Hi captains,Since around a month I'm flying online on IVAO and really enjoying it a lot, I can't believe how much I've missed. Really getting skilled in everything, except flight planning. I have no problems at all contructing my route with airways, way points, and picking the right SID/STARs and transitions, I already master this. But IVAP (the IVAO client), wants you to create a flight plan, and it asks you for several things which I don't exactly know how to calculate properly, so here it a list:How should I predict/calculate:- TAS (True Air Speed)- EET (Estimated Elapsed Time). I normally just use VRoute, insert my flightplan and I check my arrival time in the Export tab, but this isn't always accurate.- Cruising altitude- Average headwind/tailwind for the cruising leg.- Endurance. This is the time my airplane can fly with the amount of fuel onboard.So I really hope people here (hopefully real world pilots also) can explain me how to calculate or predict these things. So I can enter them correctly in my IVAP flightplan. Currently I'm making a lot of estimates. For example my Endurance, I simply use my EET (from VRoute) + 30 minutes). Hope you guys can help me to get an even more realistic experience.Thanks in advance!Arjen

Try fsbuild will give you all that, and soon makers of topcat will have a excellent flight planning software that will also give you this info. Real world pilots obtain this info from their ops that use software to produce the flight plan, which takes into account a/c weight, load winds aloft etc to calculate cruise altitude, speed, and fuel. A combination of fsbuild and topcat will emulate this for you.

Yeah, I'm personally very excited for PFPX.http://www.pfpx.com/It looks like it is basically a real-world dispatch program.

Hello Arjen, let me try to give you some answers which don't involve letting a payware program do all the thinking for you. Also don't forget that the flight plan for IVAO is mainly an estimate to help ATC get an idea of your behaviour and performance.- TAS (True Air Speed)It depends a bit on your altitude and Cost Index, but 450 knots should do.- EET (Estimated Elapsed Time). I normally just use VRoute, insert my flightplan and I check my arrival time in the Export tab, but this isn't always accurate.Total distance you will travel divided by your average ground speed. Vroute usually gives quite a good estimate if you take arrival time minus departure time. Don't forget that Vroute doesn't include taxi times and that the keyword is Estimated, it doesn't matter if during the flight your time is somewhat off (unless you're in an area where ATC want position reports). Have a look at some real world schedules for a rough idea.- Cruising altitudeUp to you, as long as you stick to the even / odd rules. Generally higher is better, limited by aircraft performance. Say 250-280 for EHAM-EGLL, 360-380 for longer range stuff (e.g EHAM-LGAV ) and 400-410 for maximum range, though you might require a step climb for that. Check flightaware for a good idea, though I'm not sure if that data is available for Europe.- Average headwind/tailwind for the cruising leg.If you have ActiveSky this will give that to you. Otherwise not really an easy way to get this. Find a wind aloft forecast (not easy), then calculate the average wind component manually for each leg (doable but tedious).- Endurance. This is the time my airplane can fly with the amount of fuel onboard.Next time you're cruising note the total fuel flow (flow per engine * 2). Your endurance is the amount of fuel you have loaded divided by the total fuel flow. (How much you have, divided by how much you use up per hour gives you how many hours you can keep going).I'd expect there to be guidance for a number of these points (fuel flow for flight planning purposes and cruise TAS especially) in the manuals, though I haven't read through them myself.Not a real world pilot, but I am a real world aerospace-engineer-to-beJohn-Alan Pascoe

Hello,for TAS you can also use Mach number, instead of N prefix you will use M prefix. NG typically cruises between M074-M078.EET should be wheels up/wheels down time, so what croute gives should be good enough. For IVAO anyway.Endurance depends on how much fuel you load. You can guesstimate by using 3tonnes for first hour, and 2 tonnes for every other hour, that will give you an idea (for ex. 5tonnes is about EET of 0200, 7tonnes 0300, 6tonnes, 0230)There are rules defined by FAA/JAA/EASA directing how much extra fuel you must load for such-and-such flight, in terms of weather, alternates, contingency, + you might want to load extra for unforeseen circumstances - say if I flew to Rovaniemi from Budapest on any general day, I would load about 12 tonnes of fuel, to give me my comfortable 2.5 tonnes on arrival, but if I flew there on the day of christmas event, I would load maybe 15 tonnes to give me an extra hour and a half of holding time and/or a diversion possibility)

