QVA Quick Start Guide for new pilots

  The following aspects of simulator flight planning are discussed in this page :

QVA Aircraft speeds and operational limitations reference guide

this link is invaluable and a great tool to know what your aircraft is capable and able to do!

Aircraft familiarization:

Pilots that are new on a specific type of aircraft need to familiarize themselves with theoretical and practical aspects of operating this type.
This may also apply to pilots, whose skills have become rusty after an elongated leave or a period of flying other types.

Aspects to consider:

• Cockpit layout  (do you know the location of all the various switches, displays and indicators in the cockpit ?)

• Normal procedures (cockpit safety inspection, initial cockpit preparation, normal checklists ..)

• Abnormal and emergency procedures (abnormal checklists and procedures such as engine failure, gear failure etc)

• Flight characteristics (stall speeds, manoeuvring speeds, maximum flap and gear speeds, weight limitations etc ..)

• Manual and automatic handling of the aircraft (flying training patterns, stalls, steep turns, ILS approaches - also with a failed engine ..)

Note:  QVA has not agreed on specified company checklists or procedures to be used by its pilots except for already published procedures by Air Services Australia.
 

To help with getting familiar to a new type, an old QVA friend Owen Robinson has prepared a page that gives a technical overview of the types in the QVA fleet for quick reference. This document is recommended for beginners seeking fast advice to get started :

QVA  aircraft  speeds and weights -  Quick Reference for beginners
 

An additional beginners collection of data sheets and checklists for the QVA fleet was prepared by and old QVA friend David Doyle.
Download beginners checklists here

And here is, what a real checklist for a CF6 powered Boeing 747-400 could look like. You need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to see this document.
B747-400  sample checklist    This document was published by Marc Brodbeck in the Aerowinx forum.

B747-400 Vref, limits and callouts   A loose collection of data about Vrefs, speed limitations and standard callouts ....

An idea, what could happen during a type rating checkout flight can be found in this document :
What to expect during a real B747-400 type rating or proficiency checkout flight  (text courtesy of B747-400 pilot Jim Brennan)

Weather planning:

So, the first step in preparing a routine flight should be a visit to the QVA - MET Office to obtain the up to date weather briefing for your departure, route destination and alternate destination.

You could of course check the Australian Meteorology site for up to date aviation satellite and weather prognosis 

You must also follow the basic Australian Flight Rules for all flights in Australian Air Space

BASIC AUSTRALIAN FLIGHT RULES

and these links will give you everything from SID/STAR information to enroute charts

Australian Air Services

 Aerodrome and procedure charts

 For pilots and controllers using Australian and New Zealand airspace. This download will link you directly to current charts and information saving time and hassle finding what you want. This version lists all Australian and New Zealand airports in DAP and AIP, and most international destinations on the Pacific-rim. Also has flight planning aids.  

OZPILOT V2.7  

But there is more.  There may be things published by Aero Services that you need to know on your way to your destination.

NOTAM's  (NOTice To Airmen)

NOTAMs are bulletins issued by ATC. They inform about irregular events that affect air traffic, such as construction work in progress at airports, navigation aids out of service, closed taxiways or runways.  They maybe difficult to understand for a beginner, but it's fun trying to decode the messages.

Get real world NOTAMs from Airservices Australia here ........... you must be logged in to gain access to NOTAMs

More cornerstones for your route planning:

• Runway in use at the departure airport

Normally information about the active runways is broadcast on the ATIS frequency. An easy first guess is, that the active runway will more or less point into the wind. If ATC is changing runways, after you have already prepared your departure route, etc, you may have to react quickly and redo parts of your paperwork ...

If you're looking for airport ground maps, you can find one for Sydney on the respective Airservices Australia  page  

• SIDs, the Standard Instrument Departure routes

SIDs are precise instructions, how to climb from the departure runway to the navigation aid or waypoint, at which the flight joins the airway system and begins the cruise climb or the enroute portion of the flight.

They help ATC to separate arriving and departing traffic by channeling the outgoing stream of  planes in a predictable way.

SIDs aren't used everywhere. At some airports, it is mandatory, to fly a SID, at some others it is optional. Again at other, mainly smaller airports, no SIDs are published at all.

Sometimes a SID comprises a very complex route, while other SIDs just require one turn after departure to the next waypoint. In most cases a SID contains route instructions and altitude limitations.

Here's a few links to the Airservices Australia pages offering SID/STAR charts for downloading :

Sydney SID information
Brisbane SID information
Melbourne SID information
Perth STAR information
Cairns STAR information
 

• Enroute planning and  Airways, the freeways of airspace ...

