Flight planning

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Flight planning is used in air traffic with two meanings: as planning the offer of an airline or as planning the flight route.

In the second meaning, flight planning is also of importance for measurement and image flights for geodesy and photogrammetry .

Planning an airline's offer

The creation of a flight plan , the route offered by an airline , is called flight planning. This generally relates to the planning of operating flights. In a rotation planning for the aircraft of an airline, the requirements of network planning or route planning and the aircraft-related limitations are harmonized.

Planning the flight path

Flight planning (also flight path planning) is part of the flight preparation for a trip with aircraft . It differs in essential points depending on the flight rule ( instrument flight or visual flight ). Both types have in common that they take the following phases into account:

  • Start (mass calculations, engine performance)
  • Climbing flight (climbing performance, climbing time, definition of the top of climb )
  • Cruise (speed, navigation )
  • Descent (determination of the top of descent , descent time)
  • Landing (mass calculations)
  • Fallback planning

The flight planning is divided into several sections ( legs ). These result from the points that are to be flown. In the case of flights according to visual flight rules, in addition to TOC and TOD, these are mainly clearly visible landmarks or interception lines; in the case of instrument flights, navigation points that mark an airway .

The following parameters are listed for each section:

At the end of a flight planning there is the fuel calculation with safety surcharges. At least the following fuel must be carried:

  • Trip Fuel ‣‣ for the entire trip
  • Contingency Fuel ‣‣ for additional consumption (e.g. 5% of the triple fuel)
  • Alternate Fuel ‣‣ to the alternate airport
  • Final reserve ‣‣ to have some leeway (e.g. 30 minutes on hold)
  • Extra fuel ‣‣ for foreseeable delays (e.g. adverse weather)
  • Taxi Fuel ‣‣ to taxi from the gate to the runway and at the destination airport from the runway to the gate.

For airlines, flight planning and flight monitoring used to be carried out by flight dispatchers. They created both the detailed so-called "Operational Flight Plan" for the cockpit crew and the "ATC Flight Plan" for air traffic control. Nowadays this is only partially done for long-haul flights. The pilots usually have to prepare other flights themselves with the help of computer programs.

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