Will a FSBuild Aircraft performance data profile be available.

[MikeMJD 2]

I hope so.

[Mats_J 2]

Mike, I am sure someone in the FSBuild community will step up and make it. It should not be that much different from the PMDG profiles for FS9. Some tweaking needed I am sure but that should be it. I think I did one for the FS9 -600. Don't remember if I ever uploaded it though... :) Cheers,

[Yoda967 23]

I've been using the existing 737-800 profile for my -800 and -800WL flights. Works like a champ, though to be honest, I haven't been accounting for every pound of fuel. I use FSBuild for flight planning, and take that to TOPCAT to work out the TOLD.

[NGXfanatic 85]

I'm looking forward to Christian Grill's PFPX for fuel planning. And by fuel planning, I mean a more accurate planner that takes into account things that are not modeled in other programs, like different cost indexes and winglets.The FSbuild profiles tend to be a static, one size fits all approach, but I do like how they interface with real world winds at all the different altitudes, so I get a nice ball park figure. But I would welcome PFPX or any other tool that is more robust, and purpose built for dead on fuel forecasting taking into account as many variables as are possible with real life operations.

[emvaos 13]

My advice as a simmer and a person that knows the FMC of this bird inside out : Any fuel planning utlity is a pure excuse for accurate time/fuel/performance predictions compared to the native FMC of the airplane. Any planning utility needs tens of thousands of data to even come close to the 0.5% margin prediction capability of the FMC. You will see that there is a "planned" fuel entry in the PERF INIT page that allows you to experiment. The correct procedure is this: (1) Use your favorite planner to export the .rte file (flightplan). Use any predicted fuel/cruise altitude as a starting point. (2) Import/add SID/STAR/APPS (later two as expected) (3) PAYLOAD/Initial FUEL from respective CDU Menu (FS ACTIONS) (4) PERF INIT Page on left CDU PROG page on right CDU. PERF INIT : Check suggested trip altitude, enter data in boxes.. Enter forecast wind and ISA (important they are not there to impress people with "features" connected to nothing, they are there to be used !). Check PROG page for fuel remaining at destination (subtract 100/200 kilos for taxi APU etc or so depends). Advanced : use ALTN DEST set your alternate(s), set VIA Missed and see fuel there too. (5) Go to (4) if not happy and start using the planned fuel entry. On the ground regardless of actual fuel this is the number used. In 2 iterations you got it. Use FUEL from FS ACTIONS CDU menu for final fueling. Takes 1 minute and you are certain that you are optimum.

Edited July 30, 2011 by emvaos

[Lusche 3]

wow thanks for the tip ... will try it after i get this bird

[bobl454 0]

Topcat! Bob L

[Cras 6]

Topcat is a very poor utility for fuel planning. FS Build is very good, as is vRoute Premium (as it allows for winds aloft consideration)I however look forward to utiizing EMVs suggested procedure.

[NGXfanatic 85]

Dr. Vaos explanation is about the best approach to take, as far as accuracy is concerned. No fuel planner is going to be as good as the FMC itself, so why not use the FMC exclusively for fuel planning needs? In fact I heard that real life dispatchers use a desktop version of the aircraft FMC in question for determining the fuel loads they recommend to the line pilots. This is what I have been doing the past few months. First, I load up Active Sky Evolution and FSX to get the real time or historical weather I will use on the flight (I tend to use historical weather because I like to simulate real world routes/times, and seldom get a chance to replicate a real world flight as it happens live). Fire up FSBuild, add relevant fuel load criteria (like taxi, reserve, alternate, final fuel at destination figures), and build the entire route (with SIDS/STARS included) and using winds aloft data from ASE to get a ball park figure of fuel needed. I mostly fly US routes, so I can get the exact routes used IRL from FlightAware, right down to getting the actual SID/STAR and figuring out the runways used by the graphical map. With the "other" NG I'm currently using, I find I have to add 2000-3000lbs on top of the FSBuild figure to account for it's less than perfect fuel burn model, hopefully that won't be necessary with the NGX! I will take FSBuild's final required fuel figure, drop it into TOPCAT's fuel field, and load the fuel plus the final payload weight figures of the aircraft into FSX via FSUIPC. Finally, I enter some basic FMC data so that I can obtain the expected final reserve fuel amount. Most importantly, I enter the individual winds by waypoint in cruise, as well as the forecast destination winds, into the legs/descent pages of the FMC. With that completed, I now have the most accurate estimation of final fuel reserve, and can then tweak as necessary to get the most accurate fuel load possible. Winds info in the FMC is crucial to getting accurate fuel load figures, and with DWC mode in ASE I get winds aloft that are consistent with the forecast winds, without S-turns, sudden wind shifts or losing winds altogether. This approach works so much nicer for me, and tends to be more accurate than the discreet fuel planners (which use an average head/tail wind figure) or FSBuild (which uses a set cruise speed/cost index, or doesn't match step climbs as accurately as the sim aircraft's FMC). Using my method, I find I arrive at the TOD almost right on the dot with enough fuel left in reserve, or more, but seldom less! Topcat's fuel estimation is really just a great circle, direct routing figure, and was never designed to be used as a fuel planner. THis is where PFPX has promise, because it's supposed to add more variables and flexibility to the equation and allow us to feed more information into their program to get fuel planning functionality that meets real world dispatching requirements. Sounds like the perfect match for the 99.5% fidelity of the NGX's fuel/flight performance capability!

[gman1986 14]

I like to get my pen and Paper out with the 747 and work everything out myself using the fuel calculations supplied by pmdg. This can't be done on the md11 though. Hopefully these calculations are included with the NGX

[JC75 22]

Does using this method and what the FMC preddicting taking into account though the extra juice used for departure and landing? Wouldnt an additional amount need to be added also for that along with the taxi burn/apu use etc. also isa figures where/what used here if using ase?