ATAVS 7 Update

We found a small bug in the new version of ATAVS that duplicates entries in the logbook. The full install has been revised, and an update/patch is now available in the Members Only area.

ATAVS 7 Released

Wow! Another major release in less than six weeks! This version adds a fuel loader, and integrates the PDP precision descent planner into ATAVS. Additionally this version provides support for the new performance paradigm, which will allow members to gauge their descent profile and compare the landing performance over time, and with other members.

ATAVS 7 is available in the Members Only area as a full install, or as an update; most users will simply need the update. For the update, download and unzip into the folder where ATAVS is installed - that's it.


QUICK START

1. Position aircraft on the ground at desired airport. ATAVS will detect the closest airport and use that as the point of origin.

2. Press the Start Flight button. After a few seconds ATAVS will send the first position report to the server that lets your flying companions know that you haved started the boarding process.

3. You can now open the Fuel Loader. ATAVS will detect your aircraft and if recognized, it will estimate fuel usage and reserves (note that the Fuel Loader will only alter Center Main, Left Main and Right Main tank levels).

4. You can minimize ATAVS - single click on the icon in the system tray when ready to restore.

5. After landing, taxi to the gate. Click on the "Stop Flight" button. ATAVS will add an entry to the top of the logbook.

6. To log your flight, select the new entry and press the "Send Flight Report" button to send the flight report to the server. Your default browser will open a web page where you complete the flight report.

7. Go to #1 (sweet!)

October Update

This October our pilots flew 176 flights, including 40 cargo flights, and 48 exploratory flights, for an average of 6324 miles, 19.5 hours, 899 passengers, and 29 tons of cargo per pilot.

Active Pilots: 15
Total Flights: 176 (Cargo 40)
Total Hours: 293.7
Total Miles: 94867 NM
On Time Performance: 94.3%
Total Passengers: 13491
Average Rating: 71
Total Cargo: 863780 lbs
Net Revenue: $3338440

FlightAware's Flight Planner - First Impressions

A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from Daniel Baker, the CEO of FlightAware. FlightAware is a website that offers free flight tracking service for US air traffic. One feature that I use quite a bit is the IFR Route Analyzer, which allows me to see all the flights and associated flight plans for a given origin/destination pair. Building on this, FlightAware is attempting to be the industry leader in flight planning by bringing powerful features and convenience with an online flight planning application that automatically calculates the optimal altitude and route, and displays time enroute and estimated fuel usage.

I gave the new flight planner a run through its paces and can verify that they make things pretty easy. Along with a flight plan, you also get a navigation log, and links to bundled approach plates, airport diagrams, weather, etc. I was particularly interested in the fuel usage estimations. They give you a default list of mostly general aviation aircraft from which to choose, but don't expect to see any big iron listed. However, you can enter your own aircraft information if you know the performance data for climb, cruise and descent - it saves this data for you so next time you just select your aircraft and off you go.

Performance data is set up as either (a) Time, Fuel, and Distance; or (b) Climb/Descent Rate and Fuel Consumption per Hour. Lately I've logged a few hours in the Boeing 737-700, and decided to collect data for Climb/Descent Rate and Fuel Consumption. This is what the collected data looks like in FlightAware's performance table for Fuel Consumed Over Time to Climb - note that I've used two different gross weight configurations (91000 lbs and 154000 lbs, which pretty much covers the range of acceptable weights for this aircraft - eg., 154500 lbs is MTOW).






I used the same performance data for both weight classes in the Fuel Consumed Over Time to Descend. I realize this is somewhat simplistic, but the sim rarely moved the autothrottles off the IDLE detent during my descents.



Cruise data is presented below. Note that FlightAware expects speeds to be in KIAS for climb and descents, but KTAS for cruise. This is important, because if you enter KTAS for climbs and descents you'll likely get estimates of arrival time that would suggest you were flying super sonic! Here I've simply calculated KTAS for KIAS at given altitude and at standard temperature.






