Planning of Eurowings cross country flights shall be mainly performed through a Microsoft Excel application designed and developed by Eurowings as a teaching tool for its students but also licensed pilots, enabling their step by step familiarization/refreshing with basic planning concepts of their navigation flights in Greek airspace. VFP, together with its user guide and installation instructions, shall be available for downloading from the e-learning platform (ITSS) to all Eurowings teaching personnel, students and service recipients VFP provides a structured step by step approach, integrating a range of significant information on aircraft performance, airports, navaids & en route waypoints in a single form. This form is used both for data entry and printing (as a single a4 page) to serve as reference during the flight. Information is grouped in horizontal "zones" from top to bottom and include: - flight general information & aircraft performance data, - information on departure, destination & alternate airports, - emergency & en route waypoint information, - route planning data, allowing selection of successive waypoints either stored in VFP s database or manually entered by the user. coloured scheme helps user to distinguish between legends, data selection, data computation / presentation as well as user entry cells. Active cells are marked in yellow colour or with a surrounding frame. To use VFP, the macros, active x controls and automatic updates in the Microsoft Excel application must be enabled. Note: In Excel 2007, a safety message appears on the top of the screen. User should click "options" to view the dialog window, check "activate content" in the respective boxes and click "ok". General Flight Information General flight information such as date, pilot/co-pilot names, type of flight etc. can be entered in the first row of the form. Whenever required, drop down selection lists and brief message boxes with instructions are included. Aircraft performance data are critical to flight safety. Therefore, VFP includes a range of such data for different aircraft makes and models including aircrafts currently used by Eurowings. To seek performance information of an aircraft make & model stored in VFP s database user can move his cursor to the green cell next to the legend cell "aircraft make/model" and click once on the green cell to activate a pull down list of different aircrafts. He can then select an aircraft from the list to see its performance data in the light blue cells in the row below your selection cell. To enter an aircraft make/model not included in the list double click on the empty row on the top of the selection list and input data for the desired aircraft. In this case, the make and model will be shown in the form but no performance data will be presented. Performance data are "indicative" as they are based on published information from various sources (including but not limited to manufacturer s POH/FOM). They have been included in VFR flight Planner to indicate the kind of information to be sought by students during their flight planning. It is emphasized that such data are intended to be supportive to the planning process and that aircraft's POH/FOM remains the only valid reference source for the aircraft the user intends to fly. 1
Information on departure, destination and alternate airports Having selected the aircraft and entered general flight information pilot s next step involves seeking information on departure, destination and alternate airports. Students are normally guided by FIs to find such information from area and airport charts from various publications such as for example HCAA AIP or Jeppesen trip kits. Within its training scope, VFP includes hyperlinks to Greek airports/airfields sample charts and photos but in no way substitutes printed and electronic services available in the market and in crew briefing room(s) in Eurowings training location(s) nor there is an obligation on behalf of Eurowings for the regular updating of charts included in planner's database. To seek information on airports/ airfields the user can move the cursor to the green cell next to the legend cell "departure airport" and click once on the cell to activate a pull down list of different Greek airports and airfields stored in planner's database. Selecting the airport/airfield from the list he can see a wealth of information in the light blue cells in the row below his selection cell. Area or airport/airfield maps/charts or photos (when available) can be viewed by clicking on the hyperlinks at the right hand side of the row. Entering a different airport than the ones in the list requires double clicking on the empty row on the top of the selection list. In this case no airport data will be presented. As in the case of performance data, student and licensed pilots shall be encouraged by Eurowings FIs to check thoroughly validity and accurancy of such data with HCAA AIP and other official publications before flight. Destination 2 and alternate airports, used in case of multi - destination flights, are selected in a similar manner. Transpoder Emergency Codes & Waypoints The third "zone" of the VFP form presents information on emergency codes for the transpoder (marked in red) as well as information on possible waypoints (airports, navaids or reporting points) during the flight. Up to nine such waypoints can be selected in the VFP form to view relevant information depending on the selected waypoint. By now the student is familiar with aircraft characteristics and departure/ destination airport information. At this stage of the flight planning process the student should start thinking on the route and different waypoints to be used during the flight. VFP provides an easy way to view information on waypoints using the grey selection boxes located above transpoder emergency information. Three different options are available to the user depending on the waypoint sought: a) VFP database airports/navaids: this option activates a list of Greek airports/airfields or navaids stored in planner's database. b) Database reporting points: this option should be used when the user wishes to view information of a specific reporting point already stored in the database. c) User waypoints: this option should only be used when the user has developed his own database of waypoints using the worksheet titled "userwp" in VFP application. 2
