ARRIVE TAKEOFF LAND — Page 127, Lesson 122

I want to walk you through a real-world example of a computer-generated flight plan. This is the kind of document you'll see on the flight deck or in the dispatch office for every single flight you operate. Let's take it line by line, starting from the top. At the very top, we have the header row: FUEL, TIME, DIST. These are the three main columns that summarise the fuel, time, and distance for each phase of the flight. Below that, the next row says ARRIVE TAKEOFF LAND — that's the event row, telling us the planned times for arrival, takeoff, and landing. Then AV PLD stands for available payload, which is the load you can carry. And OPNLWT is operational weight — the total weight of the aircraft ready for departure. Now look at line 4, labelled POA — that's the point of arrival, which is our destination. Here it's EDDF, the ICAO code for Frankfurt Airport. The numbers next to it: 003091 is the fuel required in kilograms to reach that point, 00/55 is the time in hours and minutes — so 55 minutes. 0362 is the distance in nautical miles. Then 1925Z is the estimated time of arrival in Zulu time — 19:25 Zulu. 077390 is the takeoff weight, 074299 is the landing weight, and 012500 is the zero fuel weight, all in kilograms. Finally, 058638 is the operational weight empty. Line 5 is ALT — the alternate aerodrome. Here it's EDDL, Düsseldorf Airport. 001485 kilograms of fuel to the alternate, 00/24 — 24 minutes, 0101 nautical miles. 1949Z is the estimated time of arrival at the alternate. Then COMP M015 — that's a component value, meaning a headwind component of 15 knots. The 'M' stands for minus, so it's a headwind. Line 6: HLD is holding fuel. 001521 kilograms, 00/30 — 30 minutes of holding at 1,500 feet above the aerodrome, which is the standard holding fuel calculation. Line 7: CON is contingency fuel. 000155 kilograms, 00/03 — 3 minutes. This is the fuel you carry for unexpected delays or deviations. Line 8: REQ is total fuel required for the whole flight. 006252 kilograms, 01/52 — 1 hour 52 minutes. Line 9: XTR is extra fuel. Here it's 000000 and 00/00 — no extra fuel carried. Line 10: TOT is total fuel on board at engine start. 006252 kilograms, 01/52 — same as required, so no extra. Line 11 gives the route: EGKK DVR6M DVR UG1 NTM NTM1A EDDF. That's Gatwick (EGKK) departure via the DVR6M standard instrument departure, then direct to DVR VOR, then airway UG1 up to NTM VOR, then the NTM1A standard arrival into Frankfurt. Line 12: WIND — wind data. P029 means a positive component of 29 knots — that's a tailwind component. MXSH 5/KOK means maximum crosswind component is 5 knots at KOK waypoint. TEMPO P01 NAM 0337 — temporary wind change, positive 1 knot at NAM, at time 0337 Zulu. Line 13: FL 370 — the planned cruising flight level, 37,000 feet. Lines 14 through 16 show LRC — Long Range Cruise fuel and time at different flight levels. At FL370: 3,091 kg, 56 minutes. At FL330: 3,180 kg, 57 minutes. At FL410: 3,111 kg, 55 minutes. So FL370 is the most fuel-efficient for this flight. Line 17: EGKK ELEV 00202FT — Gatwick's elevation is 202 feet above mean sea level. Line 18 is a column header for the route log: AWY (airway), WPT (waypoint), MTR (magnetic track), DFT (distance flown to that point), ZD (Zulu time difference), ZT (Zulu time), ETA (estimated time of arrival), ATA (actual time of arrival — blank here), CT (cumulative time), WIND (wind direction and speed), COMP (wind component), GRS (ground speed), DSTR (distance to run to destination), REM (remaining fuel). Line 19: MSA FRQ — minimum safe altitude and frequency for the sector. Now let's walk through the route log entries. Line 20: DVR6M DVR — the first waypoint is DVR VOR. 092 is the magnetic track, .. means no distance yet, 068 is the distance from departure, 0/11 is the time in hours/minutes, then cumulative time 0/11, wind and component blank, ground speed blank, distance to run blank, remaining fuel blank. 