Calclassic
Propliner Planning Tool, Engineer/Navigator and Pilot Notepads
***************************************************************************
Text
file by Tom Gibson and FSAviator
CALCLASSIC PILOT 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. 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. |
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.
i)
Weight: Current weight excluding unknowable ice weight.
RED if too heavy for safe take off.
j)
MTOW: The maximum safe takeoff weight for this aircraft.
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.
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.
***********************************************************************
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.
***********************************************************************
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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