To view waypoint information the user must first move the cursor and click on the green cell under the legend "waypoint 1", then select one of the options mentioned above ticking the respective selection box and finally select the waypoint from the drop down list just under the legend "VFR Planner en route Arps, Navaids & Rep. Points". Waypoint information is presented in the blue cells in the rows under the selection cell. User can always double click on the empty line in the top of the list to enter an ad hoc waypoint not stored in the above databases. In this case, no data will be presented. Clicking on the hyperlinked cells (underlined in blue colour) users can view maps, information or METARS available from other internet sites. Information on additional waypoints can be seen in the same manner using cells waypoint 2, waypoint 3, etc. The following screen shows information when user selects navaid KRK in Kerkira island. Route Planning & Flight Parameters Computation The fourth "zone" relates to route planning and computation of flight parameters such as true course, airspeed, heading, distance, etc. Data flow is in general from top to bottom and from left to right, allowing user to enter data in the white cells in each row with computation results appearing in the light blue cells of the respective row. During training, the student shall be directed by his FI to work through the route planning process using ONC/TPC maps and formulae to plot the course and calculate flight parameters. He can later check his results using VFR Flight Planner. As already mentioned, up to nine waypoints can be entered using data stored in planner's database in the first column from left in green cells. Alternatively, user can manually enter WP name, geographical coordinates or true course from one WP to another using the white cells in the respective columns. 3
Note: It is important to remember that each row corresponds to one waypoint and therefore user must fill either the green cell or the coordinates or the TC in each row. Different options are available for entering en route waypoints. Student can use only database WPs or he can start with a database WP and continue with manually entered WPs with known coordinates or use only manually entered WPs. In all these cases, VFP provides computation results for significant flight parameters such as true course, true airspeed, distance, time, etc. on condition that the user fills required data for flight altitude, temperature, indicated airspeed (IAS), wind direction and speed, etc. Message boxes with instructions and limitations appear when required to assist user to fill the required cells correctly. The process of how to plan a flight from Kerkira (LGKR) to Kefallinia (LGKF) airports using for simplicity only two intermediary database stored reporting points (VOR/DME KRK and PARNA), is outlined below: First click on the top green cell in the column titled "Database Waypoints" then tick the radio button "Database Airports/Navaids" and select Kerkira airport from the selection list. The selection appears in the green cell. Next click on the second green cell below and use the same selection list to select KRK VOR/DME. User does not need to change the radio box as both airports/airfields and navaids are stored in the same database and appear in the same selection list. Next click on the second green cell in the column titled "Database Waypoints" then tick the radio button "Database Airports/Navaids" and select KRK VOR/DME. There is no need to change the radio box as both airports/airfields and navaids are stored in the same database and appear in the same selection list. Again the name of the navaid appears in the green cell. Note that as soon as KRK is selected the value 141 appears in the column titled "True Course". This is the result of computation of the TC between LGKR and KRK, the navaid selected as the first reporting point in this example. Student can now check the value of true course derived from the ONC/TPC map to that computed by VFP. Next continue to enter the second reporting point, i.e. PARNA. This is not an airport or navaid and therefore there is a need to change the radio box. Click on the third green cell (the one below KRK) then tick the box "Database Reporting Points" and select PARNA from the list. PARNA appears in the third cell and the value of 123 in the TC column indicating the true course from KRK to PARNA. In the same way user can fill the fourth waypoint (Kefallinia airport, LGKF) changing to "database airports/navaids" radio button and selecting LGKF from the list. 4
The following screen shows a different scenario for the entry of waypoints. KRK navaid and LGKF airport coordinates are manually entered by the user instead of using VFP s database. If airport coordinates are correctly entered, the true course computed values will be the same with those calculated using database figures. 5
Notes: (i) To view airport METARS, select the airport from the zone "Information on En Route Wayponts". Next click on hyperlink "METAR" in the respective row of this zone. A new web page appears from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a US agency providing worldwide metar data access services. Type the four character ICAO code of the airport (i.e. LGKR) in the dialogue box and press "submit" to see latest metar information for this airport. (ii) To view RP maps select the waypoint from the zone " Information on En Route Wayponts". Next click on hyperlink "RP Map & Info" in the last row of this zone. A new web page appears with a list of Greek VFR waypoints published in Fallinggrain website (http://www.fallingrain.com/world/gr/waypoints.html). Finally click on the name of the reporting point in this list to see the map and other useful information. To complete flight planning computations a number of parameters like altitude, airspeed wind data or magnetic variation/ deviation have to be filled by the user resulting in a complete dataset for his flight. In this example the following values are being used : Altitude: 1.000 ft to KRK, 3.000 ft to PARNA and 5.500 ft to LGKF, Temperature: 20 degrees Celsius, Indicated Airspeed: 85 kts, Wind: 200 deg / 12 kts (latest wind data in departure, en route and destination airports can be obtained using meteo hyperlink) Magnetic Variation: +3 deg, Magnetic Deviation: +1 deg. Planned takeoff time which will allow calculation of ETE and ETO values. 6
Above data should be entered in the respective white cells for each waypoint in the same row to that of the computed true course. Note: Columns labeled "Actual Time Enroute (ATE)" and Actual Time Over (ATO)" are intentionally left blank for the pilot to check actual vs estimated times during flight and make appropriate notes. The same is true for cells labeled "Landing Time Actual" and "Engine Finish Actual" also included in the VFR Planner form. Proper flight planning requires computation of fuel cost figures. This is possible through two different ways, either using fuel flow data from the performance database for the selected aircraft or an average fuel flow entered manually by the user. Unfortunately, fuel flow data could not be found for each aircraft stored in the database. Therefore the user will most probably have to input his own average fuel flow figure in the white cell under the legend cell "Fuel Flow (FF)". In this example an average fuel flow figure of 34 lt/hr has been filled corresponding to the Reims Cessna F172N Superhawk (180 hp) aeroplane (taken from aircraft performance database). Additional assumptions regarding a fuel cost of 2,15 euros/lt for AVGAS 100ll and a quantity of fuel of 120 lt before flight will result in a fuel cost estimate of approximately 84 euros for the flight from Kerkira to Kefallinia and a remaining fuel quantity of 80 litres at the destination airport. 7