After setting up the performance profile, I planned a flight from Austin (KAUS) to Houston Hobby (KHOU) - one of our signature flights. I set the altitude range from FL180 to FL410, used 145000 lbs gross weight, and $4/gallon of fuel. After putting me in a holding pattern, FA gave me two choices, listed in order of recencly flown by other aircraft:



I selected the first one then pressed the Plan Flight button, which displayed a flight summary, enroute flight plan, overview of both airports, including runway lengths, FBOs (not needed in the sim world, but there it is anyway), METARS and TAFS, and links to bundlded procedure plates, including all departures, arrivals, approaches, and special minimums. The airport facility chart is displayed as well.



Next, I created flight plans for two of our national routes: Austin to Phoenix (KPHX), and Austin to Miami (KMIA). The flight planner worked really well and each time presented me with a matrix of flight plans (by row) and flight levels (by column) along with time enroute, fuel usage, and cost.

The flight plans that came to the top were based on recent aircraft, and were the actual routes as flown in the real world:

Austin to Phoenix: KAUS AUS2 JCT J86 ELP J50 SSO KOOLY1 KPHX
Austin to Miami: KAUS CWK3 TNV IAH J86 LEV Q102 BAGGS SSCOT1 KMIA

I was interested to see how well the estimated fuel usage compares to actual usage in the sim, and I would suspect it would be pretty close considering the performance data is based on the sim's performance. I'll have to save those results for another day, but I did compare the fuel usage estimates from the fuel planner we use at AeroTexas and found that the FA numbers were consistently lower. There's a couple of reasons for this. One is that FA does not consider ground time, which is built-in to the fuel usage data at AeroTexas. Second, FA accounts for winds aloft, which explains why the flight planned to Miami was shorter than the flight to Phoenix for the plans I generated today.



Overall I like FlightAware's Flight Planner. It's a good resource for simulation pilots, though I'm not too keen on entering aircraft performance data for many multiple aircraft. I will continue to use AeroTexas' FuelJabber for most flight because it's much simpler, and because it estimates reserves as well as enroute fuel usage, and gives me total fuel times. I look forward to future refinements of FlightAware's planner.

LiveATC

One site that I visit very frequently is LiveATC.net - it provides both live and recorded ATC audio transmissions with instant archive retrieval. To make it easier to access the live feeds I prefer to use FooBar2000, a freeware Windows audio player with some great features, including the ability to play streaming audio, such as that found at LiveATC. Over time I developed a playlist based on the live feeds to use with Foobar. You can download this list from the AeroTexas website, which I've included with a regular m3u playlist that can be imported into other popular media players.

Download LiveATC Live Feeds Playlist

After Cross[ing] the Pond

The traffic was a snarl at Toronto in the wee hours on Saturday morning for VATSIM's "Cross the Pond Eastbound" event. This meant lots of waiting...my aircraft stood more than an hour delayed at various taxiway hold-points before finally getting the green light to `line up and wait`, as they say it in Canada.

The rest of the flight was uneventful, but never lonely as there were always plenty of controllers and tons of traffic for company along the way. This was my first time to fly transatlantic with VATSIM. Received Oceanic clearance about 20 minutes before entering Gander airspace on NAT-N at DENDU, and then it was position reports every 45 minutes or so; my last call was, `AeroTexas One reporting fifty two North, thirty West at one seven five nine zulu, flight level three three zero, mach zero decimal seven niner estimating five five north two zero west at one eight four nine zulu, RESNO next.`

Entering Shannon control area was cleared "ROKNA direct, expect no delays" - as in no holding via the published - but on final things were tight and they had me slowed way down on final for the ILS RWY 28.

The slow speed and fierce crosswinds made things too interesting so I wisely went around. The second time I approached with more power - but still had a near 20 knot component on flare. Nice to be in Dublin, even if it is dark - now it's time for a pint!

New Features

AeroTexas is working on a more personal online experience. This will likely begin with a login system and enhanced access to your online pilot log. Do you have an idea or suggestion to help improve AeroTexas? Please login to the Members Only area and post your idea in our new UserVoice Feedback Forum - you can also see what other ideas have been proposed, and vote on the ones that you like.

