Peter wrote:
I’ve noticed that for some time I have not been getting transponder codes from the Autorouter. Does anyone else find this too?According to Achim, Eurocontrol asked Autorouter to no pass them on any longer after one particular ANSP had filed a complaint about it. The codes are still being pre-assigned via CCAMS as before.
I wonder why anyone whould complain about this. My local ATC thought it was great…
I know that the ATC management at Landvetter(ESGG) would not like it. They want to be in total control and if you already start with the correct squawk then they seem to have lost some importance. ;)
It was NATS who complained. IIRC,there was a thread in Flyer where one NATS controller raged.
Autorouter PLOG: Fuel management
With Skydemon, the plog shows the expected fuel at each waypoint, so that I can check if my fuel consumption is nominal or not, and if not It’s easy to assess by how much (ie actual minus planned).
The Autorouter plog shows at each waypoint the fuel required, as planned, to complete the flight with empty tanks on arrival. Is there a parameter that I can change to have the plog to show some more useful information? Or have I missed something and what shows the plog is actually useful, and if so, how to you use it?
Column #4 shows what you described (plus remaining distance), column #9 shows consumption per leg (plus length of leg). Calculating what you want to know should not be a problem.
I should have worded my question differently
In Flight, once my cruise altitude reached, as soon as I’m abeam a planned waypoint, waypoint #n
1 I make a note of my actual fuel
2 I compute my planned fuel at waypoint #n = Planned Block fuel + column #4 line #1 – column #4 line #n
3 I compare planned to actual, and make a gross error check: was taxying longer/shorter than planned? Did I fly the entire SID or was I granted shortcuts? Could I climb as planned or was I kept at a low level for a long time? Once satisfied that my result is correct I add or subtract the difference planned/actual to my planned extra fuel to get an updated extra fuel.
4 Then, if my cruise level is lower than planned,
4.1 I compute the planned cruise fuel flow (which is not on the plog, so I have to take the longest cruise leg, and divide column #9 by column #6)
4.2 Then I compute (Actual fuel flow – planned cruise fuel flow) x time till TOD and I substract the result from my extra fuel to get a newly updated extrafuel.
5 I can do that several times during the flight, especially if things don’t go as planned at all and if fuel might be an issue.
All that would be simpler if the plog would show a column with “planned fuel” at each waypoint (as Skydemon does), and somewhere else the cruise fuel flow, unless there is a simpler method than mine
My answer is to ignore what the plog says (because it uses a performance model which is usually well off the mark) and use the LFOB (landing fuel on board) value from a fuel totaliser as the sole reference for whether the flight can be continued or not..
Much simpler 
In my case (DA42) the data I entered in AR for performance model gives pretty similar picture on PLOG (although more conservative) to the one on G1000 FPL view (based on fuel totalizer).
Peter wrote:
My answer is to ignore what the plog says (because it uses a performance model which is usually well off the mark) and use the LFOB (landing fuel on board) value from a fuel totaliser as the sole reference for whether the flight can be continued or not..
It’s certainly simpler. And that is what I’ve done sofar, which is fine for my present flying. I fly mostly VFR, when I fly IFR, it’s either on my 172 for which fuel is never an issue, at least for the kind of flight I do, or for a Proficiency Check on a DA42, for which fuel management is just an item for the test, but is never an issue during a PC.
But how accurate is the G1000 LFOB? I suppose it assumes a constant fuel flow and speed till overhead.
When I fly a more sophisticated aircraft, I’ll need something else that would take into account the performance model, and the altitude and speed on the STAR and APP.
I thought that Autorouter would do that.(And why adding useless numbers on the plog anyway, I thought the Autorouter team wouldn’t do such a thing)
How do those of you who fly complex airplanes manage your fuel in flight?
