I am normally a GA sim pilot but have recently started doing some flights in the A320NEO V2. The question then arose for me: how closely does the flight planning process with the Inibuilds aircraft approximate what is done in real life? I am hoping some real life A320 pilots could provide a bit of insight here.
To me it seems logical the the basic flight plan, W&B, fuel planning, etc. would be prepared by the company’s flight ops people ahead of time, based on the seats sold, cargo etc. But this is obviously an assumption. I would love to get an idea of the process. For instance:
Is my assumption that the complete flight plan is prepared by someone ahead of time correct? If so, who?
Is the sim process of transferring this information into an EFB tablet realistic? Does the pilot therefore have a fully up to date plan in a tablet by the time he gets to the cockpit? If so: who does that? The pilot or ground support people?
Like the sim, is the EFB information electronically transferred to the aircraft’s FMS? If so, how? Wirelessly? Hopefully the pilot does not have to laboriously enter all the information into the FMS manually?
I am not qualified to answer this with any first hand inside knowledge. But what I understand is this:
Yes, I think the dispatcher’s do this for the flights.
I think so. I think every airline either uses its own systems or a customised off the shelf system on their efbs and they probably have connectivity to their central server and I see no reason why the updated flight plan may not be available. This may vary from airline to airline though. And if any change in flightplan is required due to ATC instructions, I am not entirely sure what happens then. Also final weight and balance figures will come after fuelling and boarding I suppose.
No, I don’t think so. This can still be fetched via data link comms in the FMC. The way simbrief import is simulated in FMC is quite realistic I think. For comparision I believe the fenix / FBW are quite accurate in that regard and you can check how it is.
I do have a friend that’s an airline pilot on a Dash 8, and I asked the same of him with regards to how much of the route he plans, etc. His exact answer was…none of it. Operations sets up the routes, cost index, etc. and they’re saved in the FMC as saved routes. He just brings up the route in question and at that point he may have to make some adjustments but by and large, everything is programmed into the FMC prior to the flight.
Weight, fuel, SIDS, STARS, etc obviously are the variables that the pilots need to enter themselves.
I am not a pilot, but the issue of flight routes is very limited and more so on the Xbox console since you cannot install the mods like on PC, but it’s a good game and little by little it will get better
So I don’t fly the Airbus but I do fly the Boeing 737 NG and Max… and the questions you ask can generally be applied to most (large) airline ops regardless (in terms of operating a Boeing or an Airbus - smaller regional ops may differ slightly)
At least in the US, all of our plans are done by Dispatch: essentially the nerve center of the Airline. The flight dispatcher will do a flight plan, when they’re happy with it, they will then “release” the flight plan into the system that talks to various providers - one being the gateway for uplink/downlink to the FMC. I believe in most other jurisdictions they are called flight planners but do not share 50% of the responsibility with the Captain. What I mean by that is we both need to concur the flight can operate safely to proceed with dispatching. If either one of us is not happy, the plane isn’t moving. They’re the first line of safety generally and will check NOTAMs, Wx, MEL/CDL, ATC playbook, along a host of other variables when flight planning.
My outfit uses Jeppesen FD PRO X, Aviator and Boeing OPT which are apps on our company iPad that will download our route, applicable notams, weather enroute, everything pertaining to the flight. OPT (Onboard Performance Tool) is more or less a backup for us, but it can give us performance numbers if we can’t get them to downlink. I think the Airbus equivalent to OPT is called like flySMART or something. I’ll usually get a notification about 2-3ish hours before I get to the plane and can view the plan on my iPad. Again, that’s done by the Dispatcher when releasing the flight plan. The performance data will usually come in form of a load sheet - the load planner will ensure the aircraft is loaded as best as possible to the optimal CG within the loading envelope. The loadsheet will show just about everything, the passenger zones, the bin loading, our limiting take off factors etc. Usually don’t get that until 15 minutes prior to departure, but we get a preliminary that’s automatically generated based on the bookings, historical data for the flight and other backend technological data beyond me lol.
No, as covered above, the aircraft will downlink the flight plan and performance (wirelessly). The plane isn’t talking to the iPad or EFB, but to ground station receivers (or Satcom) that transmit data from the service providers the airline uses. HOWEVER There is/was an option - the most expensive one at that - which offers an integrated EFB in the 737 (very similar to how most 787s have, maybe even 777) where it is literally built into the cockpit on the left and right hand side, and has OPT and other Boeing apps for charts, data, performance, QRH, the works. That one actually talks to the aircraft I believe. I’ve never seen a 737 with that option configured, probably because we can display all the same data on an iPad for a fraction of the cost. Granted, these are expensive OPTIONS bought by the Airline, so at some outfits, they may very well need to manually input their flight plans on a normal basis. I’ve run into a few times where we had no data connection - usually when ARINC receivers go down (or other provider) and you simply need to do it by hand. This also applies to performance, usually we will then get a printed load sheet and confirm the numbers on our performance app.
WOW! This is fantastic, thank you very much! gives a real peek behind the scenes as to what happens before we as passengers get anywhere near the aircraft.
Flight planning is performed by dispatch, operations, OCC or whatever they might be called in a particular company. It’s usually done automatically by some software which integrates the passenger figures (weight), the weather (fuel required), finds a suitable route, files the flight plan to ATC and then keeps everything up to date should conditions change. Manual input might be required in some cases, maybe alternate aerodromes need to be updated due to weather, etc. Up to an hour before flight it is responsibility of the dispatcher that everything is correct and that the aircraft can indeed be dispatched, thereafter it is up to the commander.
Pilots are able to retrieve and update the briefing package on the EFB which might include company messages, aircraft deficiencies, operational flight plan, a copy of ATC flight plan, weather, NOTAMs, graphical weather charts. Usually you have full access, one airline I flew for even had an app with all information regarding passengers, what time they land or expect to land from transfer flights, what gate, how many, special categories, where is the aircraft parked etc. You could order fuel via the same app, de-icing via another app. Loadsheet came in via an app after boarding completed. It is all about apps nowadays, it didn’t work at every airport but no worry, there was an app for that as well which included ground handling info for each airport with phone numbers, frequencies etc. so you know how to get in contact and order your fuel, de-icing and so on.
No, you can’t interface with the aircraft via EFB. Dispatch might be able to send the flight plan to the aircraft via ACARS or the company might have company routes stored directly into the FMS for the routes flown which you could select and modify where needed.
which included ground handling info for each airport with phone numbers, frequencies etc. so you know how to get in contact and order your fuel, de-icing and so on.