Calclassic Propliner Planning Tool, Engineer/Navigator and Pilot Notepads

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Text file by Tom Gibson and FSAviator

Quick Access to detail sections:

CALCLASSIC FUEL + PAYLOAD + CRUISING LEVEL PLANNER - HOW TO USE IN DETAIL
CALCLASSIC PILOT NOTEPAD - HOW TO USE IN DETAIL
CALCLASSIC FE/NAV NOTEPAD - HOW TO USE IN CONTEXT
CALCLASSIC FE/NAV NOTEPAD - HOW TO USE IN DETAIL
DIVERSION HINTS
POST INSTALLATION PROBLEM SOLVING - LEGIBIITY

It will be very helpful if you PRINT these instructions for ready reference as you fly. After completely reading this document, you may view a quick reference version, found in the FS2004/Aircraft/dc6pnlKMCC folder.

POST INSTALLATION PROBLEM SOLVING

Some users may have difficulty reading the notepads. This depends on display resolution and display mode. If you have a problem fixes are proposed at the bottom of this document.

THE CALCLASSIC NOTEPADS - OVERVIEW

The notepads provide quick reference values and extend realism. They provide various planning functions followed by real (slow) time calculation of aircraft status in flight and from that realistic result they generate early warning of current and anticipated problems for the aircraft captain to solve. The warnings and remedies are based on the criteria set out in the 2008 Propliner Tutorial. Qualified aircrew may wish to substitute more complex remedies.

CALCLASSIC (FUEL + PAYLOAD + CRUISING LEVEL) PLANNER - OVERVIEW

| The planner will calculate the fuel required for a given route, then the maximum payload that can be carried, and then the maximum cruising altitude that should be attempted in nil wind. It uses complex algorithms to ensure that we have realistic route fuel, more than adequate reserves, yet never exceed either maximum take off weight or maximum landing weight at destination. Nor will it allow us to exceed the maximum legal payload. We must transfer the values it proposes to MSFS via the fuel and payload menu before flight. Some elements of the other notepads are disabled if the planner was not used.

PILOT NOTEPAD - OVERVIEW

| The pilot notepad is a partial replication of the aircraft's handling notes. It does not replace them. It promulgates the power settings which must be used to control fuel burn in response to warnings generated by the FE/NAV notepad.

FE/NAV NOTEPAD - OVERVIEW

| This notepad acts as one or more virtual crew members. At the simplest level it interacts with MSFS calculating changes in weight dependent V speeds for us, but the full use of this notepad is complex. It delivers various warnings, but especially warnings of insufficient progress down route, poor altitude selection and/or inappropriate power management. These concepts are in tension. Our navigator may warn us that we are making insufficient progress whilst at the same time our FE may warn us that our fuel state is becoming critical. The correct solution may not be obvious. The remedies are explained at length in the 2008 Propliner Tutorial and in brief within the Pilot Notepad.

FE/NAV WARNINGS! - OVERVIEW

The FE/NAV notepad does not generate false warnings, but it may deliver very early warnings. Some warnings may require immediate action, but most like current weight > maximum landing weight are real, but will usually self resolve. We have been warned correctly that a problem exists. As captain we must decide what to do about it. Often the correct solution to a warning is only to monitor the trend.

The notepads do not cheat. They will warn of significant ice accumulation but will not tell us how much has accumulated. They mimic real life. They will only update warnings after long intervals of calculation by our virtual aircrew who cannot possibly detect small changes of state or trend. We will get updates when a change of state or trend becomes large enough to be detectable in real life. Initial climb is an unsteady state; nothing that occurs predicts what will happen in the cruise and later. In general the FE/NAV notepad will produce no useful predictive warnings until we have been in initial cruise for at least 20 minutes. The longer we have been cruising the more reliable predictive warnings from our virtual FE and NAV become.

The notepads are not 'virtual training captains' or 'virtual flight examiners'. Other than warning if we exceed Vno/Mno they take no interest in transient events. Your virtual FE and virtual NAV are evaluating the accumulation of problems, the slow trend of those problems, and recent progress, not transient mismanagement of the airplane. Fuel warnings and perceived headwind warnings are explained in detail later.

Conventions:

Black: Normal values

Blue: Unreliable values

Green: Click on these numbers

Orange: Warning of problem with complex solution

Red: Warning of problem which requires immediate solution

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CALCLASSIC FUEL + PAYLOAD + CRUISING LEVEL PLANNER - HOW TO USE IN DETAIL

| 1. The planning tool should be visible by default upon panel loading. If for any reason the planner is not visible, first bring up the FE Notepad by left clicking on the Calclassic notepad icon or panel hot spot. It will usually be a small white and blue notepad image, or a notepad/flip chart image on the panel bitmap itself. Now click the green Fuel value to open the Calclassic planning tool. 2. Your ATC identification will be displayed in purple text next to the precise identity of the aircraft type in black (or green) text. Check the exact aircraft identity. Several different types of aircraft may use a single panel and may therefore share a single planning tool. If incorrect, click the aircraft type on the planning notepad to see if it steps through several varieties available. For example, the 'DC-6' Notepad includes the DC-6B CB16, DC-6B CB-17, DC-6A/B CB17, DC-6 CB16, and DC-6 CA15 aircraft. Each has different weights and fuel load possibilities. Some aircraft like the CV-580 only have one aircraft choice. Ensure you plan for the exactly correct aircraft type. 3. Determine route distance. This only takes a few moments using the FS2004 flight planner. Enter the distance by clicking above and below the distance digits. You can change distance only in units of 10 NM or greater. Enter next larger distance value.