0294 is the MSA — 2,940 feet. Line 21: 023 is the frequency for that sector — 114.95 MHz. Line 22: UG1 TOC — top of climb on airway UG1. 097 magnetic track, .. distance, 014 distance from departure, 0/02 time, cumulative 0/02, 02809 is the remaining fuel — 2,809 kg, 0046 is distance to run — 46 nautical miles. Line 23: frequency 023 again. Line 24: UG1 KONAN — waypoint KONAN. 097 track, L01 means left of track by 1 nautical mile, 010 distance, 0/01 time, cumulative 0/14, wind 27045 — wind from 270° at 45 knots, component P045 — positive 45 knots tailwind, ground speed 502 knots, distance to run 0270 nautical miles, remaining fuel 0045 — 45 kg? No, that's 4,500 kg? Actually, the format is in hundreds of kilograms — so 0045 means 4,500 kg remaining. Line 25: frequency 023. Line 26: UG1 KOK — waypoint KOK. 097 track, L01 left 1 NM, 025 distance, 0/03 time, cumulative 0/17, wind 26041, component P040, ground speed 497, distance to run 0245, remaining fuel 0043 — 4,300 kg. Line 27: frequency 114.5. Line 28: UG1 REMBA — waypoint REMBA. 108 track, L02 left 2 NM, 090 distance, 0/11 time, cumulative 0/28, wind 27030, component P028, ground speed 488, distance to run 0155, remaining fuel 0038 — 3,800 kg. Line 29: frequency 026. Line 30: UG1 NUVIL — waypoint NUVIL. 109 track, L01 left 1 NM, 024 distance, 0/03 time, cumulative 0/31, wind 27025, component P024, ground speed 485, distance to run 0131, remaining fuel 0036 — 3,600 kg. Line 31: frequency 034. Line 32: UG1 SPI — waypoint SPI. 110 track, L01 left 1 NM, 004 distance, 0/01 time, cumulative 0/32, wind 27025, component P024, ground speed 485, distance to run 0127, remaining fuel 0036. Line 33: frequency 034. Line 34: UG1 LARED — waypoint LARED. 131 track, L02 left 2 NM, 009 distance, 0/01 time, cumulative 0/33, wind 28025, component P020, ground speed 481, distance to run 0118, remaining fuel 0036. Line 35: frequency 034. Line 36: UG1 TOD — top of descent. 131 track, L03 left 3 NM, 007 distance, 0/01 time, cumulative 0/34, wind 28025, component P021, ground speed 481, distance to run 0111, remaining fuel 0035 — 3,500 kg. Line 37: frequency 043. Line 38: UG1 NTM — waypoint NTM VOR. 131 track, .. no offset, 030 distance, 0/06 time, cumulative 0/40, wind blank, component blank, ground speed blank, distance to run 0081, remaining fuel blank. Line 39: frequency 043. Line 40: NTM1A EDDF — the standard arrival into Frankfurt. 089 track, .. no offset, 081 distance, 0/16 time, cumulative 0/55, wind blank, component blank, ground speed blank, distance to run 000 — at destination, remaining fuel 0032 — 3,200 kg. Line 41: frequency 043. Line 42: ELEV 00364FT — Frankfurt's elevation is 364 feet. Lines 43 through 46 give the coordinates for each waypoint in degrees and minutes: EGKK N51089W000113, DVR N51097E001217, KONAN N51078E002000, KOK N51057E002392, REMBA N50398E004549, NUVIL N50322E005315, SPI N50309E005375, LARED N50252E005480, NTM N50010E006320, EDDF N50021E008343. Line 47: FIRS EBUR/0014 EDDU/0036 — the flight information regions crossed. EBUR (Bremen FIR) at time 0014 Zulu, EDDU (Düsseldorf UIR) at time 0036 Zulu. Line 48: (FPL-JD105-IN) — this is an ICAO flight plan identifier. JD105 is the flight number, IN means it's an IFR navigation flight plan. Line 49: -B757/M-SXI/C — aircraft type Boeing 757, M means medium wake turbulence category, SXI is the equipment suffix — standard communication, navigation, and approach aids, C means the aircraft has a transponder with Mode C. Line 50: -EGKK1830 — departure aerodrome and estimated off-block time: Gatwick at 18:30 Zulu. Line 51: -N0457F370 DVR6M DVR UG1 NTM NTM1A — the route in ICAO format. N0457 means Mach 0.45 initial speed, F370 means flight level 370, then the route. Line 52: -EDDF0055 EDDL — destination EDDF with estimated elapsed time 0055 (55 minutes), alternate EDDL. Line 53: -EET/EBUR