Cross the Pond Eastbound

AeroTexas will Cross The Pond (CTP) - a bi-annual event which takes place on the VATSIM Virtual Air Traffic Network. It involves a large number of aircraft flying between the United States of America & Canada and United Kingdom. This year the Eastbound event is taking place on Saturday 25th October 2008. There are departures planned from two airports in the USA and one airport in Canada, with arrivals into three UK airports and one Irish airport.

All members can participate in this event and log hours flown using ATAVS - even if you're a new member you can join in on the fun. Slot reservations are required, and you will need to brush up on your oceanic airspace skills, but it should be fun.

VATSIM Cross The Pond Eastbound 2008

Embraer 135 Replacement

In 2003 AeroTexas added Nick Botamer's Embraer ERJ-135 to the passenger fleet for use in regional service. That aircraft has seen a lot of use! With the release of POSKY's version I saw an opportunity to upgrade our freeware model, and started work on passenger textures. Work on those finished a few weeks ago, and now I'm happy to report that cargo textures are now close to being complete as well. Here's a little preview, showing the new E135 enroute with a pallet of mangos, and three cases of awfully good scotch! Panel-wise there are not too many freeware options, but if you have any suggestions please let me know - Grabowski's ERJ panel seems to be about the best out there right now.

LSZH Fly-In

The fly-in at Zurich was big fun. As I checked on yesterday morning Richard sent me an e-mail and I found out that he got an early start out of Zurich before the traffic got too bad. Can't say I blame him, though - the traffic was something. But I had a good time anyway. My flight was an inbound to LSZH and it was a pretty long flight for me in the 737-700 with an ETE of 4 hours from Madeira to Zurich. I thought the service was great. Lisbon Center picked me up not too long after liftoff from Funchal, and though he was not entirely understandable we made good progress without embarrassing ATX while traversing his airspace to the north. Chatted up a fellow in an A320 who popped up a few miles behind me enroute to Frankfurt. Lufhtansa does good business in these parts. The good ATC continued all the way to Zurich for the Flughafen Zurich fly-in on VATSIM. Traffic was incredible in the terminal area, but Zurich Center, Approach, and Final Approach were so cool you would have thought it was just a few locals in the traffic pattern. Of course you could tell the difference from the rapid-fire back-and-forth in Center and approach airspace. Spent a bit of time in the hold over GIPOL, but it was a breeze using the Smiths FMS - I'm sold on ISG Simavionics gauges now! Landing was picture perfect - it was hard darkness by the time we made it to the terminal area and cleared for approach. Still, the skies were clear below 6000 and the winds were calm, and I managed an excellent landing off the ILS on Runway 14.

September Update

September results are in - flights were up 36% while hours flown were down 8% compared to a year ago. We also carried 3% fewer passengers, and 37% less cargo. Passenger satisfaction was down significantly, from an average of 84% in September 2007 to only 72% in September 2008.

Active Pilots: 15
Total Flights: 161 (Cargo 22)
Total Hours: 178
Total Miles: 46317 NM
On Time Performance: 94.4%
Total Passengers: 8160
Average Rating: 72
Total Cargo: 114670 lbs
Net Revenue: $1093764

Embraer Legacy 600

Here are some simple speed and runway length estimators for the Embraer Legacy 600/ERJ-135. The Legacy 600 is based on the shortened ERJ 135 model, but includes added range with extra fuel tanks and added winglets, similar to those on the ERJ 145XR.
-

Empty Weight: 30148 lbs
Max Fuel: 10195 lbs
Max payload: 5291 lbs
MTOW: 49758 lbs

TOW = Take Off Weight, lbs.
LWT = Landing Weight, lbs.
WT = Weight, lbs.

Takeoff (Flaps 18)
V1 = 49.336 + 0.0017 * TOW
Vr = V1
V2 = 68.387 + 0.0013 * TOW
Vfs= 81.535 + 0.0019 * TOW

Land (Flaps 45)
Vtarget = 81.52 + 0.0019 LWT
Vref45 = 69.327 + 0.0014 LWT

Runway Length = 1369.1 + 0.759 * WT

Squawks

A new page layout for pilot reports (i.e., squawks) was released today. The link has also changed (and updated from the home page). The new layout displays the ten most recent pilot reports, along with associated flight information (eg., origin, equipment, et cetera).

