Post by Tom Goodrick on Dec 10, 2009 1:00:02 GMT -5
Below is an example of a jet navigation route that can be found using FlightAware" and then loaded into and flown in FS9. While the route is complex, it is saved and reused easily as needed. Many business jet flight, while not scheduled daily as airline flights are, are made repeatedly between the same cities. Thus these flights are stored in the office computers and in many aircraft computers. Enjoy the ride.
The program "FlightAware" shows a fair amount of jet activity in Southern California and Nevada. A feature added in recent months is the "decoding" of the route they use. I have been flying the Hawker 400XP in FS recently so I looked for some activity of the BE40 (as it is known) in FlightAware. One recent flight was from Las Vegas (KLAS) to Santa Ana or John Wayne Airport (KSNA). I think this route typifies modern jet navigation although this might be a little bit special because of the high traffic density in the Southern California area. Indeed this route crosses through or over several MOA's and airport traffic areas for both civilian and military airfields. These business flights are conducted IFR regardless of weather for air safety.
The routes take advantage of the GPS navigational computers' huge data bases. These routes are worked out between the companies running the flights and the FAA for best operational and safety considerations. They use many "intersections" which may be thought of as points over the ground that can be specified using various radio navigation aids in combination (such as the intersection of two radials from two stations). But the way these intersections can be specified has nothing to do with their use today. They are simply named points having longitude and latitude values that can be typed into a navigational computer (actually into an office computer and then transferred in some way to the computer in the aircraft). The routes are given a name by which they are known to the ATC and can be retrieved from the data base by the pilot and set for a flight operation.
This route is called "BOACH2 HEC KAYOH4" and consists of the following waypoints: KLAS, WEDUW, BESSY, JEBB, BOACH, WHIGG, DANBY, HEC, BULGY, LUCER, RESOR, DAWNA, ACINS, HDF, DEJAY, KAYOH, JOGIT, LEMON, KSNA. (I have substituted LEMON for SLI which I could not find. LEMON is a point at the outer marker for the ILS to KSNA.) Look in FS9 Flight Planner, set a direct GPS course between KLAS and KSNA and then examine the route. Zoom the map as needed near Las Vegas until you can see the triangles that mark these intersections. Placing the mouse cursor on a triangle makes the name appear. You can also zoom in far enough so the names appear near each triangle. But this gets a little hard to work with because you are constantly shifting the map to find the waypoints. A medium close scale works best. As you identify an intersection from the list, drag the red line that shows the direct route to the intersection and click. That waypoint becomes part of the route. Do this all the way from KLAS to KSNA. Save this flight plan with a distinctive name. Now things get a bit delicate. You can quit and go work on something else, come back and retreive the flght plan later. BUT DO NOT LOOK AT IT. If you look at it, it will disappear and be useless. This is just another way Microsoft tries to help make your day easier. But you can click on LOAD, select it by name, and then fly it.
This is a neat ride. If you don't have a Hawker 400XP ready, you can use a Learjet 45. Put the jet at McLaren Field (KLAS) on runway 1L. This aims it at the first waypoint, MEDUW. Check your airplane, set the autopilot for 30,000 ft and a rate of climb of about 3,000 fpm. BUT LEAVE IT OFF!!!!. Set the NAV/GPS switch to GPS. Set trim, throttle and go. As you lift off and clean up gear and flaps, get the climb started smoothly and then switch on the Autopilot ON in NAV and ALT modes. The aircraft will quickly begin banking for the second waypoint, BESSY and you will see the track change on the GPS map. You must adjust the throttle as needed to maintain a good climb condition and then a good cruise condition. The Hawker reached 30,000 ft just before the DANBY waypoint. Approaching the VOR HEC it was steady at 30,000 ft but gaining speed slowly. I saw 286 KIAS and 437 knots (M0.74) with a cruise throttle setting of 70%. It was burning fuel at the rate of 761 pph in each engine. I started down at LUCER and it worked out very well. I regret not jotting down the altitudes at each of the waypoints but the descent rate was about -2000 fpm with a clean aircraft and 10% throttle. I think it was at HDF where I used spoilers to slow so I could put out first flaps. By KAYOH I was down to about 8,000 ft and at LEMON I was at 3,000 ft ready to begin the ILS from 8 nm out.
The landing was at 111.4 KIAS and -147 FPM with an easy roll off onto Taxiway F. The landing weight was 14,212 lb and the CG was at 27.37%. The center tank was empty but both main tanks were full at the start for 506 gallons. 367 gallons remained at landing. The passengers all enjoyed the ride.
Total time was 39.9 minutes. Fuel used was 139 gallons. I carried 4 passengers and takeoff weight was 15,141 lbs. This is a flight where the passengers stay belted in the seats as the autopilot rolls the plane onto a new course every few minutes. (Of course there is not much room to walk around in a Hawker 400 anyway!) Drinks are served by the copilot before takeoff.
