Advanced SimBrief tutorial
Welcome Onboard
Good evening! My name is Professor Lego, and I will be your guide today, as I walk you through creating a flightplan for the average transatlantic flight.
[img]http://onemileatatime.img.boardingarea.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/php021zvfpm.jpg[/img] [img]http://onemileatatime.img.boardingarea.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/phpcvcel8pm.jpg[/img] For the low price of just £3000 or so, travel in comfort between the financial hubs of the world: Canary Wharf, London and New York City. Travel in style on this 32 seat Airbus A318 across the Atlantic.
But wait. Imagine you are the Captain. And you have suffered a memory loss. Well, at least, of flight planning and oceanic procedures. What do you do?!
The Aircraft
Our aircraft today is Golf Echo Uniform November Alpha, an Airbus A318, produced in 2009. It's fin [s]number[/s] is November Alpha. It's SELCAL is HP-CD.
Now just write his down in your notepad:
- SEL: HP-CD
- FIN: NA
- REG: GEUNA
- TYPE: A318
Note: As the Airbus A318 in FlightGear is not so advanced as the Airbus A320neo, please use the 320neo. Thanks. I'll walk you through the process of adding in all those waypoints in the MCDU.
SELCAL
Okay, time out. What is SELCAL? Well, you see, over the Atlantic there is no radar. Air Traffic Control keeps in contact wih aircraft using CPDLC (datalink, via sattelite, text based) or HF radios. We're assuming that the 318 has no CPDLC. Okay, so listening to HF for hours is really uncomfortable. As an exercise, if you own a radio, tune it to a frequency with static and turn it up full. Imagine that for five hours. Therefore, a system was developed which alerts pilots that a ground controller wants to talk to them. Each aircraft is designated a specific four letter code from A to S, except for I, N, and O, in alphabetical order, and not repeating letters. Only 10,920 SELCAL codes are thus available, so obviously, aircraft repeat. Therefore, callsign is confirmed over the radio. Pilots are usually alerted by a sound or light, or both. In the Airbus, there is a chime, and a green light lights up. Note: FlightGear currently does not support SELCAL, so obviously, this is for information only.
Let us Begin!
Righto, let's continue with the basics. Here's the prerequisites:
- basic knowledge of how navigation works (fixes vs airways vs vors vs dct) - basic knowledge of ATC phraseology - basic Airbus knowledge -- Ill help with that if anyone needs it.
Here are the tools: http://www.simbrief.com http://www.skyvector.com
Charts
Charts Required:
- Hi IFR - SkyVector
EGLC
- EGLC SID VIA COMPTON
- EGLC PARKING
- EGLC AERODROME
EINN
- EINN AERODROME
- EINN PARKING
- EINN STAR 06 or 24 per winds
- EINN ILS 06 or VOR 24 per winds
KJFK
- KJFK DIAGRAM
- KJFK IAP - as desired, depending on winds. We'll use 27, 06, and 13L in this example flight, so in that case, the ILS 13L or the PARKWAY VISUAL.
- KJFK STAR: Kingston and PARCH are the most common for Europe arrivals. We'll use PARCH. Expect vectors after ROBER, as per a recent JFK NOTAM.
We'll cover NOTAMS later on. They will be included in the .pdf generated by Sim Brief. Go ahead and sign up at SimBrief now. Don't make a briefing yet.
Route
Our full route will be CPT6T.27 CPT L9 KENET UL9 SLANY L9 TIPUR TIPUR2E.06.
The full waypoint list is CPT KENET GAVGO DIKAS STU SLANY ABAGU TIPUR.
By the way, we do the stopover at Shannon for fuel due to London City weight and runway length limitations. Feel free to stop overnight there, as not everyone has 9 hours + per day.
Making a SimBrief Briefing
Let's make this Flight Briefing! Log into SimBrief. Then, hit the big Dispatch button. Then, create a new flight. You will see this page:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/Rz83PFP.png[/img] Let's fill it in! Our flight number is BAW001, and we will depart from EGLC to EINN. Our alternate is 'Auto' and we will leave at a time of your preference. There, that covers the top section.
Next, select the Aircraft: A318. Hit More Options after you select it, and fill out the SELCAL, registration, and fin number. It should look as follows: [img]http://i.imgur.com/gVbnWaW.png[/img]
Next, set 30 pax, the runways per the wind, and 10/10 minutes taxi time. Leave the rest of the fields alone.
Finally, put the route in, and then hit Analyse.
Route is: CPT6T CPT KENET GAVGO DIKAS STU SLANY ABAGU TIPUR TIPUR2E
Finally, in the sidebar, set BAW layout and KGS unit.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/9wDtPRC.png[/img]
Go to the top and hit "Generate OFP". Let it complete the process, then download the .pdf.
