Big Iron

Over the past few years much of the activity here at SPA has been in the Special Operations Division, particularly Bush Flying. I enjoy doing that and other light GA flying, but I also like the challenge of mastering the numerous complex systems required to fly the "big iron". I have been flying the excellent Level D 767-300ER for almost six years now and I have just started flying the new PMDG 747-400X for FSX. In preparation for expanding our Cat VII schedule at MSP, I have been flying the long routes in our schedule. In the past several weeks I've done KMSP to KSFO and KSFO to RJAA. I did those flights twice, once in the 767-300ER and then again in the 747-400. The next flight in the schedule was 1719 from Tokyo (RJAA) to Frankfurt (EDDF). That's a 5245 NM flight which, according to our schedule, requires 11:40. Since that would require the 767-300ER to stop to refuel, I planned to do the flight in the 747-400 with a full passenger load. I have just completed flying 1719 (see the pictures in the forum) and , sure enough, it took me 11:25.

Among the many interesting aspects of these sorts of flights is the planning required to do it right. My flight plan ran to five pages of waypoints, largely over Russia. I also like to plan the fuel usage carefully and use a dispatch generator which allows me to enter the passenger and cargo weights and plan the fuel required including taxi fuel and adequate margin for flight to my alternate, hold contingencies and the FAR required minimums. I had a particularly good flight this time and hit my numbers very closely for Time (11:25 actual/11:40 scheduled/11:45 planned) and Fuel (369143 # loaded/ 306253 # planned/ 306225 # actual) including taxi to and from the gate. To hit those numbers so closely, I had to let the 747's flight computer manage the ascent and descent profiles to minimize fuel and, to some extent, time.

It takes some time to learn a complex payware aircraft like PMDG 747 (the manual is well over 100 pages in length) as most of the aircraft systems are modelled in some detail. Nonetheless, once you use the checklists a few times, you start to learn where things are located and , before long, you can plan the flight, preflight the aircraft, and whip through the Captain's and First Officer's checklists in something less than an hour. So don't be intimidated by the complexity; its really a lot of fun.

Anyhow, look for some new long flights in the MSP schedule (eventually) and let me know if you're interested in learning more about this aspect of the hobby.

Mike Daugherty
SPA 48
MSP Hub Manager<br /><br /><!-- editby --><br /><br /><em>edited by: Westcoast, Apr 10, 2011 - 03:56 PM</em><!-- end editby -->

Looking forward to a re-vamped CAT VII schedule Mike. I'm partial to my Just Flight DC-10/30, and our current CAT VII schedule leaves much to be desired. I'm not really a fan of bush flights, so this will be a welcome change. Having said that, I applaud Yoland for his hard work and dedication to our airline. He's done amazing things with the Bush Ops, Cargo & Freight, Charter Flights, and our Online Division.

Keep up the great work boys. We all appreciate your hard work and look forward to what you have up your sleeves.

Jerry.

It's good to hear from you. I'll try the topcat planner. The spreadsheet I'm using now was "borrowed" from another VA and seems to work very well. Thanks for the tip.

Mike