Ideally, an aircraft would follow the shortest line from point A to point B called the great circle line.
The reason, why this is not always happening, is, that other planes are using the same airspace and have to be kept at a save distance from each other.
Also the military claims huge chunks of airspace for exercises, weapons training etc, so civilian planes have to avoid such areas.

Airways are air navigation routes, that follow a sequence of radio beacons or coordinate defined waypoints (5 letter waypoints) to connect regions of a continent or worldwide ... They are normally designated with one or two letters and a number.

Before an IFR flight gets airborne, an ATC flightplan is filed, normally by the airline's dispatch office, that notifies ATC of the intentions of this flight.
This flightplan may contain a route, such as 'IDSAK R214 ISBAN'  which simply means, that plane intends to follow airway R214 from waypoint IDSAK to waypoint ISBAN along the published reporting points of airway R214.

The location of these reporting points can be taken from enroute charts or route facility charts (RFCs), published by many governmental or private agencies.

Airways help to define a flight route for ATC, but there are many cases, when a commercial flight won't follow an airway, but a route defined by individual waypoints. The rules governing this are complex and won't be outlined here.

There are some enroute resources available on the internet. However it is highly rewarding to own a set of enroute paper charts for the regions that you want to fly over with your simulator.

Please consult the links in the 'other links' section below for more enroute information outside of Australia.
 

• STARs, the Standard Terminal Arrival Routes

STARs help to channel incoming traffic from the airways network towards an airport. They are interwoven with the SIDs and most of what has been said above about SIDs goes for STARs as well.

Please consult the links in the SIDs section above for Australian STAR information.

Please consult the links in the 'other links' section below for STAR information outside of Australia.
 

• Approach procedures for the destination airport and alternate airport

Approach procedures describe precisely, what to do, to get from the Initial Approach Fix  (IAF), a radio beacon or waypoint somewhere in the approach sector, to the runway. Depending on the means of navigation used you will find ILS, VOR/DME,VOR,NDB/DME,NDB or even GPS approaches.

Their basic purpose is to get the flight safely below the cloud base while ensuring obstacle clearance .

In good weather, even at big international airports, formal instrument approaches may be replaced by simple VFR patterns, to increase traffic capacity.

Hint: On some websites, instrument approach information is referred to as IAL (Instrument Approach and Landing) information.

Other links

   You might find these helpful for planning your route also :

Great circle flight path display  On this site you can plot great circle tracks and determine great circle distances. Simple, but useful for initial route and fuel planning.

The Atlantic mailing list      If you fly the North Atlantic, you may find the daily changing NAT track bulletins here.

Check the latest AIRAC cycle database update

Route finder

Fuel planning:

Fuel consumption of an airplane is highly dependent on its actual weight, altitudes flown and temperatures at those altitudes. The larger the plane, the wider is the range of its possible fuel flow figures. Therefore every real world aircraft operating manual contains extensive tables and charts, that deal with this problem. To put it simply, fuel is money, not only does fuel cost money to get it, but taking too much on your flight will cost you weight - and a heavy aircraft is an inefficient aircraft and an inefficient aircraft costs money!!  Catch 22?  But if you don't take enough fuel that will cost the lives of your pax and you!  So how much should you load before your flight?

The total fuel load necessary to safely conduct an airline flight, normally splits up as follows :

• Taxi    fuel necessary to get from the startup point to the runway.

• Trip    from take off to touchdown, under consideration of wind, temperatures aloft, departure weight and cruising altitude.

• Contingency   a company specific enroute reserve which caters for unforeseen deviations from the flightplan, wrong wind forecasts etc.

• ICAO Reserve    normally 30 minutes worth of holding fuel at typical holding altitudes.

• Alternate     fuel necessary to reach an alternate airport, in the event of inacceptable weather at the destination, or other contingencies, such as blocked runways, airport curfews etc. The alternate airport must have an acceptable weather forecast before departure and be suitable for the aircraft type. In lonesome areas with no alternate airport available, a socalled island reserve is carried on the flight.

• Extra      fuel carried additionally. Carrying more fuel means greater weight, higher fuel consumption and therefore higher costs, so pilots need a good reason to carry extra fuel, such as foreseeable traffic delays, widespread poor weather or the like.

Fuel consumption is stated in kgs/h, lbs/h, liters/h, US or imperial gallons/h. This depends on aircraft type and company policy.

APDLS automatically converts the fuel figures stated by the pilot in the flight report to metric tonnes.  Pilots only have to check the proper box in the flight report form.  QVA fleet aircraft are all turbine powered, be it jet or turboprop, and therefore use kerosene (JET-A, JET-A1 or whatever is available)

Fuel planning links:    There are many and various fuel planning programs.  Here are a couple you can try out.