Few pre-flight questions - 

What airspeed do I enter into the window of the AFDS?

Is there any way to import all the data from the Simbrief flight plan into the sim?  Right now, I find I need to right down all the pertinent data from SB before I go into the sim, so I can then enter it.  

In RL do pilots complete the weight and balance portion on the EFB to generate their V-speeds or is this provided automatically by dispatch? 

Lastly, if you are taking off from a runway and have an immediate turn to a different heading, what is entered into the heading window of the AFDS, the runway heading or the heading you will be turning into after takeoff?

Edited January 17Jan 17 by 11bee

1 hour ago, 11bee said:

What airspeed do I enter into the window of the AFDS?

V2

4 hours ago, 11bee said:

What airspeed do I enter into the window of the AFDS?

The answer varies as every operator has a different policy/SOP, Some advice crew to put in V2 while others advice to put V2 +15. By default I think on 737 Boeing FCOM says to put V2 in the MCP speed window but someone can correct me if I'm wrong. 

You can import the flight plan but that’s all, you’ll have to open your Simbrief pdf somewhere to enter speeds, weights, etc 

V speeds can and sometimes are sent by ACARS (and the FSL A321 supports this) but it’s airline dependent and a lot easier just to plug it all in the EFB and grab it from there  

It’s v2 in the speed window, iirc the +15 kts SOP was ditched moons ago. Always runway heading in the heading window and then drag the heading bug to match the SID or wherever you want to go. 

7 hours ago, CAP1234 said:

The answer varies as every operator has a different policy/SOP, Some advice crew to put in V2 while others advice to put V2 +15. By default I think on 737 Boeing FCOM says to put V2 in the MCP speed window but someone can correct me if I'm wrong. 

I'd be surprised if any operator put anything other than V2 in there, because of the flight director behavior in the event of an engine failure during takeoff.  The flight guidance will command a speed somewhere between V2 and V2+20, depending on the speed the failure occurs at.  If you put anything other than V2 in the MCP window, you'd screw up this logic and invalidate all takeoff data.

3 hours ago, bennyboy75 said:

Always runway heading in the heading window and then drag the heading bug to match the SID or wherever you want to go. 

This one must vary per company if you're sure of that, because we definitely set assigned heading in the MCP for a departure vector vs a SID.

11 hours ago, 11bee said:

In RL do pilots complete the weight and balance portion on the EFB to generate their V-speeds or is this provided automatically by dispatch? 

Every airline will do this a little differently.

On 1/18/2026 at 2:32 AM, Stearmandriver said:

'd be surprised if any operator put anything other than V2 in there

At one of the EU's airline - They use V2 +15 in mcp prior to takeoff, while at other operator (same type) they use V2. So it is sort of SOP thing. 

1 hour ago, CAP1234 said:

At one of the EU's airline - They use V2 +15 in mcp prior to takeoff, while at other operator (same type) they use V2. So it is sort of SOP thing. 

That’s extremely odd. I’d love to talk to the people who made that decision 

1 hour ago, ahsmatt7 said:

That’s extremely odd

Very odd indeed - in fact several of their SOP procedures are quite different when you compare it to other operators for example. 

On 1/17/2026 at 9:32 PM, Stearmandriver said:

I'd be surprised if any operator put anything other than V2 in there, because of the flight director behavior in the event of an engine failure during takeoff.  The flight guidance will command a speed somewhere between V2 and V2+20, depending on the speed the failure occurs at.  If you put anything other than V2 in the MCP window, you'd screw up this logic and invalidate all takeoff data.

HMM, good to know Andrew. I have been using V2 + 10-20 forever because that's the last info. I recall reading/hearing. I hate when I have to correct a habit but V2 it will be from now on.

9 hours ago, CAP1234 said:

At one of the EU's airline - They use V2 +15 in mcp prior to takeoff, while at other operator (same type) they use V2. So it is sort of SOP thing. 

But what happens in the event of an engine failure if they didn't take off in VNAV / it failed to activate for some reason?  In this scenario, instead of the flight guidance commanding the correct profile of climbing out at V2 - V2+20, they'd be climbing out at V2+15 - V2+35.  That would wildly invalidate all takeoff data, unless they're using their own system with their own flight test data (since no one else will have accumulated that data for them to purchase).

This sounds like a pretty bad idea.  I agree with ahsmatt, I'd love to hear their explanation for this.