Preflight Actions

[David Vega]

I am excited to see how much flying activity there has been in SunAir lately. That's great, hope all the pilots are really enjoying each flight. That many flights have motivated me to take a break from POC programming and simply "go fly." As I was getting ready for my last flight, I started thinking how much time I really invest in the process. There's the actual cockpit time, from taxi out to taxi in, but there's also pre and post flight time. I can tell you that on average I spend about 20 to 30 minutes of pre flight time. I suppose some may just fire the old pc, don't use ATC, take off, climb straight to cruising altitude, let the ap fly the cruise phase, take over and land, taxi in, and be done. Though that accumulates hours, I just don't see what level of realism are we virtualizing. In other words, what's the enjoyment?

The FAA (though we conduct operations around the globe, we use the US Federal Aviation Administration rules) states in FAR 91.103 Preflight Actions: "Each pilot in command shall, before beginning in flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight." Notice the "all available" part. What does this mean for us that try to simulate being airline pilots? Here's what I do. Please feel free to collaborate and share your ideas.

Weather
What's the departure and arrival weather? Ground and aloft winds, altimeter setting, temperature/dew point spread, etc. What is the forecast weather for my destination since I know I won't just teleport there?

Weight & Balance
How many passengers? How much cargo? I even distribute where the passengers sit in the plane not to unrealistically have them all sit in first class or coach. Having that, how do I load the airplane?

Flight plan
Given the route of flight, what's the most optimal for fuel and time legal cruising altitude? Do I have to perform a step climb? What's my alternate airport?

Fuel
Do I have enough fuel to get there, get there and divert to my alternate, get there, divert to my alternate and still fly for 60 minutes? Should I expect any holds due to weather at the destination? If so, how much extra fuel should I add?

Charts
If ATC tells me to taxi to runway 30L via delta, hotel, do I have the airport chart to know which one is delta and hotel? Do I have the chart for departure and arrival procedures? How about the approach charts? What's the ILS frequency of my departure runway just in case I have to return to the field and perform an ILS landing?

What else?
Did I forget anything? I know that real airline pilots are usually given this information from their dispatchers. Not having those doesn't mean that I'm not responsible to know that information.

Frankly, if all I wanted was to fly without any of these details and just accumulate hours, I would join a VA that offers some sort of price for the number of hours accumulated. SAX is about becoming a better virtual pilot every day while enjoying it. What do you think?

Dave Vega
SAX702

[Al O'Brien]

Dave;
I do pretty much the same pre flight routine except I spend very little time on passenger and cargo loading placement. Not to sure exactly how to figure weight and balance on a 737 or even how important it is as long as you don't overload. I know that in the days of prop planes it was crucial I don't know about with jets. As for the rest of it, pretty much the same . Fuel load is a bit of a guess but looking over past flights gets me in the ball park usually a little on the high side. I do mainly short flights but even with that it takes me at least 2 hours to do a flight with prep and all.
Al sax067

[David Vega]

It is a matter of how much do you want to simulate being an airline pilot. Weight and balance is important in any aircraft. When loading the aircraft, Flight Simulator shows is the weight and balance is within limits. One would have to know the aircraft maximum takeoff weight in order not to overload. On loading passengers, I assume 180lbs per passengers plus 45lbs luggage. Depending on the aircraft, the easiest way is use the station loading facility from within FS. Note that we have included seating charts for some of the aircraft to provide an idea of how many per class. Here's a good video on weight and balance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSdBpSqAA_U.

[kdundon]

I pretty much do the same each time. I get the weather with ASA. I then run FSBuild and develope my flight plan. Next I look at the charts for the departure and destination and alternate and expected routes in and out. I run TOPCAT and load up passengers and cargo and run the fuel estimation subroutine and compare it to FSBuild. After generating loadsheets and a takeoff and landing report I save the data to the aircraft I will be flying. I start up FSX or FS9 if I choose to fly the 777 or 737 and place my self at my departure gate. I get out my checklists and do the preflights and checklists and program up the FMS. Usually it takes me 30 to 45 min to get this far. Once I am ready I start up FSFK and start a new flight and off we go. I try and keep it simple and straight forward but in keeping with the idea I am simulating flight and try and keep it inline with that concept. Ken

[shackler781]

I figure weight distribution by going into the payload area of FS and load each area to 100% Then I'll look at the weight given to each class and come up with a percentage of passengers per class. I'll then multiply that percentage by the number of PAX I have and, voila, I have the plane balanced, assuming the makers of the aircraft paid any attention to the real needs of the aircraft. It seems to work for me. Fuel is a best guess based on past flights. I 'll figure out how many pounds of fuel I use per nm with no winds. Then I'll look at my expected winds aloft average, multiply it by flight time and add that number to my distance. I will then add forty-five minutes of travel and multiply by the average fuel. It's not perfect, but it works.