4. Note if you need to use ADI (water injection) and/or AF (autofeather). If so, just before takeoff click the four ADI lights at the bottom of the panel to turn on ADI (may also be a switch) as well as the Autofeather lights or switch.

5. The fuel planner automatically calculates realistic nil wind en route fuel requirements, adds more than adequate default reserves, and then calculates the associated maximum payload. You will see the following results,

a) Planned TAS: The cruising velocity used in combination with (b) to calculate route fuel required. It is taken from the nil wind section of the aircraft's handling notes.

b) Planned FF: The fuel burn used in combination with (a) to calculate route fuel required. It is taken from the nil wind section of the aircraft's handling notes. Certain aircraft have variable values for (a) and (b) see (5) below.

c) Route Fuel: The fuel required to reach destination Initial Approach Fix (IAF) with nil wind. This includes a ground allowance of 10% of the Planned FF value (4b).

d) Hdwind Fuel: The headwind reserve calculated as 15% of (c). This is the fuel we will use to generate more than econ power to battle perceived headwinds during some of the flight.

e) Hold Fuel: The fuel available for use only after we reach the Initial Approach Fix. The planner allows 45 minutes at nil wind cruise power.

f) Divert Fuel: Diversion reserve. The planner allows 45 minutes at nil wind cruise power. Use is complex see later hints section.

g) Total Fuel: Sum of the route fuel and all reserves.

h) Fuel Capacity: The maximum fuel capacity of the aircraft. The value turns red if the required nil wind fuel is greater. You have attempted to plan to a destination beyond maximum safe nil wind range. See (5) below. Plan for an intermediate destination and if tailwinds during execution of the flight allow you to skip that refueling stop divert to timetable destination. See more detail in later hints section.

j) Payload: The maximum safe payload. This value turns red if you exceed MTOW (max. takeoff weight), MLW (max. landing weight), or ZFW (zero fuel weight; any weight over this value must be fuel). You can increase the payload in the Aircraft/Fuel and Payload menu. Add 170 lbs for each passenger and 30 lbs for their bags. Keep the weight balanced in the fore and aft compartments.

NOTE: Only the first 10 payload stations are read and displayed.

The following warnings are generated only as required.

k) >Capacity!: Required nil wind fuel exceeds tank capacity. Plan to different destination See (h) above.

l) >MTOW!: Too heavy for safe take off. Payload is excessive. Reduce payload. See (7) below.

m) >MLW!: Too heavy for safe landing: Payload is excessive. Reduce payload. See (7) below.

n) >ZFW!: Too much payload to allow safe fuel reserves: Reduce payload. See (7) below.

6. If a particular very long range route has unusual cruise power planning requirements you can vary the calculation above manually e.g. for polar route planning in the L-1649A. Click on the Power Setting value and the planner will switch to the alternate power setting (Econ power in the case of the L-1649A). Most aircraft do not have this extra power setting. The value will be green if you can change flight plan max range using a long range power setting to extend range.

7. Divide the total fuel required (4g) by the number of tanks on the plane and load accordingly via the MSFS fuel and payload menu. Always load fuel symmetrically. If you have real manuals you may load accordingly.

8. You may need to reduce payload as above. You may wish to increase the default payload value to any value up to the maximum indicated by the Calclassic notepad. Remember the Calclassic notepad has calculated this by reference to your maximum landing weight and the real legal maxima. The MSFS planner does not. When you add or subtract payload split it evenly between forward and aft compartments. Each passenger adds 170 lbs of weight (added to Pax value), plus 30 lbs of bags (added to Bags & Cargo value).

9. In real life, airlines price tickets to maximise profit not payload. In the vintage and classic eras of aviation history they set prices so that actual payload was only about two thirds of max payload. Loading about two thirds of the max payload indicated by the Calclassic payload planner will probably provide the most realistic take off weight, subsequent performance, and subsequent flight profile for that real passenger route. Cargo planes were more likely to depart with max payload causing a different subsequent flight profile.

