To experienced tubeliner drivers this probably won't sound like much, but tonight I had my first proper FMC-programmed flight and completed it successfully. More or less. I've always done GA/bush flying until now with too many 3rd party airliners left gathering dust in the hangar. Enough is enough, I thought, I can't keep putting this off.

I picked the Quality Wings 757 tutorial flight as the inaugural hop. A good choice as it turned out, because while it isn't near the likes of PMDG in terms of depth it provided more than enough complexity to keep me busy through the flight, although busier than I would have been if I'd done things properly.

The tutorial flight is KTPA (Tampa) to KMIA (Miami). I set it up, dealt with the route discontinuity and hit the first snag when the fixes, approaches, SIDS, STARS and even runways specified in the tutorial didn't match those in the FMC. I'd read about this kind of thing before, so I knew if I picked the nearest thing to them I could find I should be OK.  This seemed to work fine on departure, and for the first time ever I selected LNAV and VNAV (normally I just twiddle the numbers in the autopilot panel), and it worked. Brilliant. Except it did a great job of taking me off on the wrong departure (chosen by yours truly, of course). I would have been heading ESE, instead I was heading north. Not to worry, on expanding the nav display I saw that the flight plan would swing me south again after a while. 

What I missed was that while would be a very long while, and take me almost to the northernmost edge of Florida. Once I realised what was going on, I knew what was needed. With a GPS I would have just done a Direct-To, but this wasn't available. So i decided to try deleting a waypoint. Success! The aircraft turned to the southeast as planned (once I'd remembered to hit execute). Not long after, a warning appeared on the display about fuel pumps. I checked the fuel status and the centre tank was empty so I reckoned it was something to do with that. I carried out a little...ahem...mid-air refuelling to get the centre tank up from 0 and sure enough the warnings went away. This suggested to me that there is more depth to the QW 757 than people tend to give it credit for. Or maybe I'm just easily impressed. During this time I realised I hadn't set up my waypoints properly, missing couple, including a critical one for the approach, so I inserted the correct waypoints in the correct places, and felt quite happy with my progress (if not the flight's).

After that everything seemed on the right track so I passed some time exploring the FMC learning some useful things until I heard the cabin crew announcing something about commencing descent. When ten minutes later I was still a cruise altitude, I suspected something was amiss. (I'm sharp like that...) A check of the legs page showed that I should have been at FL290 and soon FL240 but I was still trundling along at FL340! I soon located the cause, I had left 340000 in the MCP as per instructions, but missed the one that said to lower it in time for the descent to start. I fixed that and gave it lots of spoiler, which stayed on for most of the rest of the flight.

Next problem was my choice of arrival. I was coming down the east coast for an approach to an east-west runway. As I looked at the turns involved I knew there was no way the 757 could make those angles, and so it came to pass. A few miles out on final, and hopelessly out of position, I knocked off the autopilot and autothrottle and hand flew it in manually. The ILS information I had dialled in wasn't much help, but then I hadn't exactly given it a chance to be, so I couldn't exactly complain. I got down safely if not smoothly, and taxied to the gate, feeling like I had really done some work.

Things I learned:

- Introduction to FMC operation
- How to deal with route discontinuities
- How to pick the correct departure and arrival procedures
- How to manage VNAV altitudes and make sure they work
- What the EPR button is for
- How to derate your engines
- What cost index means

Not a great flight, but a very productive evening! What a great hobby this is...

Takes a while to learn, but you'll get the hang of it, and the QualityWings 757 isn't a bad choice for when you're starting out, given the complexity level. One thing I will point out, though, is that with the 757, and most larger commercial jets, you have fuel tanks in each wing in addition to the center tanks. The fuel is supposed to be burned from the center tank first before it starts burning from the wing tanks, so when the center tanks went empty, you didn't need to do this mid-air refueling. All you needed to do was turn the fuel pumps off for the center tank.

Great job, you will remember that.  I still like having to improvise sometimes, something unforeseen happens, or a flight planning mistake makes me have to pull the rabbit out of the hat.