Flughafen Zurich - 2nd Call

A reminder to all of our members to reserve a slot for Swiss ARTCC's online event next Saturday. Flughafen Zurich will be held on on VATSIM on Saturday October 18th from 12:Noon to 8:PM CDT. AeroTexas members should reserve a slot using the following VA registration code ( 48ee721b53d69 ).

Valid flights include any departure or arrival between Zurich (LSZH) and the following airports:

KAUS - Austin, Texas
KJAX - Jacksonville, Florida
LOWL - Linz, Austria
LFMN - Nice, France
EDDL - Dusseldorf, Germany
EDDK - Cologne, Germany
LEBL - Barcelona, Spain
LFBP - Pau, France
LHBP - Budapest, Hungary
LIRN - Naples, Italy
EGPH - Edinburgh, Scotland
EIDW - Dublin, Ireland
LBFF - Sofia, Bulgaria
LEMD - Madrid, Spain
EHFH - Helsinki, Finland
EGSS - Stanstead, England
EGKK - Gatwick, England
LPMA - Madeira, Spain

ATAVS Version 6 Release 41

ATAVS V6 was updated today with release #41. This update adds a menu toggle for passenger/cargo flights, and updates the equipment configuration file with new aircraft support.

Users can download a full-install version (only about 800 kb or so), or if you want to just do the patch that's available as well - both in the Members Only area of the website - and only available to members who have completed this year's check ride.

ATAVS Version 6 Setup Tutorial

I though it might be helpful to take a quick look at ATAVS 6 and see how to properly complete the setup process. After ATAVS V6 is first installed, it will alert you to enter your member id.



Simply select File...User:




The member (or pilot)-id can be entered in upper or lower case - so for example, either atx77 or ATX77 is valid. If you have a single digit id, then use a leading zero, such as ATX09, not ATX9.



By default the flight designator is set to Passenger, which is designated as PAX in the menu bar. Simply click on the designator to toggle between PAX and CGO (i.e, cargo). The flight designator cannot be changed once airborne.



The system tray is usually a fine place for applications that do not require lots of interaction and work either automatically or with shortcuts - such is the case with ATAVS. Minimizing ATAVS 6 will automatically send it to the task bar. To resotre ATAVS, simply click on the icon in the task bar to restore it. Note that with this version of ATAVS however, there is no longer any need to stop and restart after each flight. It keeps a running log of your flights, and at the end of the day you can log each of them in turn.



Now you're ready to go fly. Have fun!

Flughafen Zürich

Swiss FIR's VA-Meeting Zürich is touted as "one of the biggest VA-Events on VATSIM!"

AeroTexas has pre-registered all members for this new event, which will be held on VATSIM on Saturday October 18th from 12:Noon to 8:PM CDT.

AeroTexas members should reserve a slot using the following VA Registration code (slot reservations will guarantee priority handling)

AeroTexas Registration Code: 48ee721b53d69

Slot Reservations Link

Note: ALL members can participate in this event and will receive flight credit with ATAVS Version 6 with any ATX aircraft on flights between Zurich and the following airports:

KAUS - Austin, Texas
KJAX - Jacksonville, Florida
LOWL - Linz, Austria
LFMN - Nice, France
EDDL - Dusseldorf, Germany
EDDK - Cologne, Germany
LEBL - Barcelona, Spain
LFBP - Pau, France
LHBP - Budapest, Hungary
LIRN - Naples, Italy
EGPH - Edinburgh, Scotland
EIDW - Dublin, Ireland
LBFF - Sofia, Bulgaria
LEMD - Madrid, Spain
EHFH - Helsinki, Finland
EGSS - Stanstead, England
EGKK - Gatwick, England
LPMA - Madeira, Spain

