I thought I would post here first given how active this forum is. I just purchased TOPCAT and have been really enjoying the program. I'm a little curious about the fuel planner portion of it.This is for the MD-11. I'm doing a flight KMEM-PANCCargo: 103,638 LbsZFW: 334,634 LbsTotal Fuel: 125,000 LbsEstimated remaining: 31,770So I just took off and received an Insufficient Fuel On Board message on the FMC. It also mentions EFOB at 15.5If I haven't provided enough info, please let me know. Any ideas what the problem might be?ThanksChris K.

Im fairly certain that TOPCAT has a poor, if any, wind depiction for enroute fuel. It appears that it didnt figure in the headwinds. My flight planner shows 135,000 lbs fuel for that route using your weight figures.

That's what I was thinking...too bad it isn't more accurate. I double checked with this:http://fuel.aerotexas.com and got about 156,000Lbs.Any good fuel planners out there? I discovered a great one for the 747, which I downloaded from avsim.Thanks,Chris K.

Half way through the flight the FMC now has EFOB for arrival at 42.4 Lbs. Interesting...Chris K.

TOPCAT is not the best when it comes to fuel planning. It uses LRC as the basis of fuel burn and it has no idea of winds when it does its calcs (either for fuel or time in flight). I recommend vroute highly. Uses weather to determine how much fuel you are gonna need.My workflow is I use FSPassengers to tell me how many PAX I will have on board. Then I cancel the flight (so I can edit the payload and fuel).I enter that amount into Topcat. Randomize the Cargo load. Then take that payload weight and enter that into Vroute, which tells me how much fuel I require. I enter that fuel into Topcat and manually enter that into the aircraft using the PMDG drop down menu. Then have Topcat update the aircrafts payload using FSUIPC. BTW, i recommend Topcat to anyone who flies PMDG aircraft or the Level D 767.And Vroute. Vroute works with tons of addons, PMDGs, Coolsky and Maddog MD80s, Wilco Regional Jests, Feelthere ERJS, Eaglesofts Cit X. And Vroute generates this cool Flight Progress sheet that makes it real easy to keep weather reports, your IFR clearance, enroute notes, fuel burn and time, I never fly with out it now.

Scott,Thanks for the information about your work flow. I'm always curious how other's set up a flight. I've used the free version of vRoute and will look at getting the pay version after your review.Thanks much,Chris K.

Scott,Thanks for the information about your work flow. I'm always curious how other's set up a flight. I've used the free version of vRoute and will look at getting the pay version after your review.Thanks much,Chris K.

I can also vouch for the payware version of vroute! I've had it for a long time but it's not actually until the last 6 months that I realized what a gem it actually is! Very useful for finding routes or getting them from flightaware and then exporting to all kinds of payware add on's with lots of bells and whistles!

it is suprising i have used topcat but only for short routes, did not find any fuel calculation problems with itvivek

Short answer... TOPCAT is NOT a fuel planner and they have never claimed it to be.Easy & simple fix to this problem unless you have access to a real flight planning system.Plan your route, use one of the various methods to work out your trip wind head or tail. Enter your route into the FMS enter the trip wind and the ZFW along with the guess of fuel that TOPCAT provided.Then check the prog page of the FMS and make sure that the fuel at both the destination and alternate is acceptable - if not add or subtract.Unless you have access to proper flight planning then there is no other way - even at a company flying the MD-11 Boeing hide the information behind all kinds of legal speak and special agreements!Mark

also a big problem with topcat is that it only has one engine type for the md11,md11 i use has different engines to the pw in topcat

also a big problem with topcat is that it only has one engine type for the md11,md11 i use has different engines to the pw in topcat

TOPCAT uses the ge variant. ;)

also a big problem with topcat is that it only has one engine type for the md11,md11 i use has different engines to the pw in topcat

Alex,even with just one engine variant, it still is a lot better than nothing. And the thrust difference between GE and PW is not THAT big... For desktop simulation this is more than close enough. After all in a simulation you would not need the last meter of accuracy, but you need to know how the process works, and you'd want a less rocket-like take-off on a short flight.A perfect software even if you only fly PW.Regards,Markus

Any good fuel planners out there?

Hi Chris,have you tried fsbuild? With the right cfgs it's pretty precise, even with the MD-11. The main problem with the MD-11 is the Boeing policy not to hand out any accurate thrust and fuel burning tables. But on avsim (I think) and flightsim.com you'll get a good cfg you can easily add to fsbuild.

The FMS in the MD11 is actually very good at fuel forecasts given reasonable wind forecasts. I use it exclusively.

Using Active Sky Evo the briefing page will give you average wind component and temperature if you import your route (Fsbuild for me, and sometimes vroute).As mentioned above, the FMS will kick out the most accurate fuel forecast from the progress page. Even on very long trans-pacific flights, I've come within a few thousand pounds.And by the way - TOPCAT is great. I have my VA fleet in there. The W&B page is a gem.