10. The planner calculates a 'default maximum cruising altitude' for our nil wind flight plan. Enter the inital approach altitude to the destination airport into the Enter Dest IAP line by clicking the mouse above and below the digits. For example, if after taking into account our direction of arrival our minimum sector altitude (MSA) on the approach plate is 3500 ft QNH (above sea level) for the destination airport and you have no other altitude information available, enter 3500 into the Enter Dest IAP line. Use other initial descent altitude values as appropriate (see the Propliner Tutorial). You can find an approach plate to download from http://www.calclassic.com/propliner_tutorial_charts.htm

Next, the planner cannot allow for terrain so we must research;

a) minimum sector altitude for our departure

b) the altitude that is 1500 feet above the highest terrain in between

Then the if the default maximum provided by the planner is below the HIGHEST of those two constraints then it must be increased again until it is above that. Finally increase your flight plan cruising level again to match the semi circular rule. Odd thousands eastbound and even westbound.

The Altitude to Descend value calculated here (Max Alt - Dest IAP Alt) will be used as the initial value used by the FE/NAV Notepad in the TOD calculation when you return to that page (while on the ground). While cruising the TOD value will be calculated from your current altitude.

You can determine your certification ceiling by temporarily increasing route distance to 2000 NM. If that ceiling is below the altitude evaluated above the current aircraft may not fly the planned route. Full details in Parts 3 to 6 of the Propliner Tutorial.

11. When you have finished planning and updating MSFS via its fuel and payload menu click at the top of the planning tool to switch to the FE/NAV Notepad.

12. WARNING! Current route distance is not 'saved' within a 'saved flight'. If you reload a flight the only way to get full Calclassic notepad function back is to use your flight planner to determine distance remaining to destination and to enter that value before unpausing the simulation. Do NOT alter current fuel and payload as saved. A false maximum cruising level may be proposed and should be ignored. Any information concerning fuel state and proposed headwinds provided via the FE/NAV notepad in the first 20 minutes after a reload of data via the fuel planner may be false and must be disregarded. Invoke the pre flight fuel and payload planner in flight by clicking the green FUEL value on the FE Notepad, but this is a bad idea unless 'reloading' a flight. If you change data within the planner in flight, current accumulated flight data will be lost. You will be deemed to have started a new flight.

13. The fuel planner component assumes 'competent', not perfect, performance of the flight. If you make a nil wind flight it is possible to arrive with excess reserves by application of greater competency than the default planner assumption and vice versa. The planner will propose route fuel that requires competent operation of the aircraft in accordance with its handling notes and the Propliner Tutorial. That requirement for careful and competent fuel and energy state management is a target to aim for, but which may be missed. Consequently whilst the route fuel proposed may be 'demanding' in terms of competency the reserves proposed are 'liberal'. This allows the fuel planner to propose 'realistic' route fuel loads whilst permitting less experienced users to arrive safely using the liberal reserves even if the route fuel is exhausted whilst still en route. Remember we expect to exhaust the route fuel as we arrive at the Initial Approach Fix. From then on we expect to use the reserve fuel.

14. Use of these comprehensive Calclassic propliner planning tools is not compulsory, but some key functions of the bundled Calclassic FE/NAV notepad are disabled if the Calclassic planner was not used.

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CALCLASSIC PILOT NOTEPAD - HOW TO USE IN DETAIL

| 1) Right click the notepad image on the main panel to open it, or click the top of the FE Notepad. 2) The Pilots Notepad displays the Title, Type, Airline, and Flight Number as in the Calclassic Planner. 3) Click the title to go to the FE Notepad. 4) To change the aircraft type you must go to the Fuel Planner and start over. 5) The power settings associated with warnings given by the FE/NAV notepad are listed in the pilot notepad. Follow the No ADI takeoff MAP if you do not turn on the ADI system.

6) WARNING! The summary in the notepad may omit many of the warnings and cautions present in the aircraft's handling notes which remain available via the MSFS Kneeboard. Press F10 and select lowest icon.

7) There may be supercharger settings listed in some pilot notepads. If you have not activated two speed supercharging in MSFS aircraft which have that activation possibility you may safely ignore these. Some values will change if you have the superchargers thrown to HI after activation of two speed blowing.

8) Click at the bottom of the Pilots Notepad to go to the second page (Descent, Approach, and Landing).

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CALCLASSIC FE/NAV NOTEPAD - HOW TO USE IN CONTEXT

| The FE/NAV notepad exists to in part to provide simple auto-calculation of weight dependent V speeds. However its main purpose is to provide warnings which indicate the need to invoke complex remedies explained in full within Part 2 of the Propliner Tutorial, and briefly within the Pilot notepad. The FE/NAV notepad will be of most use to those who fail to flight plan and who fail to keep track of Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) versus Actual Time of Arrival (ATA). It will perform limited 'virtual Navigator' and 'virtual Flight Engineer' functions to provide some of the warnings that failing to flight plan causes to be absent. The FE/NAV notepad is NOT a 'flight tracker'. It assumes you are on course. It calculates fuel status on that basis. If you told it you needed to fly 2000 miles it does not know in what direction. If it calculates you can fly 2100 miles it will tell you there is no problem even if you are tracking west over the Pacific having intended to track east over the CONUS. The FE/NAV notepad provides data from your virtual Flight Engineer and your virtual Navigator. In a twin engine propliner this may be your virtual Pilot Not Flying (PNF) trying to keep up with both sets of calculations. Your navigator is attempting to make progress down route as fast as possible by careful 4D navigation, whilst your virtual FE is constantly warning him that he must not squander the route fuel in pursuit of extra cruising velocity. The desire for high cruising velocity is in conflict with the limited route fuel.

