A Pilots LIfe V2 and PMDG-Fenix

[qqwertz 799]

13 minutes ago, Alvega said:

Hmm, when I click on plane flying in US it shows the route, but in Europe it doesn't.

Ah, OK, I misunderstood. You can search worldwide for flights, and it will show you the flightpath. However, waypoints and airways are added only in the US, correct. I get those from Simbrief, and I think APL does the same.

[El Diablito 330]

I just moved from All Nippon to United and the flight numbers on my schedule don't seem to correspond to the routes I've been given. Out of 10 flights only 2 are correct. I haven't seen that before and I'm wondering is that an AVL issue or do United routinely change route flight numbers?

For example; my 1st flight is UAL2684 - KLGA to KORD. When I check Flightaware that flight number is Chicago to Austin.

[qqwertz 799]

1 hour ago, El Diablito said:

I just moved from All Nippon to United and the flight numbers on my schedule don't seem to correspond to the routes I've been given. Out of 10 flights only 2 are correct. I haven't seen that before and I'm wondering is that an AVL issue or do United routinely change route flight numbers?

For example; my 1st flight is UAL2684 - KLGA to KORD. When I check Flightaware that flight number is Chicago to Austin.

I had the same problem with other airlines in APL. From my observations in APL, I would say this may reflect one of the following issues:

1) The RW airline has several routes with different flight numbers connecting the same cities, and I picked the wrong flight number in APL

2) The RW airline has several routes with different flight numbers connecting the same cities, and APL only has a subset of those

3) APL routes are not current. I think APL does a winter and a summer schedule cycle, but many airlines change their schedule on a monthly base. APL is bound to be behind most of the time.

4) APL schedules can sometimes be plain wrong. I've been browsing through APL airlines a lot and have seen airlines based in the Carribean how offer most of their flights in the Middle East. I also remember how thrilled I was when I found a transcontinental flight to EDDR (I am partial to that airport) and then realized that it was offered by a small airline in South America. In reality, EDDR has only a few scheduled flights within Germany and charter flights to mediterranean holiday destinations. Having said that, APL schedules are close to real schedules 95% of the time, and errors cannot be fully avoided.

[El Diablito 330]

Thx for your feedback, qqwertz. Yeah this is the 1st time it's happened to me. I've used European, South American and Asian airlines and every route/flight number was 100% accurate. I'm guessing it's a policy of US airlines and APL just doesn't catch up in time, which is understandable. It's no big deal for me really, I normally use the flight numbers to find the correct gate information is all, I'll just have to be creative.

[Bobsk8 12,863]

28 minutes ago, El Diablito said:

Thx for your feedback, qqwertz. Yeah this is the 1st time it's happened to me. I've used European, South American and Asian airlines and every route/flight number was 100% accurate. I'm guessing it's a policy of US airlines and APL just doesn't catch up in time, which is understandable. It's no big deal for me really, I normally use the flight numbers to find the correct gate information is all, I'll just have to be creative.

I just go to the flight, program the flight plan in Simbrief and fly. couldn't care less about flight numbers, schedules, or whether or not the flight attendants are cute. 😉

[El Diablito 330]

37 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

I just go to the flight, program the flight plan in Simbrief and fly. couldn't care less about flight numbers, schedules, or whether or not the flight attendants are cute. 😉

I used to be like this when I was learning how to fly all these aircraft, Bob, but I've become a stickler for details over time, especially being such a commercial airline industry geek.

Someone mentioned in another thread about preferring classic aircraft over modern airliners where you have to actually fly the plane rather than just pushing the autopilot and letting the aircraft do all the work etc. I get it, I understand why people prefer the simulation of flying older more analogue aircraft. For me when flying commercial airliners it's not just about the aircraft, it's about the quality of the airport and the smallest of real world details related to your flight, which includes gate numbers etc. That's when I feel like I'm truly simulating commercial flights rather than just simulating flight, which is what others do in the older aircraft. It's the beauty of the sim when all possibilities are available for everyone.

[El Diablito 330]

By the way, I found this info on some obscure website called crankyflier.com. The post is from 2015.

"Hey Cranky,

Really curious about something; hoping you can answer it on your blog (or otherwise).

Why does United have flight numbers that seem to change day to day / week to week? Maybe I’m imagining it, but it seems more haphazard than other airlines’ flight numbering schemes.

You are not seeing things, Tevi. United does seem to vary its flight numbers a lot, and it’s really strange. I went to United to get some answers on this one.

To start, it’s important to keep in mind that flight numbers are scarce resources. Every system is coded to have four-digit flight numbers and no more. That was fine back in the day, but today with mega-carriers and codeshares, that’s not really enough anymore. The cost involved to move to a five-digit flight number is substantial, and I don’t imagine it’s going to happen anytime soon. Gone are the days where even-numbered flights went one direction and odd-numbered flights went the other, with flight numbers not changing for years. Airlines today need to do what they can to maximize flight number usage.