Here's a good link on Cost index...page 2 especially speaks to the 757:

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/articles/qtr_2_07/article_05_1.html

2 hours ago, Holdit said:

What a great hobby this is...

The learning process never ends. It's what makes this hobby so fun. I've been in this hobby for 23 years and I'm still learning new things.

 

Correction: I was arriving east of the airport for a west-east runway approach (08R). 

I also recently (late last year) started learning the art of FMC programmed flights, and I am thoroughly enjoying myself conducting multiple short haul flights around the UK and Ireland in the PMDG 737 NGX and 747-400. I always get a thrill when the aircraft follows my flightplan instructions, lines up perfectly with the runway on final approach, and captures the ILS glideslope

I still don't know what cost index means though

5 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

I also recently (late last year) started learning the art of FMC programmed flights, and I am thoroughly enjoying myself conducting multiple short haul flights around the UK and Ireland in the PMDG 737 NGX and 747-400. I always get a thrill when the aircraft follows my flightplan instructions, lines up perfectly with the runway on final approach, and captures the ILS glideslope

My next planned trip in the 757 is Dublin-London (once I complete the tutorial properly!). I was a passenger in a 747 once on that route, so I don't think using a 757 on it is too much of a stretch. I'll keep an eye open for your NGX. 

I'm also looking forward to some flights into EGLC, when I move on to the QW 146/ RJ and then the Majestic Q400. I also have a PMDG NGX, CS 757, Aersoft A320/1 and Leonardo Maddog giving me big sad eyes when I'm in the hangar, but I'll get round to them all eventually.

 

That was a fun read. Glad to know you've discovered the joy of flying the big boy toys. Look forward to reading more from you.

Good thread.

 

Start here for CI (cost index) info guys:

https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Cost_Index

 

47 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

I still don't know what cost index means though

Allow me...(ahem)...the takeaway I got from my brief reading was that it's an expression of how speed of arrival is balanced against fuel usage for that flight i.e. whether it's more important to save fuel or to get there quickly. A low cost index would prioritise fuel savings, while a high cost index would prioritise a timely arrival. 

For more reliable information, see the links provided by other posters... 

18 minutes ago, Holdit said:

Allow me...(ahem)...the takeaway I got from my brief reading was that it's an expression of how speed of arrival is balanced against fuel usage for that flight i.e. whether it's more important to save fuel or to get there quickly. A low cost index would prioritise fuel savings, while a high cost index would prioritise a timely arrival. 

For more reliable information, see the links provided by other posters... 

Pretty much spot on.

If you end up flying for any of the bigger VA's they'll probably ask you to implement it in your flight planning so, although you can just leave at 20 (slower) or 100 (v fast), it's as well to gain a reasonable understanding of it.

In the real world, Cost Index can really change the revenue picture for a carrier.  A few knots or fpm here and there on one flight may not seem like much, but when you leverage that across 20-30 flights a day across 365 days a year, it can really affect their bottom line in fuel cost and time cost/ savings.

15 minutes ago, Mace said:

In the real world, Cost Index can really change the revenue picture for a carrier.  A few knots or fpm here and there on one flight may not seem like much, but when you leverage that across 20-30 flights a day across 365 days a year, it can really affect their bottom line in fuel cost and time cost/ savings.

Absolutely correctomundo amigo.

 

CI is the Flight Dispatchers eternal headache.

 

"What time's it GOT to be there?"

"What time did we tell the punters it WILL be there?"

"What delays are going to F* up any connections we HAVE to make at the DEST airport?"

"What's the profit on this route anyway?"

"What's the DAMN Winds Aloft Data saying now anyway?"

 

The list goes on and on 'til the crack of doom!

 

(If you're new to CI and just learning - just go with 20-30 until you iron it out)

I once noticed that a Southwest flight I was on from Denver climbed a lot faster with a full load than my PMDG 737 does. I've just been using the same cost index since I first read the tutorial flight. Now I know why. I learned something here today also. Time to crank that cost index up! I've got a low cost for virtual fuel.

Ted

We end up changing it anyway based on "is it day 4 go-home leg?"