The navigator will demand more power if progress is too slow (for whatever reason) and the engineer will work out whether it is available and how to generate it. The power desired may require descent to thicker air. Complex feedback loops develop. It is not the FE and the NAV who have to solve the puzzle it is YOU the Captain, whether or not you are also Pilot Flying. On one hand you will have the navigator telling you there is a significant perceived headwind at this level and on the other you will have the flight engineer updating you on route fuel exhaustion time and warning you it is becoming critical. YOU must decide what power setting to employ and what altitude to operate at on the basis of the potentially conflicting information they provide. YOU must monitor fuel exhaustion time versus ETA for destination and the mutual or conflicting trend of both.

The key data are route fuel exhaustion TIME (RF = 0 TIME) and Estimated TIME of Arrival (ETA = ) at your destination Initial Approach Fix (IAF). Nobody in any airplane can ever calculate its range. Nobody ever knows the winds ahead. Yet the FE can tell you when the route fuel will exhaust based on the power setting YOU have applied, and the navigator can tell you ETA at the IAF based on what happened over the most recent time interval he just recalculated data for, also based on the power YOU have applied, and the altitude (air density) YOU have decided to ram with the airplane.

In any airplane distance is irrelevant, velocity is irrelevant, TIME is everything. All of YOUR decisions must be based on TIMEs when different things will happen if nothing changes. You can wait for something to change or you can make something change. Sooner or later if the change you hoped would happen anyway does not happen YOU must impose change.

Monitor the FE Notepad at 20 minute intervals to check for any warnings that may appear and to monitor the trend of situations that have been warned as potentially dangerous. Your virtual crew will try to update you as captain concerning various things every 20 minutes. However if nothing changed there will be no update. The FE/NAV notepad allows you to adopt a 20 minute decision making cycle during cruise. During the vintage phase of aviation history you should invoke the radio navigation (RDF=GPS) assigned heading decision cycle first, every 20 minutes, followed by this captaincy decision making cycle.

Early in the flight we will be heavy and trapped in thick air. It will be difficult to make swift progress. Expect the navigator to be warning you accordingly. He will attribute the lack of progress to 'perceived headwind' which covers many things not just the actual headwind which is changing all the time anyway. He may well be telling you that your ETA for destination is 1800 GMT whilst your Engineer is telling you the route fuel will exhaust at 1750 GMT.

Don't panic!

If nothing changes we will need to divert, but maybe the time now is only 0600 GMT. We will not divert now. It would be stupid to make that decision based on the winds already experienced and our weight and associated performance right now. We will monitor the trend. Never mind what the winds do over the next 12 hours, as we get lighter we will gain access to thinner air, we will ram fewer air molecules, and we will achieve higher velocities. We expect ETA to improve. If it does we will continue to just monitor the situation. However if ETA just gets later and later we must eventually act and divert. Perhaps only half way to destination, perhaps back to our point of departure.

Especially if destination was Honolulu ex San Francisco!

The FE/NAV notepad provides real warnings, not false warnings, but they may be very early warnings. Deciding when to react, (or not), is what captaincy is all about. We need a 20 minute decision making cycle and each 20 minutes we review our prior decision based on trends and the exact nature of the route. Those of you who do not flight plan can use the Calclassic FE/NAV notepad to introduce that realism to your simulation. Part 2 of the 2008 Propliner Tutorial explains the specific remedies to specific warnings from your virtual navigator concerning perceived headwinds of varying severity. The notepad provides those warnings. The notepad also adds the ability to monitor fuel exhaustion versus ETA as they co-vary in real time, in real weather, or just because we are mishandling power and altitude selection, causing lack of progress and fuel exhaustion. Our navigator will always be polite. He will always call our inappropriate power selection and our inappropriate altitude selection a 'perceived headwind'! The real navigator of a real airplane does not know the real headwind, or how it will vary. He measures progress over suitable time intervals. He attributes lack of progress to a 'perceived headwind'. It may all be real headwind, or not!

The notepads in combination impose realistic en route fuel management requirements on FS users; by limiting the route fuel to realistic quantities, whilst allowing a 'liberal reserve' for those who struggle to select the correct altitude, MAP and RPM as mandated by the FE/NAV notepad warnings, and the crew reactions mandated in Part 2 of the Propliner Tutorial.