It should be easy to understand, but maybe read this: http://www.simbrief.com/system/guide.php#ofpsample...
The Flight
Enough talk. Let's go!
Start up at Stand 24, as the real one usually uses. If it spawns on a runway, taxi tl where Stand 24 is using the charts you should have downloaded.
Once you are in position, (remember, nose facing runway, not terminal), turn on the Battery and Nav Light. After that, connect the external power.
BRIEFING
Alrighty Cap'n, I'm First Officer Jonathan, and I'm glad to join you today. We'll be departing on runway 27, which will require a backtrack. We expect the COMPTON 6 TANGO SID, which we can review on the charts. Straight out to I-LSR DME 1.5, intercept LAM 232 level 3000 by LAM DME 6.5, then turn left BPK, then left HEN, then left RODNI, then CPT. Mantain 200 knots till passing BPK. RODNI is a place where we must report to London Control. Initial climb is 3000. Weather is fairly good. It is fairly normal for London in November, at least. (!!!) There is a SIGMET warning for light turbulence over all of Ireland and Central England, from FL200 and above. Keep the seatbelt sign on. We have 30 passengers today, which is quite a full load. We are to plan 5186 KG of fuel for the flight, and our alternate is Dublin at FL190. Our cruising altitude is FL380, and the cost index is 0. We'll use TOGA and Flaps 2 on this very short runway, and we must climb at at least 1440 fpm to achieve the 7.2% gradient.
Our THR RED will be 1000, to reduce noise, and ACCEL will be 2500, as usual.
Alrighty, let's do our checks.
Preflight Preparation
Load the 5.1 tons of fuel, and connect the stairs in the aircraft menu. Open the door, by the way! Go outside in the walker view (FIRST CLASS VIEW, USING W AND S KEYS) and check the engines are still there, and the flaps are not hanging off by a thread, along with the other things. Then, go back inside.
=== Setting up the Systems Set up the MCDU using this tutorial. Obviously, use this imformation: http://flymerlion.org/flightdeck/viewtopic/65 BAW001 COST INDEX 0 EGLC / EINN FL380 / -64 MACH .77 6.4 BLOCK FUEL CPT6T CPT DCT KENET DCT GAVGO DCT DIKAS DCT STU DCT SLANY DCT ABAGU DCT TIPUR TIPUR2E
Use the charts to fill in the SID / STAR waypoints.
Okay, done all that? That's great!
Departing
Okay, you can start up. You should know how to do that by know, since this is an Advanced tutorial. You know, use the APU, and stuff. Close the door, remove the chocks, fuel truck, EXT PWR, and stairways. Turn the seatbelt sign on and the beacon on. Start up the engines as normal. Turn on the FD, ILS, and set the FCU: DASH DASH BALL DASH DASH. One you are ready, taxi via Delta, Kilo, Mike to runway 27. Make sure to turn on the strobes, landing lights, and taxi light before entering the runway! Once you are holding short of Mike, set the parking brake, Flaps 2, Max autobrake, and press TO CONFIG. Ignore the blue ground spoilers, since they are broken on takeoff, and only work on landing in the 320neo.
Announce "Flight Attendants, please take your seats", and line up. Hold the brakes while you power up to 50% N1, then release and hit SHIFT T for TOGA power. Just pull back gently as you reach the VR speed, and then leave the runway at V2. Pull up the gears at 200ft. Climb with all you have to 1000feet, following the FD. Then at 1000ft, hit Shift C for Climb thust, which will enable THR CLB. Enable the autpilot now, and keep climbing. At 2500, retract the flaps, and disarm the autobrake.
Flying
Just fly as normal till you are fully established on the ILS for 06. The ground spoilers should be armed, AUTO BRK LO, gear down, and flaps full, at this point.
Landing
Once you are below the clouds, at around 1500 feet, disconnect the autopilot. Just leave the controls alone unless there are wind gusts. At 500 feet, hit Shift Idle to go to idle, disconnecting the autopilot, then power up using the throttle to keep the speed at around 140 knots. At 300 feet, push gently on the stick for a second, then release. Make sure to reduce thrust! At 100 feet, slowly, gently, reduce thrust to idle, while gently reducing pitch, just a very little, slowly. At 40 feet, you should be idle, over the threshold, and just about to flare. At 30 feet, pull back a little on the stick, till you land. Immediately fly the jose to the runway, then engage reversers with SHIFT R.stop the reversers at 60 knots, and begin to brake manually at 40 knots. Exit at the next exit, and taxi to a parking position.
Parking
That's it. Start the APU; turn off the LDG and TAXI lights. Shut down the engines, then the lights. Turn the seatbelt sign off, and then connect EXT PWR and the stairways.
That's it all over. Oceanic tutorial coming soon.