Simulating Real World Airline Flights

[swbray 1]

I've been a flight sim enthusiast since the 1980s.  What has kept me interested has been the increasing realism that can be simulated in this hobby.  In line with my desire for realistic experiences, I mostly enjoy flying real-world airline routes.  I've typically taken the pdf timetable for the airline and planned trips.  The pdf allowed me to look for flights that were realistic for a pilot:  from the hub to a destination, find the flight that leaves on the same aircraft type about an hour later, etc.  I used United Airlines timetables for years until they were discontinued, so I switched to simulate flying Delta routes.  Now, Delta seems to have stopped publishing a timetable that I can use to plan my flights.

Any tips on how to create an approximation of real world pilot schedules?  I've looked at Virtual Airlines, but their schedules generally don't seem to reflect real world schedules.

 

[rmeier 473]

Have you looked at Flightaware.com?

[swbray 1]

Hi rmeier.  I use Flightaware to get the flight plan used by specific flights.  I'm looking for a way to create the trip schedule.  In the past, I used the pdf timetables to create my own trip plan, which would look something like this:

30Aug  DAL1368  A320  DCA  MSP  Dept 0605  Arr 0744  ENR 2+39

30Aug  DAL1585  A321  MSP  SAN  Dept 0905  Arr 1053  ENR 3+48

and so on....

The pdf timetables made this very easy to do; less so with the apps that just have you search for departure and destination.

[HighBypass 2,339]

Welcome to AVSIM by the way! 

[swbray 1]

Thanks, HighBypass!

[Overload 91]

Flight Radar 24 App might be what you need (Iphone Ipad, Android, PC)

Here's an example, I randomly clicked on DAL2631 - it shows as a 737-800 Atlanta to Palm Springs - it's reg is N774DE, you can click on show more N774DE flights, you can see its flights going back for months.

I chose its flights for Dec 20th, just as an example, it did 6 flights, starting at Blountville 0817, ending at Akron 2255 . You can replay the flight, to see the route if you want. 

The only thing you won't know is where a crew change happened, but a best guess would be 3 sectors each for the 2 crews needed?

It's formatted better in the app, start at the bottom for the first flight of the day, they do a free/silver/gold version, free gives you 7 days past flights access, silver 60days - $10/year, not a lot.

20 Dec 2019

Atlanta (ATL)

Akron (CAK)

DL2613

1:12

21:19

21:43

23:02

Landed 22:55

	20 Dec 2019	Nashville (BNA)	Atlanta (ATL)	DL2176	0:39	17:30	17:39	19:42		Landed 19:19

	20 Dec 2019	Atlanta (ATL)	Nashville (BNA)	DL2176	0:42	16:37	16:45	16:45		Landed 16:27

	20 Dec 2019	Nassau (NAS)	Atlanta (ATL)	DL376	1:53	13:15	13:19	15:34		Landed 15:12

	20 Dec 2019	Atlanta (ATL)	Nassau (NAS)	DL660	1:35	10:15	10:33	12:17		Landed 12:07

	20 Dec 2019	Blountville (TRI)	Atlanta (ATL)	DL1417	0:46	07:45	08:17	09:03		Landed 09:04

 

Eugene

 

[scianoir 610]

FlightAware, as others have suggested, is an excellent source of information particularly for contemporary routes and schedules. However another very useful source of schedule data is a website called Airline Timetable Images,  https://www.timetableimages.com/  particularly if you want to fly classic airliners on routes from years gone by.

Bill

 

[fluffyflops 1,858]

On 12/22/2019 at 2:42 PM, swbray said:

 

Any tips on how to create an approximation of real world pilot schedules?  I've looked at Virtual Airlines, but their schedules generally don't seem to reflect real world schedules.

 

It's not as easy as you think.  You have to factor. 