FE warnings are disabled within the FE/NAV notepad if the Calclassic planning tool was not used, *but perceived headwind warnings will still be provided by NAV* and you should react as described in Part 2 of the Propliner Tutorial, but with no ability to compare RF=0 TIME to ETA you will not be able to monitor how well the strategy is working. If flying having failed to use the planner the Dest ETA and 0 Rte. Fuel @ TIME values will be blank, since they are invalid.

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CALCLASSIC FE/NAV NOTEPAD - HOW TO USE IN DETAIL

| 1) To open the FE Notepad, left click the notepad image on the main panel. On some panels it is a small white square with blue lettering; on others it's the image of a real notepad. 2) The FE Notepad displays; a) Title, Type, Airline, and Flight Number as in the Planner and Pilots Notepad. Click the title to go to the Pilot's Notepad, to change the aircraft type you must go to the Fuel Planner and start over. b) V1: Max safe IAS to abort Take Off, roughly estimated from the Vr airspeed. NOT accurate in MSFS since it assumes you had a runway legally long enough to take off from anyway! May be lower than values in manuals and is blue since it is only estimated. c) Vr: Min safe IAS to rotate during take off, adjusted for current weight. d) Vref: Target IAS when cockpit altimeter is 50 feet above destination runway. Roughly coincides with destination boundary fence on 3 degree glideslope. Adjusted for current weight. RED if you are still too heavy to commence a safe approach.

e) SpdBrk: On planes so equipped, the maximum profile drag (IAS) to extend (E) and retract (R) the speed brake.

f) Warn/No Warn: You may click this to turn on the audible warning system. Currently the only warning is if you increase the throttle beyond the allowable dry takeoff MAP value if you do not turn on the ADI system. There may be more warnings added later.

g) NO ADI/USE ADI/AF: This indicates whether your flight plan (from the planner page) requires ADI (water injection) and/or Autofeather or not. If not, ADI/AF is optional (for the Convair and Martin piston twins, ADI/AF were normally used unless inoperative/exhausted).

h) Vno: Actually tracks the Vno/Mno structural failure profile drag boundary versus temperature. Do not intentionally exceed this profile drag (IAS). Value will turn RED if you do, but you may not survive significant excess. This will be displayed in the FE notepad only if there is no Mno responsive Barber Pole or Mach Bug within the panel ASI. On planes equipped with a Mach bug this line may display speed brake extension/retraction speeds.

i) Weight: Current weight excluding unknowable ice weight. RED if too heavy for safe take off.

NOTE: If red and the plane is equipped with ADI/AF, turning those on will increase your allowable MTOW and this value will often turn black. Turn them on to check this, then turn them off again until takeoff.

j) MTOW: The maximum safe takeoff weight for this aircraft. This displayed value will often increase if ADI/AF is turned on.

k) MLW: The maximum safe landing weight for this aircraft. RED if too heavy for safe approach excluding unknowable ice weight.

l) Fuel: Total fuel remaining. Click this green value to get to the CALCLASSIC PLANNER before flight. RED on the ground if you have not loaded at least the fuel specified in the Fuel Planner.

m) Fuel Flow: Current fuel flow in pounds per hour (PPH).

n) GMT: The current Greenwich Mean Time. All times are displayed in GMT.

o) Dest. ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) at planned destination (IAF). This is displayed in GMT. The time you will arrive at destination based on recent progress. This value will not appear until after 20 minutes of cruising. Will change as the flight progresses. NAV will update every 20 minutes after cruise begins. This value turns orange if it becomes later than the previous value. Deterioration is always cause for concern. Failure to use planner prevents calculation (blank). If you do not use the planner, PLANNER! will be displayed here while on the ground to remind you why these values are blank. Estimated BLUE values can be used as flight planning confirmation when at your departure airport.

p) 0 Rte. Fuel @: The time (in GMT) the route fuel (RF) including the headwind reserve will be exhausted based on recent power usage (YOUR last applied power decision). This value will not appear until after 20 minutes of cruising. NAV will update every 20 minutes after cruise begins. Only Diversion and Holding fuel will remain when RF=0. RED if RF = 0 prior to Dest ETA. This value turns orange if it becomes earlier than the previous value. Deterioration is always cause for concern. Failure to use planner prevents calculation. Estimated BLUE values can be used as flight planning confirmation when at your departure airport.

q) TOD: The GMT TIME of the start of descent. This is calculated per the Propliner tutorial. This is the time we should start our descent. This value be estimated until after 20 minutes of cruising. The last DIVERSION DECISION should be made BEFORE TOD. You should target a descent rate of -700 fpm if using this TOD value. Make SURE that the Dest IAP value in the planner has the correct initial destination approach altitude entered or this value will be invalid! This value will be blue on the ground, indicating it is being estimated by using the Max Alt value from the planner.

Example: - Cruising at 14,000 QNH (above sea level), after taking into account our direction of arrival, our minimum sector altitude (MSA) on the approach plate is 4,000 QNH. The notepad will calculate that you need to descend 10,000 ft., divide by 500 fpm = 20 minutes.