A Brief History of Events

September, 2008 - AeroTexas Check Ride
July, 2007 - ZFW Friday Night Operations Event
April, 2007 - TexAirVirtual Fly-In on VATSIM
Feb, 2007 - Mountain Madness Flyin (Vancouver FIR on VATSIM)
December, 2006 - Surprise Fly-In on VATSIM
September, 2005 - 4th Annual Flight Review
August 2004 - 3rd Annual Flight Review
July, 2004 - Tour de France
August, 2003 - 2nd Annual Flight Review
June, 2003 - Jacksonville June Jumble
March, 2003 - Mardi Gras Fly-In
December, 2002 - Flyin' Around the State of Texas
August 2002 - 1st Annual Flight Review
July, 2002 - July Evening Tour of Texas
September, 2001 - Battle of the Airlines - Scent of Southeast Asia
October, 2001 - Online IVAO Fly-In
July, 2001 - Hawaii Bash - online SATCO Fly-In

New RSS Feeds

AeroTexas has several RSS feeds that you can monitor for news and updates. We recently "burned" our RSS feeds at feedburner so you can more easily add these feeds to your favorite RSS reader.

NOTAMS and general messages from HQ:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/AerotexasNOTAMS

All-Weather Cargo Updates:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/AerotexasMAC

Squawks (i.e., pilot notams)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/AerotexasPilotNOTAMS

The Daily Flight (charter services)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/AerotexasCharters

August Operations

Compared to a year ago, total flights were up 41% and total hours were 25% higher. Cargo flights were down by more than half.

Active Pilots: 14
Total Flights: 218 (Cargo 28)
Total Hours: 274.1
Total Miles: 74604 NM
On Time Performance: 94.5%
Total Passengers: 12930
Average Rating: 79
Total Cargo: 134050 lbs
Net Revenue: $2362153

Super Mid-Size Corporate Jet

AeroTexas will soon replace the Botamer's Embraer 135 model with POSKY's Legacy 600. Passenger textures have been developed, and as soon as cargo textures are complete the new aircraft will be available on the Fleets page.

Away on Vacation

I'll be away on holiday from September 25 through September 30. This really only affects members completing the annual flight review, because I won't be around to check you off on the status board and log your flight. However, new hires will still be processed by Richard, and all other operations will continue as usual.

Server Status

The site is down this afternoon because of a problem that is unrelated to AeroTexas. I have been informed that the things should be "back to normal as soon as possible". AeroTexas resides on the thunderbird server at dreamhost.com - you can check the status of AeroTexas via RSS at http://feeds.dreamhoststatus.com/?q=thunderbird

2008 Annual Flight Check

This year our annual flight check consists of a check-ride from our headquarters in Austin to Waco. As 10 of our members have already found out, it's not a direct flight by any means. The flight plan has an obvious backward question-mark look to it.

There are two reasons for this: (1) to establish a more challenging manual flight check-ride; and (2) to avoid the Prohibited Area above Crawford, Texas. In 2001, the FAA amended 14 CFR part 73 to establish, "P-49 Crawford, TX." The prohibited area extends from the surface to 5,000 feet above mean sea level (MSL) within a 3-nautical mile (NM) radius of latitude 31 deg.34'57" N., longitude 97 deg.32'37" W.

So far, flight reports indicate that this is a fun flight. I'm glad about that. Please be sure to complete the check-ride by October 15th.

http://aerotexas.com/checkride2008/

Keep your e-mail address current

One of the major requirements for continued membership is a current e-mail address. Members who have no current and working e-mail address will be removed from the roster. The following members have no working or usable e-mail address, and have until September 30 to contact AeroTexas staff with updated contact information.

ATX14 Proctor
ATX32 Watkins
ATX34 Pettit
ATX42 Loman
ATX49 Rea
ATX56 Shank
ATX58 Kujawa
ATX99 Hillard

AeroTexas Update

2008 Annual Flight Check
As promised, the annual flight check has returned. This year we've put together a solid check-ride from Austin to Waco and it uses a special version of ATAVS Version 6 (more on that later). The 2008 Annual Flight Check is a mandatory activity for all members, staff, and Partners. This is really important, because there is roughly a three-week window for you to complete the check-ride and make your report. The flight check period starts now, and continues until October 15, 2008 at 11:59 P.M. Members who do not complete the check-ride by then will be dropped from the roster on October 16th. Everyone must complete the check-ride in order to continue their membership. Fortunately there is no written exam, and it's actually a pretty fun and not a very long route, plus the check-ride will count as an active member flight - that is, it will be logged so you get credit for it. We really don't want to lose any members, but this is a sure-fire way for us to know if you're still interested in AeroTexas - all ya gotta do is fly.