The point of all this is to show how the job gets done today. The nav computers of each companies planes contain several of these canned flights. (They differ mainly on which runway is in use at each airport.) Pilots get an assignment, a weather briefing, select and load the flight plan, check fuel, pax and bags and go. Between two and four of these flights a day are normal. Every few days the plane takes a trip to the midwest and back. There is a fair amount of variety.
The program "FlightAware" shows a fair amount of jet activity in Southern California and Nevada. A feature added in recent months is the "decoding" of the route they use. I have been flying the Hawker 400XP in FS recently so I looked for some activity of the BE40 (as it is known) in FlightAware. One recent flight was from Las Vegas (KLAS) to Santa Ana or John Wayne Airport (KSNA). I think this route typifies modern jet navigation although this might be a little bit special because of the high traffic density in the Southern California area. Indeed this route crosses through or over several MOA's and airport traffic areas for both civilian and military airfields. These business flights are conducted IFR regardless of weather for air safety.
The routes take advantage of the GPS navigational computers' huge data bases. These routes are worked out between the companies running the flights and the FAA for best operational and safety considerations. They use many "intersections" which may be thought of as points over the ground that can be specified using various radio navigation aids in combination (such as the intersection of two radials from two stations). But the way these intersections can be specified has nothing to do with their use today. They are simply named points having longitude and latitude values that can be typed into a navigational computer (actually into an office computer and then transferred in some way to the computer in the aircraft). The routes are given a name by which they are known to the ATC and can be retrieved from the data base by the pilot and set for a flight operation.
This route is called "BOACH2 HEC KAYOH4" and consists of the following waypoints: KLAS, WEDUW, BESSY, JEBB, BOACH, WHIGG, DANBY, HEC, BULGY, LUCER, RESOR, DAWNA, ACINS, HDF, DEJAY, KAYOH, JOGIT, LEMON, KSNA. (I have substituted LEMON for SLI which I could not find. LEMON is a point at the outer marker for the ILS to KSNA.) Look in FS9 Flight Planner, set a direct GPS course between KLAS and KSNA and then examine the route. Zoom the map as needed near Las Vegas until you can see the triangles that mark these intersections. Placing the mouse cursor on a triangle makes the name appear. You can also zoom in far enough so the names appear near each triangle. But this gets a little hard to work with because you are constantly shifting the map to find the waypoints. A medium close scale works best. As you identify an intersection from the list, drag the red line that shows the direct route to the intersection and click. That waypoint becomes part of the route. Do this all the way from KLAS to KSNA. Save this flight plan with a distinctive name. Now things get a bit delicate. You can quit and go work on something else, come back and retreive the flght plan later. BUT DO NOT LOOK AT IT. If you look at it, it will disappear and be useless. This is just another way Microsoft tries to help make your day easier. But you can click on LOAD, select it by name, and then fly it.
This is a neat ride. If you don't have a Hawker 400XP ready, you can use a Learjet 45. Put the jet at McLaren Field (KLAS) on runway 1L. This aims it at the first waypoint, MEDUW. Check your airplane, set the autopilot for 30,000 ft and a rate of climb of about 3,000 fpm. BUT LEAVE IT OFF!!!!. Set the NAV/GPS switch to GPS. Set trim, throttle and go. As you lift off and clean up gear and flaps, get the climb started smoothly and then switch on the Autopilot ON in NAV and ALT modes. The aircraft will quickly begin banking for the second waypoint, BESSY and you will see the track change on the GPS map. You must adjust the throttle as needed to maintain a good climb condition and then a good cruise condition. The Hawker reached 30,000 ft just before the DANBY waypoint. Approaching the VOR HEC it was steady at 30,000 ft but gaining speed slowly. I saw 286 KIAS and 437 knots (M0.74) with a cruise throttle setting of 70%. It was burning fuel at the rate of 761 pph in each engine. I started down at LUCER and it worked out very well. I regret not jotting down the altitudes at each of the waypoints but the descent rate was about -2000 fpm with a clean aircraft and 10% throttle. I think it was at HDF where I used spoilers to slow so I could put out first flaps. By KAYOH I was down to about 8,000 ft and at LEMON I was at 3,000 ft ready to begin the ILS from 8 nm out.
The landing was at 111.4 KIAS and -147 FPM with an easy roll off onto Taxiway F. The landing weight was 14,212 lb and the CG was at 27.37%. The center tank was empty but both main tanks were full at the start for 506 gallons. 367 gallons remained at landing. The passengers all enjoyed the ride.
Total time was 39.9 minutes. Fuel used was 139 gallons. I carried 4 passengers and takeoff weight was 15,141 lbs. This is a flight where the passengers stay belted in the seats as the autopilot rolls the plane onto a new course every few minutes. (Of course there is not much room to walk around in a Hawker 400 anyway!) Drinks are served by the copilot before takeoff.
The point of all this is to show how the job gets done today. The nav computers of each companies planes contain several of these canned flights. (They differ mainly on which runway is in use at each airport.) Pilots get an assignment, a weather briefing, select and load the flight plan, check fuel, pax and bags and go. Between two and four of these flights a day are normal. Every few days the plane takes a trip to the midwest and back. There is a fair amount of variety.