So TOD is 20 minutes before ETA which is shown on the FE/NAV notepad. If notepad ETA = 13:43 we must vacate 14000 QNH at 13:23, which will be displayed on the TOD line. The current GMT is displayed just above this; when the Current GMT displays 13:23 begin your descent. We will descend at no less than minus 500 VSI and will actually target an average of about minus 700 VSI so that we are level at 4000 QNH in time to decelerate to cross the IAF at a suitable IAS to fly the mandatory rate 1 turns of the approach procedure . If we intend to use the AP this will never exceed 140 KIAS. If we intend to hand fly the approach it should never exceed 175 KIAS, and very large bank angles will be required at that high profile drag.

NOTE: If your flight is less than an hour long (note the Dest ETA vs Current GMT), the TOD value may not appear on the Notepad in time for you to begin your descent (it takes 20 minutes of cruise to appear). In this case, write down the blue TOD estimate while at your departure airport and use this time if the TOD has not appeared by then. Note that if your cruise altitude is significantly lower than your normal cruise ceiling this TOD time will usually bring you down somewhat early, due to the use of the Planned TAS value in this case.

r) Initial Alt or Oper Ceil: This will display the suggested cruising altitude depending on your weight. If it says Initial Alt, the altitude displayed is only to be used for the initial cruise altitude; step climbs should be determined differently (usually by attaining level pitch). If it says Oper Ceil it may display step climb altitudes as well (see the Handling Notes - Reference file in the Kneeboard).

s) Planned TAS: The mean cruising speed the virtual navigator is targeting when making his calculations of satisfactory progress prior to issuing the following perceived headwind warnings. Note that he will regard 85% of this value as 'satisfactory progress'.

The following warnings are issued only as required.

t) Significant Headwind!/Severe Headwind!/Significant Tailwind!:

These warn of poor, very poor or excess progress. Excess progress may require fuel dumping on arrival to achieve MLW and squanders fuel. Poor progress may require diversion and very poor progress for any significant period usually will.

In the absence of these warnings all cruise is conducted in Economical cruise power to conserve fuel and engine wear, save for the L-1649A which uses normal cruise power unless flying a near max range sortie. Your scripted response to these three warnings is described in Part 2 of the Propliner Tutorial. Briefly you should increase by one cruise power setting for a Significant Headwind, by two cruise power settings (if available) for a Severe Headwind, and decrease by one cruise power setting for a Significant Tailwind. You will usually also need to change altitude as explained in the Propliner Tutorial.

WARNING! Do NOT change the Power Setting in the Fuel Planner when you change power settings in response to headwinds or tailwinds - your *planned* power setting remains the same.

u) ICE!: This red warning will appear when you have accumulated more than 20 lbs of ice on the structure. Begin deicing procedures immediately.

v) MAP | RPM not square!: This orange warning will appear when the MAP is not greater than RPM / 100. Many pilots believed this could cause engine damage. Most US manufactured propliner flight manuals warn pilots to avoid this.

w) MAP < xx": This red warning appears when you reduce the throttles below the engines' allowable minimum MAP value. Avoid this.

x) Fuel is LOW!: This orange warning appears when you have only 1/3 of your headwind fuel reserve remaining.

y) DIVERT? This red warning appears when you have used up all your Route and Headwind fuel, and are starting to use your Diversion/Holding fuel. You should have made a diversion decision by now. Note that you are not being forced to divert, only to make the decision. See Hints below.

z) Oil Temp < xx: This warning appears when the oil is too cold to begin taxi. Wait at no more than 1000 RPM until warning disappears.

aa) CHT < xx deg: This warning appears when the CHT is too cold to begin taxi. Wait at no more than 1000 RPM until warning disappears.

bb) Low Fuel in Tanks!: This warning appears if you have less than 100 pounds of fuel left in the currently used fuel tanks - time to switch tanks or land immediately!

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DIVERSION HINTS by FSAviator.

Diversion planning and execution is a very complex subject. The Calclassic FE/NAV notepad provides necessary 'warnings' in a realistic way which may be difficult to interpret. This document can do no more than provide some useful hints and one worked example. It is strictly aimed at flight simulation users seeking 'realistic' diversion planning suitable for use between the dawn of the vintage phase of aviation history in the late 1920s to the end of the classic propliner phase of aviation history around the end of the 1960s. It does not describe or approximate current FAA / ICAO diversion planning and execution criteria.

1) Route Fuel

During flight the FE/NAV notepad will warn us via 20 minute updates if route fuel may be exhausted before ETA for destination. ETA will turn ORANGE if that is the *trend* and *before* there is actual overlap. Since this may be due to local headwinds which may dissipate we can monitor that situation for a while before we decide to divert. Once the trend turns to fact (RED warning) and route fuel exhaustion is predicted before ETA the need to divert to a location short of planned destination, (perhaps even point of departure), has become critical. However we may be over Canada heading for Scotland and decide to divert to Iceland . The place to which we must divert may not be near at hand when we must decide to divert because we cannot reach planned destination. Immediate need for diversion re routing is not the same thing as immediate descent to refuel.

