Sunday, September 13, 2009

Fokker 70 Takeoff and Landing Speeds


Lately I've logged a few hours in the Fokker 70 by Project Fokker Jetline. It's an excellent model - much more stable and easier handling I think than either of the regional jets we currently have in primary service. I developed some basic textures to go with our fleet. This chart shows the takeoff and landing speed for the Fokker jets. It can be pretty handy, but do know that it is in kilograms not pounds.

Using the data from this chart I developed some very simple formulas you can use to determine takeoff and landing speed for typical configurations. The first one is for takeoff, flaps 15, all speeds in knots. V1 is equal to Vr and TOW is takeoff weight in pounds; for midscale-weights just add 5 knots to get V2:

V1 = Vr = 47 + TOW / 1100; TOW= takeoff weight in pounds

V2 = Vr + 5


For landing, Vref with flaps 42:

Vref(flaps 42) = 0.77 * LWT + 61.6; LWT= landing weight in thousands of pounds

Here's an example for a very typical configuration. The Fokker 70 has an empty weight of 61000 lbs, and a maximum takeoff weight of 83820 lbs. KLM uses these aircraft heavily in their CityHopper services in Europe and the F70 is fitted with 80 seats. Let's be generous and assume a 75% load factor, so on average 60 of the seats are filled, and passengers bring luggage (to simplfy things we won't worry about the difference between Summer and Winter weights) so the total passenger payload is say 12000 lbs. A one hour flight will burn an estimated 4100 lbs of fuel, but the rules require an additional 5400 lbs for reserves (holding, diversion, and contingency) so that's 9500 lbs of fuel. The takeoff weight then is 82500 lbs.

V1=Vr = 47 + 82500/1100 = 122 knots
V2 = 127 knots

On arrival the weight will be about 78400 lbs, so the calculated Vref speed for flaps 45 is:

Vref45 = 78.400 * 0.77 + 61.6 = 122 knots.

In my experience the takeoff values are a tad low for the Project Fokker 70, but they come close and I think are pretty useful as a basic reference.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Updated roster

I've added current month stats to the roster. Note that the roster is currently being updated several times throughout the day. While it is essentially an automatic process, I have not started a schedule for it yet so I'll be "pressing the button" from HQ until I'm satisfied that it is stable. Still I do plan to update the roster at least 4-6 times per day.

View Roster

Also - don't forget about the VA Meeting on Saturday. I scheduled two flights for myself - one an arrival and another a departure slot, but before and after I plan to shuttle between Friedrichshafen (EDNY) and Frankfurt (EDDH) - so drop in anytime and say hi. See my previous post for instructions about signing up.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

vACC Online Event + VA-Meeting 2009



A few years back we had international service to Switzerland, and it was a lot of fun. This year we return to the land of Helvetica as we join with other virtual airlines online with VA-Meeting 2009. This event, presented by vACC Switzerland, is one of the biggest VA-events on VATSIM and will be held on Saturday, September 12, 2009 starting at 1800Z (1:PM CDT) to 2200Z (5:PM CDT). The event was made especially for VAs, and AeroTexas was invited to participate. It doesn't matter if you fly VFR or IFR, and it doesn't matter what your current rating is at AeroTexas - everyone is welcome to participate, especially our new members!

Though any arrival or departure from Zurich (LSZH) is acceptable, here are a few suggested places:

About 1 hour:
Frankfurt (EDDF)
Munich (EDDM)
Luxembourg (ELLX)
Lyon (LFLL)

About 1.5 hours:
London (EGKK)

About 2 hours:
Madrid (LEMD)

Most slots are filled , but I understand that they are planning to open more slots this afternoon. Please use the following code to book flights: 4a92c061cd816

Event Website
http://vameeting.vacc.ch

Charts
http://www.vacc.ch/en/documents/airports_and_charts/LSZH

See you in Zurich!

Monday, September 7, 2009

New Roster Page

The roster of pilots at AeroTexas is presented online quite differently from almost all other virtual airlines (VAs). Most VAs simply present the names and/or member-ids of their members by sequential number. Essentially this sorts the list from top to bottom by tenure; the longer you've been a member, the lower your id number, and the higher your place on the roster. This seems unfair to newer members who may be (and in my experience usually are) more active than the existing membership. And it seems very unfair for members of larger VAs because the newer members may never appear on the first, or the second pages, or maybe not until very deep into the roster.

At AeroTexas the roster is presented as a list of members sorted by recent activity. It doesn't matter how long you've been a member, only how active you are. The more you fly, the higher your level of activity, and as a result the higher your place on the roster - where you can compare your statistics with other members who are likewise active members.

The roster at AeroTexas has been further redesigned to display the number of flights made in the current month, the date of last flight, the most recent equipment used, and the current location - the place to which they most recently landed. So go out there and fly one for AeroTexas - you'll be at the top of the list!

Check out the AeroTexas roster here