For a total fuelplan go to:http://fuel.aerotexas.com/This is an example for Schipol to Copenhagen using 738 (PMDG) and JAR rules ad KGS (FAA and LBS is also an option):=====================================================================Amsterdam to Copenhagen // B738_PMDG // 341.8 NM---------------------------------------------------------------------Departing : Schiphol (EHAM)Arriving : Kastrup (EKCH)Equipment : Boeing 737-800 (PMDG)---------------------------------------------------------------------Description Fuel (KGS) Fuel (KGS) Hours:Mins--------------------- ---------- ---------- --------- -----------Estimated Fuel Usage:.............. 3265 <- EFU -> 01:12ReservesHolding 1344Diversion 2015Contingency 163Total reserves:................... 3522 <- RSV -> 01:18 ---------- ----------Fuel On Board:..................... 6786 <- FOB -> 02:31---------------------------------------------------------------------Rule: JAR | Basis: time | Load Factor: 73.4477---------------------------------------------------------------------FUELPLAN² Copyright 2008-2010 by Garen .AT. AeroTexas .DOT. comWorks as good as anything else, and you get the total fuel time onboard (2 hours and 31 minuts flight time with 6786 KGS fuel) ;)Have you considered TOPCAT (www.topcatsim.com) - If you really wanna go hardcore, this is the only way to go. You can use the old FS9 PMDG profiles for your 738...TOPCAT is intergratable (is that even a word?) with the upcoming PFPX (same developer www.pfpx.com), which I think will be the pinnacle of flightplanning tool for FS..Mas

Yeah, I'm personally very excited for PFPX.http://www.pfpx.com/It looks like it is basically a real-world dispatch program.

That one looks awesome. I've seen much worse company-specific dispatch software, from a user interface perspective.If pfpx is going to give us reliable and sensible data, it's one to go for.

I use FS Build, planes fuel for my weight, TAS, temp, Wind, Mach, TOC, TOD ect etc...Im supirsed more people don't talk about it on here, it is VERY VERY accurate as long as you change the weights to match the NGX, Works great and like I said its accurate...sometimes I land with +/- 200 lbs of fuel I planned to land with, that's if the Wind matches my plan and I don't get held over a VOR and the approach is straight forward. I do fuel checks at each waypoint and write down my block times and fuel as I go. It really is a must have for simulation an airline ops, until PFPX comes out this is the best option, and its all automatic.

I will only be interested in Topcat/PFPX when they can do a half reasonable runway/takeoff analysisso that a proper assumed temp can be used for thrust reduction.This is the info that is really missing for the NGX's VNAV planning.Fred.

aaand what exactly is wrong with the runway analysis it does now?

This is an example of a basic runway analysis created using Boeing's takeoff analysis software.This is just one of many different formats it can output.KBFI, runway 31L with packs on auto and flaps 5.It is for a 737-700 at 30 degrees and no wind. Simple to use and very very accurate.It clearly shows the assumed temperature which can be used. (44 degrees)Fred.

Well, yes, but how does this mean that TOPCAT analysis is not half-decent? All you need to do in TOPCAT is to click Compute on Take-off tab and it will show 32*C for the same situation (OBS limited, as far as I can tell in your example it is CLB limited, maybe a new obstacle since 1998?) disregard that, that would be for 20K. For 22K it shows almost the same values (42* asst, 133/133/134 Vspeeds, all that at Q1013)Apart from that small table, you can generate take-off report and runway report, both of which include max. assumed temp.

Well, yes, but how does this mean that TOPCAT analysis is not half-decent? All you need to do in TOPCAT is to click Compute on Take-off tab and it will show 32*C for the same situation (OBS limited, as far as I can tell in your example it is CLB limited, maybe a new obstacle since 1998?)Apart from that small table, you can generate take-off report and runway report, both of which include max. assumed temp.

Thanks !I will take a closer look at Topcat.Fred.

I can wholeheartedly recommend. I have compared its values to values of performance calculators for a certain local operator and most differnce I got was attributable to rounding difference.

I use FS Build, planes fuel for my weight, TAS, temp, Wind, Mach, TOC, TOD ect etc...Im supirsed more people don't talk about it on here, it is VERY VERY accurate as long as you change the weights to match the NGX, Works great and like I said its accurate...sometimes I land with +/- 200 lbs of fuel I planned to land with, that's if the Wind matches my plan and I don't get held over a VOR and the approach is straight forward. I do fuel checks at each waypoint and write down my block times and fuel as I go. It really is a must have for simulation an airline ops, until PFPX comes out this is the best option, and its all automatic.

I agree ... FSbuild is worth every penny ... been using it for years ... and it exports the plan to PMDG (and many others products) every time you do a new build (flight plan)!