Such notepad warnings may be generated early in the flight and *if they persist* we must *eventually* divert to somewhere far short of planned destination. Immediate descent to somewhere short of planned destination is only required if the warning occurs late in the flight. There is then no time for the situation to improve. These are however the simplest diversion cases.

On any flight the final diversion decision point may need to be very far short of timetable destination. In the case of San Francisco to Honolulu we must either continue to destination or return to point of departure, depending on the perceived headwinds encountered over the first half of the flight, *measured in hours not miles*. At the half way point in TIME we must decide whether it is safe to continue. If we have had net headwinds we may be less than half way to destination despite use of greater than econ cruise power to battle them and must return whence we came, turning those dangerous headwinds into safe tailwinds. We must not postpone our decision to the half way point in miles. We might use 90% of all the fuel to get there if the headwinds are fierce. Distance is always irrelevant. In aerial navigation it is TIME that matters.

2) Diversion Fuel

After the final diversion decision point the diversion fuel becomes additional route fuel for the flight *whether or not we decide to divert*. The FE/NAV notepad will NOT take this into account. It will NOT add the diversion fuel to the route fuel. We must take that into account manually.

Consider a trip 'timetabled' non stop from San Francisco to London. That distance is unsafe in nil wind in any piston propliner. The flight must be planned to a refueling place such as Frobisher Bay in Canada or Sondrestromfjord in Greenland, or Keflavik in Iceland, or Prestwick in Scotland, depending on aircraft type. We may need to land more than once in some propliners.

Suppose we are flying an L-1649A Starliner. Even max tanks will not allow us to flight plan to London in safety even though we are timetabled non stop to London. We can only plan to Prestwick in safety. We hope, and if possible intend, to divert *beyond* Prestwick to London. That intention does not depend on the weather at Prestwick. It depends on the tailwinds we do, or do not enjoy. during our flight en route to Prestwick. *Before TOD into Prestwick* we must decide whether or not it is safe to divert to London, based on the net tailwinds we have enjoyed. If we did not enjoy tailwinds we cannot divert to London.

The 'warnings' provided by the FE/NAV notepad may become 'permissive'.

After our FINAL diversion decision we are committed to a landing at the chosen location whether flight plan destination or alternate. What was diversion fuel becomes route fuel to that final location. We choose that final location taking into account weather (trend) at that location. If the weather at London is remotely marginal, or good but getting worse, we will never divert to London. Within MSFS we must use (freeware) FSMetar or some other weather tool to monitor actual weather at both Prestwick and London regularly, and long before TOD for Prestwick. Remember weather themes and user defined weather can have defined non zero rate of change. Weather does not only vary with real time, real weather via the internet in use.

Of course if we meet headwinds, or the weather at Prestwick is bad, or just getting worse, we may need to divert to Keflavik, not continue to Prestwick let alone divert to London! The FE/NAV notepad 'informs' those decisions by measuring ETA versus route fuel used.

In real life the crew have always flight planned from destination to alternate.They always know how much (route) fuel is required to divert from Prestwick to Heathrow. They know how many minutes flight time that diversion takes. *We* need to know that in MSFS too. If we do not know then we cannot make the necessary diversion decision.

It is YOUR job to do all of the necessary flight planning to make good use of the supplied FE/NAV notepad.

In a Starliner it takes 60 minutes to divert from overhead Prestwick (still in the cruise) to the Heathrow stack (IAF). Our diversion reserve is 45 minutes. We knew before we departed San Francisco that we did not have enough tankage to fly non stop to Heathrow unless we enjoyed net tailwinds.

If we are cruising at FL250 then TOD is about 50 minutes short of Prestwick. Our final diversion decision must be made about an hour before Prestwick and two hours short of London. We consult the FE/NAV notepad. At 0500 GMT, as we approach flight plan TOD, our virtual NAV indicates ETA for Prestwick is 0600 GMT and our virtual FE tells us route fuel exhaustion is at 0630 GMT. We have 30 minutes of spare route fuel. We also have 45 minutes of diversion fuel.

If the weather at Heathrow is good and has not been getting worse we will divert to Heathrow at 0500, when still in the cruise at FL250 and 60 minutes short of Prestwick. Our ETA for the Bovingdon stack (Heathrow IAF) becomes 0600 + 60 = 0700 and our route fuel exhaustion time becomes 0630 + 45 = 0715. The FE/NAV notepad does NOT update route fuel after we decide to divert. We must calculate revised ETA and route fuel exhaustion on paper or using mental arithmetic. We expect to reach the Heathrow stack with 45 minutes of holding fuel and 15 minutes of diversion fuel remaining. That is more than enough.

