An automated dispatcher would be AWESOME.

Yes I did fly it. Took about an hour in the morning to finish off a flightplan. Maube 30 mins til I left the gate. Took off 56 minutes late. Arrived at KLAX late according to schedule (fp a bit rushed could have been shorter). One FS9 crash about 1000nm (out of 8000) from the end. On restart all instruments apart from the Autopilot and transponder dead (yes all was on where it should be). Found KLAX using FSNAV and the backup instruments. Landed (sort of). Great flight badly timed. 15 hours and KZLA CTR came only just as my wheels touched the ground which would have been mt first ATC!BTW I am now closely examining the fp to try and cut the route if I can. Gonna jeep trying and meet the schedule or die trying.Andrew Brownhttp://www.gordiusfs.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

I would say, yeah about 30 mins or so, on a regular PMDG flight.

About 30 minutes for me: flight plan with FSBuild and/or the BAV OSP, fuel planning, MCDU preparation including the SID, BAV Acars setup, weather checks then the startup checks and procedure.

A virtual dispatcher would be exellent, something that loads passengers, fuel, organises weights/speeds/plans and gives slot times and random problems/delays etc etc. It would be best if this application could be run through WIDEFS too so that it does not degrade FS performance at all.It takes me a good 30-45 mins to set up properly.

Why would you be in FS before getting your dispatch though? I would think it would a completely seperate application that just created a flight plan /situation file. It would in essence be a flight planner.

It would in essence be a flight planner?Maybe; I've been thinking that myself but flight planners don't really do it like a dispatcher does.I think it would be really cool if the flitht planner went a stage or two futher in terms of use to include all the elements that a real dispatcher does for the pilot.I mean. The pilot does not decide how many passangers he takes or how much fule. Yes he may add some more fuel? He won't chuck passangers off and he won't decide the route.So as a simmer we do more jobs than the real world piots do. We are pilot and co-pilot and dispatcher.What a real dispatcher does is work out the most fuel efficient route based on loads and available tracks etc. It takes a lot of work got get all this information prepared for the pilots.Such a program would have to download weather and then work out the routes to avoid strong head winds etc. But I'm not sure how well the simulator models this kind of thing.

On average, it takes me about 30mins, which is roughly the equivalent of a real flight.In reality, pilots usually have to arrive 30mins before departure. Plenty of time for the initial walk-around, receiving aircraft checklist and to setup the FMC. You usually get the loadsheet and fuel slip shortly before the door closes anyway, so you basically do the fuel/weight calculations just before pushback.As for the planning: Yes, that takes longer, because you, the PIC, have to plan everyting. In reality dispatch does that for you.

As for the planning: Yes, that takes longer, because you, the PIC, have to plan everyting. In reality dispatch does that for you.Thats about what I figure sir.30 mins preflight assuming you have a prepared route that just needs to be programed in the FMC.

not only do I like to do as much pre flight as possible, but, when flying small GA, I like to put a plastic bag over my head and gradually tighten it to simulate oxygen deprivation....HEY, GUYS.....JUST KIDDING...PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS...but, to give a real answer to the question...I always check all my views before starting my engine(s. For one thing, it loads scenery into cache memory so I get no signifigant delays in flight. Secondly, I consider it a visual walk around. Where possible, I try to mimic the actual startup routines, tho I confess to being a little sloppy about rpm and manifold management.Sherm

Well that is why I say "in essence".Without the flight planning part it wouldn't be very useful would it? :)Let me say what I would want-First, I would get to choose what type of type of flight I am looking to fly:1) GA- This would be a small, short, hop preferably between two locations. Possibly let the user select origin/destination, or have it be random. Maybe it would have a database of pre-selected and well known flights- such as a Boston to Nantucket flight to pick up some chowder, or San Francisco to Napa Valley for a wine tasting. Maybe flights that would show off some of the neat destinations in FS.2) Small Commercial- Puddle jumper in small charter planes.3) Medium Commercial- 2 hour flights in ATR type planes.4) Heavy Commercial- Real-world type routes in 747s etc.I think the key to the commercial flights would be how the routes are chosen. Let's say it had a table of flights for a particular airline- either built in, through upload, or by parsing the AI flights. And based on the time you were planning to fly it would pick/build an appropriate route. Or maybe it could pull them in order. It could also build a random flight between two destinations, or even choose origin/destination for you. But I think a pre-built table would be what most people would want (I want real- but I don't want to have to put in the effort to figure out what is real- THAT should be up to the dispatcher).Also, I think the program should come pre-configured for a large amount of default/addon aircraft parameters. That would be necessary for obvious reasons.Next, after the route plan, it would pick a random (or realistic based on tables) loadout, do the fuel planning, give you a weather report/forecast, and anything else you might need (radio frequencies, sid/star charts, approach charts?). Naturally, there would be a "board aircraft" button that would create the flight plan file and start flight sim with it loaded.I think it would be a great add-on.

1 to 1.5 hours using RFP 747-200