0:58 The vodka burner is rolling.. We have smirnoff......

2:08 and I'm running out of film, gee I hope I have enough to film the crash..

those aussies in the last video are a funny bunch

But they still don't have auto-takeoff, right?

 

Of course they do. Or, at least mine do. Simple procedure... crank in up trim, slam the throttles to the stops, close eyes and viola... Airborne. :p0503:

<br />Intense! Are commercial pilots required to calculate takeoff distance for every flight, even for flights involving light aircraft taking off from amply long runways?<br /><br />

 

Oh yes, we have to do a performance calculation for each takeoff. It's accessed through ACARS although we have paper manuals on board with tables in if required.

 

We tell it the airport, runway, weather conditions and weight of aircraft (plus a few other things like runway state, anti ice required, any fwd trim, MEL restrictions) and it gives us flap, flex and V speeds for that particular take off. It sometimes comes up with some weird and wonderful answers but you always know they're safe.

 

Auto take off is pointless as if you're able to taxi to the end of the runway you're able to take off. Conversly, if you can't see enough and would require an auto take off you'd never get to the end of the runway to start it all off.

 

Of course, for a non commercial operation you can do pretty much whatever you like...

 

Hope this helps,

 

Ian

we have to do a performance calculation for each takeoff. It's accessed through ACARS although we have paper manuals on board with tables in if required.

 

We tell it the airport, runway, weather conditions and weight of aircraft (plus a few other things like runway state, anti ice required, any fwd trim, MEL restrictions) and it gives us flap, flex and V speeds for that particular take off. It sometimes comes up with some weird and wonderful answers but you always know they're safe.

Thanks for the information. How do you personally calculate takeoff distances for FSX commercial flights (i.e., with aircraft such as the PMDG B747 and without advanced computer programs and dispatchers)?

 

Obviously there are too many variables in the real world for manual calculations to be convenient, but for FSX flights, do you just approximate distances using known acceleration rates?

Use TOPCAT, it works the same as the onboard laptop performance calculators flight crew use. Btw, manual calculations are still done by some airlines, and most definitely in training.

 

http://www.flightsimsoft.com/

Thanks for the information. How do you personally calculate takeoff distances for FSX commercial flights (i.e., with aircraft such as the PMDG B747 and without advanced computer programs and dispatchers)?

 

Obviously there are too many variables in the real world for manual calculations to be convenient, but for FSX flights, do you just approximate distances using known acceleration rates?

 

I wrote UTOPIA to mimic the system we use at work.

 

The joys of being an ex software engineer :-).

 

Hope this helps,

 

Ian

Hey Ian,

 

So you are the guy that kept many PMDG MD11 drivers happy for months. Well done mate!

Use TOPCAT, it works the same as the onboard laptop performance calculators flight crew use.

I had not seriously considered purchasing it, but I just tried the trial version, and it seems very convenient.

 

I wrote UTOPIA to mimic the system we use at work.

Thanks. I will try it.