Showing posts with label aircraft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label aircraft. Show all posts

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.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

FuelJabber Updated

Our fuel planning solution has been updated to support the Fokker 70 regional jet as designed by Project FOKKER Jetline.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

747SP



Our illustrious fleet director has a new love - the 747SP. Tommie painted up this one in vintage AeroTexas colors. According to Wikipedia, the idea for the 747SP came from a request by Pan Am for a 747 variant capable of carrying a full payload non-stop on its longest route between New York and Tokyo. It set a world record in 1976 as the "Liberty Bell Express", when it was flown around the world in 46.43 hours, starting at JFK on May 1st with two stopovers (Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi and Tokyo-Haneda Airport).

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

ATR42-30 "Alamo Design"

A sneak peek into something Tommie has been working on over at the hangar...