American Airlines Virtual

Hi Brian,

One of things I do when flying into an airport is have the charts for the various runways ready to go either online or printed out. I keep a binder of runways and approaches after I print them to conserve paper. I also check before I take-off to determine the most likely runways based on wind conditions and ready myself for them. But the best thing I do that helps is when I begin to descend I ask the controller if he could give me a heads up on the runway so I can prepare. This does not always work with a busy airport but it works most of the time. I know what you mean about runways, when you are in a large fly-in, you don't want to have to go around. They might have to put you in the far back of the line on a go around. Hope these tips help.

I plan altitudes to obey RVSM (which I just learned applies below 18000ft!) but other than that I don't have a good idea what is a 'realistic' altitude for various flights.

Actually RVSM applies to altitudes above FL (Flight Level) 280. 1000ft of vertical separation has always been standard below 28000 ft. With the implementation of RVSM we now have 1000ft separation minimums up to FL410. This basically doubled the usable airspace from FL290 to FL410. It's a good deal

Realistic altitudes for you routes are factored on many things. Fuel Burn, head/tail winds, turbulence, vertical/lateral spacing ATC needs, aircraft weight are just a few. All things being equal the higher altitude you use the less fuel you will burn so higher is generally better.

A few basics:

1) If it's less than 400nm you can take 10% of the distance as a target crz alt. Never less than the lowest usable flight level (FL180, FL190 or FL200 dependent on the altimeter). Again this isn't a hard and fast rule and requires that you look at the departure/arrival procedures, winds at planed crz altitude and any other criterial that would effect the decision.

2) If you choose a higher altitude like FL400 for example but find climbing through FL360 that your climb rate has dropped below 500fpm choose to stay at FL360 until the aircraft burns fuel and has the performance to climb at no less than 500fpm. This will keep you safe from high altitude stalls and putting the aircraft into a flight envelope that it's not able to sustain.

3) Finally if it's a valid altitude for the direction of flight, meets or exceeds any enroute min altitudes (generally anything above FL180 will with rare exception) and gets you to your destination with NO LESS than 45min of fuel in your tanks you have selected a realistic altitude. With experience and practice you will get more proficient. Have fun.

Cheers

Any tips on being flexible in the air when flying online is welcomed. If I am told to change my flight plan in mid air, or cleared direct to a certain VOR, due to lack of charts I often get lost because I don't know the frequency or 3-letter code for the VOR. Also if I'm prepared for a certain runway, and the controller switches to a different runway, I can often be found scrambling to prep the approach and feel very unprepared.

For ATC enroute changes here are a few things that can reduce your workload:

If you are cleared direct a VOR or GPS waypoint and are unfamiliar ask ATC first for a vector (Heading). This will get you headed in the right direction. Next ask for the 3 or 5 letter identifier and then make the changes in the FMS or NAV radios.

Example:
ATC: American 100, cleared direct Seal Beach, depart Seal Beach Heading 040, vectors ILS 25 left approach

AAL100: SoCal request initial vector for Seal Beach and the identifier

ATC: American 100 fly heading 060, vectors Seal Beach, proceed direct when able. Seal Beach identifier is Sierra, Lima, India. Advise direct Seal Beach.

AAL100: Heading 060, will advise direct Seal Beach

OK so you have now taken the work of scrambling to figure out where and what Seal Beach is and put that workload on ATC. You are headed in the right direction and now have time to look at your charts and update either your FMS with direct SLI or tune SLI to your nav radio. After you have positive reception of SLI via FMS or NAV and can proceed direct let ATC know.

AAL100: Socal American 100 is direct Seal Beach.

ATC: American 100, roger

Next you can start getting ready for your approach. You know that after passing Seal Beach you are to fly heading 040 as an initial vector for ILS 25L. So expect ILS 25L and set up your NAV radios, FMS accordingly. Brief the approach to be familiar with it's specifics. The most important are: Localizer Freq, Final approach coarse, Decision altitude, and the missed approach procedure. Knowing the missed appr procedure is VERY important because this is what you are going to do when things go badly. Maybe ATC creates a situation that exceeds your workload capacity or maybe something unexpected happens. In this situation being familiar with what you will do in the worst case scenario (execute the published missed appr procedure) takes the pressure off you.

In most cases you do get the RWY you were told to expect but there are a few indicators that you will be issued a change.

1) The approach controller is getting backed up. The indicator of this is that aircraft ahead of you are getting issued RWY changes and or additional vectors and speed assignments. This tells you that the controller has spacing issues and may need to utilize a different RWY. So have a plan if this begins to happen. ATC should tell you as soon as possible that they have changed your RWY. You are the one who decides if you accept this change or not. ATC should give you enough time to make the adjustment and if they don't make them by requesting Vectors, the ILS freq and don't accept the clearance until you are comfortable. Worst case scenario is ATC will assign a heading and altitude to maintain and re-sequence your aircraft.

2) If winds are beginning to shift you should also be prepared for the possibility of being issued a new landing RWY.

The hardest part of flying is workload management and determining an efficient order of priorities. This also gets easier with experience as you will be able to look further ahead and correctly plan. The biggest tool you have is using your ability to SLOW things down when that workload gets excessive and make ATC work for you. Don't accept a clearance that you are not comfortable with and don't rush. The tough part of FS flying vs. real world is that you are doing this all alone and in real life for the type of flying we are simulating there are a min of 2 pilots working as a team. That's a huge difference and in my opinion makes flying in FS harder than when I'm off at work in the real world.

Hope this helps.

Well, I was a little at fault here with Brian's checkride. I used a cut and paste for any instructions for IFR flight levels. Taken off of the AAV forums. the RVSM was in the paragraph several times and should have been deleted for the phrase;

This checkride like all checkrides for the AAV are conducted using standard IFR altitudes. Therefore, westbound flights should be at even thousands (2,000, 4,000, ... 10,000, 12,000, etc.). Eastbound flights should be at odd thousands (3,000, 5,000, ...11,000, 13,000, etc.).

Most trainee checkrides are flown by new pilots at any and all altitudes any direction. So to get all on track this was a good starting point.

We all cannot be perfect, well sometimes.

WLP

Those are some really good pearls of wisdom Greg. I may have to create some stickyness for this thread. LOL