1. Which country's rule set

2. What Union ruleset

3.weekly hours 

4. Monthly hours 

5 yearly hours 

6. Take off and landings In 3 months 

7. Age of the other pilot (over 55 or 60)

8. Medical restrictions 

9. Time of day 

10. If they are doing consecutive day of night duties 

11. Rest from the previous day. 

12. Days off in the week, and month. 

13. Special ratings for airports. 

14 time zones 

15 hours away from base

Do you want me to carry on????  I'll throw another 10

Schedling / Rostering It's not as easy as people think,  that's why pilots dont understand Ftls 😁

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by fluffyflops

[matrosov 3]

I use a little program called a pilots life.  They have a schedule generator by airline that you can setup to replicate a real airline schedule pretty closely at least time wise if not date wise.  The rest of it is basically a role playing overlay of points and  hours and money.  So the idea is that you start as a newbie airline pilot and you are given a preset choice of airlines to pick from.  It starts you off with regional airline, as you gain more flight experience you can bid on big player airlines and there is a roll of dice involved on whether or not you will get a job and you get access to more routes with bigger players. Scheduler generates blocks of 12 legs you can set it up in such a way that they are continuous, by filtering on just one home hub. For the most part it works out to be a one hour turn around between each of the legs and after that you can just plop the gate and the route from flightaware and be on your way.  Pretty decent setup to give some purpose to flying. 

 

[qqwertz 782]

You can buy up-to-date schedules in CSV format for many real world airlines from https://virtualairlineschedules.net

[matrosov 3]

Actually that's why I got a pilots life.  They use VA schedules as their engine and they seem to be pretty up to date for one time upfront cost vs buying it again if I want to try a different airline. 

 

[Gary M Buska 1]

Hello

I am currently flying for Pan American Virtual Airline the times and flights that we have are to the best of my knowledge the actual flight times departure and destinations are the same ones that Pan AM used to fly we even try to use the same aircraft that was used back than. Lately we have updated both our fleet and departure points to what Pan AM would be flying today if they were still around.

Please come and check us out

We are not your typical Virtual Airline from day one you can fly any flight and use any aircraft you so desire we prefer that you use a aircraft painted with the Pan Am colors but it is not mandatory.

We also ask that you try to use a similar aircraft that has the same range and passenger and cargo capabilities as the one designated for the flight but it is not mandatory.

You will have to pick a Hub for your home base but you are not required to fly all of your flights out of that hub. We recently have added Charter flights on weekends that can be of your choice from and to any where you desire to go using any aircraft you want.

The only requirement is that you fly 2 flights a month your choice to stay active.

Come and check us out

http://panamericanva.com/

Captain Gary M Buska

 

[fluffyflops 1,858]

On 1/7/2020 at 6:29 PM, Gary M Buska said:

Hello

I am currently flying for Pan American Virtual Airline the times and flights that we have are to the best of my knowledge the actual flight times departure and destinations are the same ones that Pan AM used to fly we even try to use the same aircraft that was used back than. Lately we have updated both our fleet and departure points to what Pan AM would be flying today if they were still around.

Please come and check us out

We are not your typical Virtual Airline from day one you can fly any flight and use any aircraft you so desire we prefer that you use a aircraft painted with the Pan Am colors but it is not mandatory.

We also ask that you try to use a similar aircraft that has the same range and passenger and cargo capabilities as the one designated for the flight but it is not mandatory.

You will have to pick a Hub for your home base but you are not required to fly all of your flights out of that hub. We recently have added Charter flights on weekends that can be of your choice from and to any where you desire to go using any aircraft you want.

The only requirement is that you fly 2 flights a month your choice to stay active.

Come and check us out

http://panamericanva.com/

Captain Gary M Buska

 

Can I fly a pan am into lxgb or lowi? 

[fluffyflops 1,858]

On 1/3/2020 at 5:52 PM, qqwertzde said:

You can buy up-to-date schedules in CSV format for many real world airlines from https://virtualairlineschedules.net

I imagine as its the monthly schedules they are downloading from the oag book and Coverting into csv or dumping from sabre / gds.  

[regis9 4,014]

With flightaware you can also use the “track inbound flight” option to piece together where a plane has been.  As mentioned though that doesn’t really cover the complexity of rosters.  Personally I only ever fly one leg at a time but I’ve also said I would take a day and try to replicate a pilot’s workday, just haven’t done it yet.