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Chatper 3: Flight Planning

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Not intended for real world pilotage. For entertainment purposes only. Consult your manufacturer, operator, and/or local regulatory body for all operational requirements.

Cost Index​

We recommend the following cost indexes.

For flights with a duration less than 4 hours:

  • A320 Family: CI 27
  • B737 Family: CI 35
  • B772: CI 85
  • B77W: CI 90
  • B787 Family: CI 90
  • MD-80 (Historic): CI 24

For flights with a duration greater than 4 hours:

  • A320 Family: CI 22
  • B737 Family: CI 30
  • B772: CI 80
  • B77W: CI 85
  • B787 Family: CI 85
  • MD-80 (Historic): CI 21

Some aircraft profiles on SimBrief, such as the MD-80 family, erroneously do not allow you to set a cost index and instead only give you a speed-based cruise profile. You may be able to set a cost index in the aircraft itself. Use your best judgment to sync the two.

Weight and Balance​

Each aircraft add-on is modeled by the developer to represent different subvariants and reference aircraft, and so it is impossible for there to be a standardized aircraft weights and payloads across the vAAL fleet.

Some addons, such as the FSLabs Airbus family, will allow some customization of aircraft weight and payloads. Each addon will also vary regarding the standard weight for passengers and bags.

When booking a flight with the Dispatch via SimBrief method, the default values of 230 pounds per passenger (175 for the person, 55 for their bags) will be used. The Cargo field in the booking screen will therefore always be empty as the weight of bags is already factored into the passenger weight.

Fuel Requirements​

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It is each pilot’s responsibility to ensure when planning their flight that they carry enough fuel on board to reach their destination, as well as fuel for any required alternates and/or contingency fuel.

Pegasus will detect any and all instances of fuel changes in-flight, and any PIREP with a fuel increase during flight is subject to immediate invalidation without appeal by the admin/staff team.

If a flight cannot be completed due to the fuel load, the pilot should divert to the closest company airport rather than increase fuel in flight. Diverting appropriately combined with an honest assessment in the required PIREP comment will upgrade the resulting PIREP from invalidation to rejection (hours granted, no points).

Extra Fuel and ETOPS Planning​

When booking a flight via the Dispatch via SimBrief method, a pop-up window will appear offering an Extra Fuel amount – defaulted to zero pounds – and a tick box to enable ETOPS planning.

The ETOPS Planning tick box corresponds to the ETOPS Planning tick box in the New Flight screen on the SimBrief site and selects whether SimBrief should find ETOPS alternates if the route requires them.

SimBrief Contingency/Reserve Fuel Options​

vAAL requires 10% contingency fuel and 45 minutes (domestic) or 30 minutes (flag) reserve fuel.

Domestic Fuel Reserves​

All flights within the contiguous United States must be dispatched with enough fuel to a) reach the planned destination airport, b) fly to and land at the most distant alternate airport included in the dispatched flight plan, and c) to fly for 45 additional minutes at normal cruising fuel consumption.

International (Flag) Fuel Reserves​

Any flights with the departure or arrival airport outside of the contiguous United States must be dispatched with enough fuel to a) reach the planned destination airport, b) fly for a period of 10% of the total time required to fly from the departure airport to the arrival airport, c) fly to and land at the most distant alternate airport included in the dispatched flight plan, and d) fly for thirty (30) minutes at holding speed at 1,500 feet above the alternate airport under standard weather conditions.

Weather Minima​

A flight may not depart if the arrival airport is forecasted to have visibility below the published approach minimums at the time of arrival. If the weather deteriorates enroute, visibility must be above the published minimums for that approach prior to beginning the final approach segment. If visibility drops after beginning the final approach segment, the approach may be continued but a missed approach must be executed if the runway cannot be seen visually at minimums.

Alternate Airports​

All flights must be dispatched with at least one (1) alternate airport included in the flight plan, unless the following condition is met: for at least one (1) hour before and one (1) hour after the estimated time of arrival at the destination airport the forecasted weather indicates the ceiling will be at least 2,000 feet above the airport elevation and the visibility will be at least 3 miles.

Diversions​

If it is necessary to divert, make every effort to divert to an airport that is in the company's network. If you do not know what airport that is, Pegasus will display the nearest company airport. However, if the issue is severe enough to warrant it, you can also divert to the nearest suitable airport.

For a diversion to a company airport, vAMSYS will automatically book a temporary, one-off flight to the intended arrival airport, allowing the pilot to complete the original trip. If, after diverting, the pilot jumpseats to another airport, that flight will no longer be available.

For a diversion to a non-company airport, vAMSYS will provide the pilot with two options: 1) move the pilot to the intended arrival airport or 2) move the pilot to the original departure airport.