During mergers, things get even more compressed as airlines end up having to codeshare with each other. During United’s merger with Continental, the numbers were carved up. Most of pre-merger Continental’s long haul flights used numbers between 1 and 199. Pre-merger United used 200-999 (with most Asian flights using the historic 800 series and European flights using the historic 900 series). Pre-merger Continental shorter haul flying fell into the 1000-1764 range (with a few cutouts in the middle). Above that? Express carriers (with each carrier having its own dedicated range) and then codeshare partners beyond that. You can follow it all the way up to United flight 9998, a flight from Brussels to Vienna operated by Brussels Airlines.

That’s a lot to pack into 9,999 flight numbers, and United decided to get creative. So it was back in late 2012 when United introduced a new system that would optimize flight numbers. It would randomly look at the schedule every day and, using some parameters, would spit out a list of flight numbers to be used. What were those parameters?

There were the usual things, like trying to keep prominent flight numbers on regular routes (mostly long haul). But it was more than that. Even though the need for segregating United and Continental operations by flight number range had passed, United opted to continue to do things along those lines for operational reasons. It’s not actually a strict Continental/United breakdown anymore. It’s more about fleet type. For example, there are some 737-900s that were technically delivered to the United side and those operate under the same flight number ranges as the other 737-900s on the Continental side.

The airline apparently liked this internally because it could know a lot about a flight just by looking at the flight number. But this didn’t consider that from a customer perspective, it was really confusing.

For example, let’s stick with Ft Lauderdale to Denver. Today, United has a 320p flight on an A320. That’s flight 780. But tomorrow, it’s a 630p flight on a 737-900. That’s flight 1571. On Saturday, it’s back to a 325p flight on an A320 but the flight number is 764.

But that’s not all. The morning flight leaves at 744a today as flight 1452 on a 737-900. Tomorrow it’s a 737-800 and moves to flight 1758. Sunday, it’s back to a 737-900 but it now leaves at 736a. It’s flight 1736. Monday it’s still a 737-900 but it leaves at 746a and it’s flight 1660. What gives?

Some of the problem lies in shifting daily schedules. These days, airlines optimize their schedules by day, so it’s easy to just re-optimize every day and not really worry about consistency during the week. That’s how United has run things for the past couple years."

 

Seems like they still operate this system so APL is off the hook!

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

Question:-

using Newsky or APL2, when loading a flight. Do you have to then manually enter the weights and loads in to the aircraft in msfs weight screen ? 

[Alvega 2,126]

26 minutes ago, Ianrivaldosmith said:

Question:-

using Newsky or APL2, when loading a flight. Do you have to then manually enter the weights and loads in to the aircraft in msfs weight screen ? 

 APL2 has nothing to do with weight and load, it just tells you you need to fly from airport x to airport y. The rest you do as you usually do when you are not using it (I use Simbrief). I think Newsky is the same.

 

[qqwertz 799]

10 hours ago, Ianrivaldosmith said:

using Newsky or APL2, when loading a flight. Do you have to then manually enter the weights and loads in to the aircraft in msfs weight screen ? 

As Alvega wrote, APL is about the pilots job. Since the exact payload doesn't affect a pilot's salary, APL does not even specify the amount of payload. However, it gives you a Simbrief link to plan your flight, and Simbrief puts in a random payload. Very convenient, and you will never run into trouble unless Simbrief messes things up (which happens rarely).

In Newsky, things are very different. You have to lease airplanes (currently you can lease as many as you want) and to specify cabin layout and cargo compartment size. Depending of the rating of your airline, you will then be offered a certain payload. My airline has a pretty high rating, so payload tends to be at full capacity. It happens regularly that, on longer flights, payload and fuel exceed MTOW, so you have to carefully plan your flight, maybe reject some payload, or play with the fuel reserve rules. E.g., you can pick an alternate that is close by, thus reducing the block fuel that Simbrief tells you to load. Newsky only mandates a minimum amount of fuel that is pretty low, but you can add as much as you want/can. You lose points if your plane is not correctly loaded. I personally like the challenge to get fuel and payload right.

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

Nice thanks, so when getting the figures from newsky/simbrief, I then just use the load manager in MSFS to match it all up right? 

[qqwertz 799]

1 hour ago, Ianrivaldosmith said:

Nice thanks, so when getting the figures from newsky/simbrief, I then just use the load manager in MSFS to match it all up right? 

Yes. Newsky seems not to change anything in the sim, it just monitors variables. I am flying the ATR, so I just import Simbrief data into the airplane's tablet and that's it. One inconvenience for me is that Newsky works in kg, while my flights are mostly in the Americas. I convert total payload and minimum fuel with a calculator and set Simbrief data accordingly.  

[sd_flyer 6,091]

PL2 gets more ridicules. I have purchased aircraft licenses that include PC-12 and joined Southern Airways that  primarily operates PC-12 (as per mimicking real life schedules). After successful flight I got penalized for not arming spoilers! LOL  

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

I’ve started using Newsky, and for free it is really good! 

[Alvega 2,126]

27 minutes ago, sd_flyer said:

PL2 gets more ridicules. I have purchased aircraft licenses that include PC-12 and joined Southern Airways that  primarily operates PC-12 (as per mimicking real life schedules). After successful flight I got penalized for not arming spoilers! LOL  

I've seen someone talking on their Discord about the same problem with spoilers but with another aircraft and they told him to contact the aircraft dev to fix it because APL just reads what FSUIPC sends it.