CONTENTS 9.00.01 P 2 9.00.01 CONTENTS... 2 9.01.01 CONFIGURE... 3 9.01.02 CONFIGURE... 4 9.02.01 START... 5 9.02.02 START... 6 9.03.01 REFUEL... 7 9.03.02 REFUEL... 8 9.04.01 STATUS... 9 9.05.01 FDR... 10 9.05.02 FDR... 11 9.05.03 FDR... 12 9.06.01 ACARS... 13 9.06.02 ACARS... 14 9.07.01 BROWSER... 15 9.08.01 TYPE RATING... 16
9.01.01 P 3 CONFIGURE INTRODUCTION SATAvFDR is a PIREP, ACARS and REFUEL PANEL System. This means that in SATA Virtual you will use SATAvFDR to file your flight reports, and also used to help on the operation of the aircraft and flight briefing. At the time of launch, SATAvFDR works with, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, Microsoft Flight Simulator X, Lockheed Martin Prepar3d and X-PLANE 9. Please refer to 9.08.01 Type Rating for type rating configuration. CONFIGURE After having downloaded and installed SATAvFDR software from SATA Virtual site the software is ready to be used. Launch SATAvFDR from the Start Menu and you should see the following screen. Note: In order to use SATAvFDR, a unregistered copy of Pete Dowson FSUIPC is needed. Microsoft Flight Simulator 9 requires FSUIPC 3, Microsoft Flight Simulator X and Lockheed Martin Prepar3D requires FSUIPC 4, X-PLANE requires a copy of XUIPC freeware (users of X-PLANE need to ask SATA Virtual Planning and Crew a modified copy of XUIPC setup files).
9.01.02 P 4 CONFIGURE SATAvFDR only needs the pilot number in order to be ready to use. To configure your pilot number go to the menu File and select Preferences, fill in your SATA Virtual Pilot Number in the respective field. If a pilot tries to start a flight and the Pilot Number is not filled the following window will also pop-up and the pilot will need to fill his/her pilot number in order to proceed. Do not change any other fields they are needed for the proper operation of SATAvFDR.
9.02.01 P 5 START START To use SATAvFDR to log flights pilot needs to book a flight via SATA Virtual Pilot Console. Booking flights in Pilot Console is out of the scope of this document. After flight booking is done, start SATAvFDR (following screen should appear). On the bottom line pilots will see the Flight Simulator connection status and the current flight phase.
9.02.02 P 6 START The next step is to click Get FPL button and the next booked flight for the Pilot Number will be downloaded from SATA Virtual site.. Some operational flight plan data is showed after a successful download from SATA Virtual site. When a flight plan is downloaded and a connection to the flight simulator is established, Fuel On Board (FOB) from the last flight of the chosen aircraft is applied to the aircraft loaded in flight simulator. Pilots need to pay special attention to this feature because it will override any previously fuel loaded in the aircraft by any other means.
9.03.01 P 7 REFUEL REFUEL SATAvFDR simulates a refuel panel. This panel uses a special digital font that can be optionally installed in Windows systems. If you are interested in installing the font please ask for a link sending an email to Planning and Crew. The top frame in this screen has the fuel distribution weights that are loaded in flight simulator plane. On the lower frame, from left to right: PRESELECTED Estimated quantity of fuel for the current flight, pilots can adjust this number. REFUEL Green means that a connection with flight simulator is available and running, it will be Red if a connection to flight simulator is not established. OFF/ON Click the on top of letters to change from OFF/ON. ACTUAL Total weight of fuel loaded in all tanks. Note: At the time of release of SATAvFDR defuel is not possible
9.03.02 P 8 REFUEL Below an image of the refuel panel refueling an airplane in flight simulator. Refuel panel also tries to simulate the time that takes to refuel planes in real world. Pilots need to take this time factor into consideration when booking flights. The time it takes to refuel an aircraft from SATA Virtual fleet depends on the aircraft type. For instance, to fill an Airbus A320 from 0 to 19t will take around 20 minutes. Zero Fuel Weight and Fuel Weight should only be filled (FMC/MCDU) after refueling is complete in SATAvFDR Refuel panel, failing to do so might result in wrong weights in flight simulator. Note: At the time of writing this document, refueling aircrafts with SATAvFDR is not mandatory. Pilots can choose any other means to refuel the aircraft.
9.04.01 P 9 STATUS STATUS Status page will show several parameters from the aircraft and flight.
9.05.01 P 10 FDR START FDR START FDR Events (log) will register several flight parameters that will allow SATA Virtual to make post flight analysis. FDR events logging is started automatically as soon as parking brake is released at origin.
9.05.02 P 11 FDR STOP FDR STOP FDR Events logging is stopped automatically as soon as parking brakes are set and engines are set to off at destination. At this point ON BLOCKS events are logged that will compute several flight parameters as FOB, Flight Time, Block Time, etc. Actual landing airport is also computed at this time, this will keep a proper position for the aircraft being flown. Pilots don t need to change anything in SATAvFDR after a diversion has been performed.
9.05.03 P 12 FDR STOP In some abnormal situations, like a Rejected Takeoff with a return to the gate, to solve any technical issues with the aircraft, in the case of not being able to resume flight without restarting, either by loading the aircraft again or with a full restart of flight simulation software: An ACARS message should be filled stating the problem (refer to ACARS section in this document for reference about filling ACARS messages) Stop button on the main Flight page should be pressed, which will end the flight logging process Send PIREP button will be enabled and the log can be sent to SATA Virtual.
9.06.01 P 13 ACARS ACARS Integrated ACARS system. Pilots can check here messages sent and received by the aircraft. The screen is split in 2 main frames. Downlink frame will have a list of all messages sent from the aircraft to SATA Virtual ACARS site. Uplink frame will have a list of all messages received from SATA Virtual ACARS site that were sent to the current aircraft. These messages can be sent by any staff member of SATA Virtual that might be handling OPS (Operations) online or by other fellow pilots. This ACARS system is compatible with FSACARS ACARS system, so pilots can exchange messages between each other, without worrying about which software they are running at any given time.
9.06.02 P 14 ACARS In order to send a message, Station field needs to be inserted and a message needs to be written on the text box below Station. To send a message to online OPS, pilots need to check the ground station or stations that might be online at a given time, this can be checked in SATA Virtual main page, where online (OPS) ground stations will be listed. To send a message to another flight crew, performing a flight at the same time, Station should be filled with the intended IATA flight number (e.g.: S40129), fill the text message box and hit Send button. All messages exchanged in ACARS system are logged in FDR Events and are also sent to SATA Virtual ACARS system where they are kept for further reference. ACARS system can also be used to force a plain text message in FDR Events log. To perform this leave the Station field blank, type the message and click Send button, same logging rules stated above apply here.
9.07.01 P 15 BROWSER BROWSER A web browser this is self-explanatory.
9.07.01 P 16 TYPE RATING TYPE RATING To use SATAvFDR to log a Type Rating flight, check Type Rating box, fill in the Aircraft Type with the appropriate ICAO Aircraft Type Identifier (A310, A320, DH8B or DH8D) and click Get FPL button. Some of the required fields are filled automatically, Altitude and Route should be filled by the candidate.