We are allowed to use diversion fuel to divert to Heathrow! We are NOT allowed to use holding fuel to divert anywhere. We must arrive at the stack (IAF) for our *final* place of landing with our 45 minutes of holding fuel still intact even if our final place of landing is our alternate. We calculated whether we could divert beyond Prestwick to Heathrow accordingly. Polar westbound in an L-1649A we will always need to flight plan to an inland US destination rather than the west coast, but where we actually land will again depend on the winds actually encountered.

For a different airline, with a different aircraft type, starting from somewhere else, the timetable destination might be Paris or Rome, and the planned destination might be Shannon. In the other direction the timetable destination might be New York and the planned destination might be Gander. On many 'long haul' propliner flights planned and timetable destination are not the same. Timetable destination is the alternate.

Now consider the situation when we are cargo hauling a big payload across the CONUS and cannot load that payload and enough fuel for 'timetable' destination. We must lift all the payload regardless and must plan to somewhere short of where that payload needs to go. The concept described above is universal once the need to load a given payload eats into the need to load fuel for the desired range to 'timetable' destination.

A 'long haul' is any flight that is marginal with current payload, not just a flight that is marginal with max fuel. All such flights require critical diversion planning and execution, of the type described above, since all such flights have the intention to divert *beyond* planned destination, to timetable destination, if the winds encountered were favourable during execution of the flight. What constitutes a 'long haul' has very little to do with max tankage. It depends on the payload that must be hauled and the extent to which that compromises max fuel.

Minimal flight planning concerning route distances to planned destination *and from there to alternate* is therefore necessary to make good use of the supplied FE/NAV notepad for *many* propliner flights, not just extreme range flights.

3) Headwind Reserves

The headwind fuel reserve is used *mostly* to apply more than economical cruising power during the cruise phase. We use it to apply more than econ cruise power only when and if we need to. The need is based on perceived (not actual) headwind (how late we are running for whatever reason). When we have used up the headwind reserve fuel battling perceived headwinds (as described in the Propliner Tutorial Part 2), we may/will divert and stop battling the headwind.

However if we are 'close' to our final place of landing, and it has good weather and no traffic delay (< 20 minutes) we will start to use the diversion fuel to battle headwinds en route to final landing location, (whether destination or alternate), but must ALWAYS arrive over the IAF for our final place of landing with 45 minutes total fuel (the holding reserve) remaining (absolute minimum legal requirement and safety may require more).

After we have made the final diversion decision, (potentially in mid ocean), and are committed to our final place of landing, all of the diversion fuel may/will become available to battle headwinds. If we are heading for Guam out of Wake, and have passed the point of no return, the diversion fuel *will* be used to battle headwinds to reach Guam, not to 'divert'. Our total headwind reserve is potentially and eventually 15% + 45 minutes. Headwinds are therefore of little consequence during a short haul. We are already 'close' to our final place of landing. Use of power > econ power is restricted by the 15% + potentially 45 minutes of fuel. The longer the haul the less those 45 minutes of diversion fuel are as a percentage of the 15% headwind reserve. We have more freedom to use more than econ power on a short haul, less on a long haul, and (almost) none on a polar length haul.

Remember we will not react with increase of power to any 'perceived headwinds' which are less than 'significant', but we are always also using the 15% headwind reserve to overcome the delay to ETA those lesser perceived headwinds impose, but without increasing power beyond econ power to battle them. We only have a limited ability to use more than econ cruise power on any flight, once we load a realistic payload and restrict fuel load accordingly.

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POST INSTALLATION PROBLEM SOLVING - LEGIBIITY

If the Notepads are illegible (especially in windowed mode), turn off Clear Type in Windows.

a. Start button/Control Panel/(Appearance and Themes)/Display

b. Appearance Tab/Effects button.

c. In the section "Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts" select STANDARD, not Clear Type.

d. Press Apply and then OK.

e. Restart FS.

If you use windowed mode in FS2004, the lettering on the Pilot's Notepad may appear too small. You can make it larger (but then the lettering will be difficult to read in full screen mode). To do this:

a. Quit FS2004 if running.

b. In Windows Explorer/My Computer find the notepad_P_ xxx.xml file in the folder with the CalClassic gauges you installed(the xxx will be the aircraft type). The type names will be L1649A for the Starliner panel, DC6 for the DC-6 panel, DC7 for the DC-7 panel, and 340 for the CV-340 panel, etc. Do a search for the file name in Windows Explorer/My Computer in the FS2004 folder. Right click and select Open With. Choose WordPad from the list. If it's not there select Choose Program and select WordPad from the list.

c. Change the line:

<Macro Name="YSIZE">18</Macro> <!-- 20 best for windowed, 18 for full screen -->

to:

<Macro Name="YSIZE">20</Macro> <!-- 20 best for windowed, 18 for full screen -->

(i.e. change the 18 to 20).

d. Save the file.

e. If you use a different screen resolution in full screen mode than I do (I use 1024 x 768) you might need to edit the number 18 to a higher/lower number to get the proper display on the screen.

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