) you can add some more.Cheers,John

I find TOPCAT and FSBuild are good for reasonable fuel calculations.The thing I like about FSBuild is it can import updated winds using ASE2012 (or its predecessors) and that helps with the fuel planning.