http://aerotexas.com/checkride2008/


ATAVS Version 6
A new major version of ATAVS is in the very final stages of development. As noted above, the check-ride uses a special version of ATAVS 6, so you get a peek at the latest and greatest when you take the check-ride. With Version 6 you get a built-in logbook, ACARS-like automatic position reporting, and super easy flight reporting. Not so quick though! Only after the flight check you will get a link that will take you to the newest version of ATAVS. Until then, enjoy the check ride. Please note that after 11/1/08 all flight reports must be made with ATAVS 6.


Position Reporting System Display
The Position Reporting System is getting a facelift - actually it's getting much more than that! As you know, with every flight ATAVS sends packets of telemetry to AeroTexas where your flight is displayed online with everyone else at AeroTexas. This is a fun feature and by checking the display you can see who is flying right now in real-time. For past few years we've used a combination of tally systems and Google Maps to display position reports. The new display system, dubbed "PROTO-ACARS III" is a brand new Java-based presentation of aircraft in the AeroTexas system. Built with Processing, the graphics are superior and design intelligent - with stale self-sensing and standard ATC symbologies. Final development of PROTO-ACARS III should be finished in just a few days.


Off-site Notams
AeroTexas Notams are now delivered through an off-site web log and the result is much improved. Now you get all the NOTAMS when you want, even if AeroTexas servers are down (not that they go down much anymore - thank goodness!). The ATX blog also makes it easier to keep up with important news and upcoming events with RSS feeds and subscription services.


New Features

AeroTexas is working on a more personal online experience. This will likely begin with a login system and access to all the data in your online flight logs. Do you have an idea or suggestion to help improve AeroTexas? If you do, please feel free to send me or any of the AeroTexas Partners an e-mail.

ACARS Display Development

Development of a new display environment for the position reporting system (PRS/ACARS) began yesterday. The goal is to display all aircraft that have issued position reports using ATAVS, and have a near-real-time display of airborne aircraft along with a bit of telemetry - airspeed and altitude. I developed a prototype of the display yesterday with Processing and it should be ready to go pretty soon - by weekend I hope.

Welcome to the new NOTAMS page

Effective today, AeroTexas is using a new web log to manage general messages to AeroTexas members. I think this will be a step in the right direction, and will make delivery of timely information to members much more efficient. If you look around you'll notice that I've archived NOTAMs back for the past few years - wow - we're 8 years old! Time sure has flown.

AeroTexas Aviation is a virtual airline with headquarters in Austin, Texas at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in the heart of Texas. We were chartered on September 1st, 2000 when the aerotexas.com domain was registered. Since that time we have become a first class airline with a top notch website, useful and interesting tools, and an ambitious and dedicated staff.

AeroTexas Aviation International - Lone Star Service to the World!

ATAVS Update and Beta Development

In the members only area there is an updated equipment file to support air-taxi service, and expand cargo operations with additional aircraft. Download this update, and extract the CSV file to the folder where ATAVS is installed.

On a related note, beta testing for ATAVS 6 is going along nicely. This will be a "light" version when compared to ATAVS 5, because it won't include cabin announcements or checklists. However it will make up for it with continuous operation mode (no need to shutdown and restart after each flight), and will include a viewable logbook with an hour totalizer.

July Update

July flights numbered 188 and were up almost 7% from a year ago, with cargo accounting for 13% of all flights. AeroTexas carried 15,229 passengers, and 25.66 tons of cargo.

Server Update and Message Board

We had a little hiccup in the server yesterday, but everything is back to normal. If you filed a flight report on August 13 or 14 that is not reflected on the roster please send me an e-mail message and attach the vlog.txt file (located in the folder where you installed ATAVS). On a related note, the messageboard is being upgraded and will be down today and tomorrow.

Annual Check Ride

The Annual Checkride returns! Plans are under way for the 2008 checkride to begin sometime in early September. This will be a mandatory activity for all members, staff, and Partners. The checkride will count as an active member flight, and there will be a 3-week window for completion of the checkride. More details will be posted here soon.

ATAVS Updates

An updated equipment file to support air-taxi service, and expand cargo operations with additional aircraft has been released. Download this update, and extract its contents (one text file) to the folder/directory where you installed ATAVS.

Service to Rio

This month we begin a new journey to far away places. AeroTexas opens international service to South America with a direct return flight from our headquarters in Austin, Texas to beautiful Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. From Rio, our newest flight dispatcher, Sill (ATX47), has scheduled a round robin to Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Santiago, La Paz and return to Rio. This international service plan starts August 1, 2008.

Quarterly Update

Second quarter results are in for 2008 - we flew 615 flights and carried 37,884 passengers and 467 tons of cargo. Compared to last year, overall flights are down about 38%.

VATSIM Event

VATSIM's ZFW ARTCC has invited AeroTexas to attend their Friday Night Operations (FNO) event on Friday, July 25. They will be extending their hours for FNO from 0000 to 1200 Zulu - to allow for more flexibility for domestic and international arrivals. They will be using an arrival and departure slot method. Pilots can either sign up for an arrival or departure slot or ATC will assign one to them. This event will serve as a "warm up" for their annual Summer Sizzle, which takes place August 2. Summer Sizzle is a 12 hour, live event, where ZFW controllers gather together at a hotel in Dallas, Texas. Don't forget to use your AeroTexas ID (ATX**) when flying on VATSIM. Visit http://zfwartcc.com/events2.php for more event information.

New International Routes

Flights to Asia will end soon - but we have some new destinatons for the Summer. A new slate of international flights has been developed and will be released soon with segments to Rio, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, and others!

FuelJabber Updated

One of the most useful tools on the AeroTexas website is FuelJabber - the flight simulation fuel planner. It was designed specifically for aircraft supported at ATX, and estimates fuel use and reserves for flights between airports. FuelJabber now supports 24 different aircraft, and calculates diversion, holding and contingency fuel, estimated time enroute, and even reserve fuel time, and time-to-empty.

Connecting Flights

If you logged a flight recently you may have noticed some new information about connecting flights. Connecting flights allow active members to fly from point-to-point anywhere there is a connection. Connections may include airports in the regular schedule, as well as temporary segments created by dispatchers. This feature should really open up a lot of new places for active members. Each month our cargo and charter dispatchers issue literally hundreds of new routes that are listed only for a short amount of time - for example, new cargo routes are typically issued on an hourly basis, and new round-trip charter segments pop up daily. You can only see connections after you log a flight, so file those reports and look for new places to fly every day.

March Results

Overall, flights were down 32% from the same time last year, yet total hours
were up by 15%. We had 13 active pilots (same as last March) who flew 214 flights and
about 110,000 nautical miles.

February Results

Results from February 2008 are out, and though cargo tonnage was down a fair bit, total flights were up 80% from February of last year. AeroTexas members flew 353 flights, including 34 cargo flights with tonnage of 37.460 lbs. Total flight time was 469.8 hours, and total miles was 130,524. On-time performance was 93.8%. Passengers gave an average rating of 83 to flights, and total revenue was $2.7 million. We had 14 active members in February 2008.

Online Version of Precision Descent Planner

AeroTexas has just released a new tool for calculating descent profiles - an online online version of the Precision Descent Planner that quickly and efficiently computes a single rate of descent to meet a target altitude at a given indicated airspeed.

January Stats

Active Pilots: 14
Total Flights: 328 (47 cargo flights)
Total Hours: 458.8
Total Miles: 131462 NM
On Time Performance: 94.8%
Total Passengers: 24131
Average Rating: 83
Total Cargo: 69040 lbs
Net Revenue: $3552475

Happy New Year 2008

We start the new year with a warm welcome to all of our new members. This year AeroTexas continues to bring Lone Star Service to the World, with a new international dispatch to Asia from long-time member, and fleet director, T. Wood, ATX02. This set of flights includes flights near Mt. Fuji, and some long-awaited island hopping.