2. PLANNING.

Pick up at the hotel 65 minutes before departure. This will be the second day out of four. Schedule today: ESGG-EKCH, EKCH-EDDF, EDDF-EKCH, EKCH-ESGG (night stop).
We will get MET INFO, LATEST NEWS, FLIGHTPLAN, CREWLIST from our computer at the Airport.
Besides, we have our RM (Route Manual) containing everything we need to know about destinations, fuel planning and other goodies.
Let us start with the met info.

EKCH FC0312 24015KT 6000 OVC006 DZ TEMPO 0312 300
This is the Forecast, valid from 03.00 until 12.00. Wind from 240° 15 knots, visibility 6000 meters, overcast clouds at 600 ft, drizzle. Temporarily 300 M visibility.
Not to bad, we can expect ILS CATI or CATII RWY 22L.

Our flight is SK443 and our Aircraft SE-DIU, MD87 Torsten Viking. The flightplan is stored (that is filed by SAS for a longer period of time, 443 is a daily flight).
Zero fuel weight (everything onboard, except fuel) is estimated to 42.9 tons. We must have one alternate and EKYT looks fine. We enter the alternate and the computer will give us the flightplan, based on standard fuel. Itīs early in the morning and we know from experience that we can expect holdings inbound Copenhagen due to traffic. Our company suggests 15 minutes extra "Company fuel" for arrivals at this time of the day. 15 minutes with MD80 is 700 Kilos.

FUEL.

Standard fuel:
  • TAXI fuel.
  • TRIP fuel, fuel from departure to arrival longest SID and most unfavorable landing RW.
  • CONTINGENCY fuel, to cover unexpected deviations. 5% of the trip fuel, but not less than 5 minutes holding at 1 500 ft over the destination.
  • ALTERNATE fuel, from destination to alternate.
  • FINAL RESERVE fuel, 30 minutes at 1500ft above the alternate.
This will give us the minimum fuel, then as a Commander I can put extra fuel on top of this. If I expect holding, icing conditions, lower flight level or anything else, based on my experience. Today i decide to take 1 300 kg extra, equal to 30 minutes extra. We have a situation where we can expect to use engine anti ice during departure and both engine and airfoil anti ice during our landing in Copenhagen. Besides at this time of the day, there are a lot of traffic inbound. We can expect holding over Sveda on approach, especially if the weather demands CAT II approach. This will always reduce the capacity of the airport.

TAXI
TRIP
CONTINGENCY
ALTERNATE
FINAL RESERVE
EXTRA fuel 		   200kg (MD80 standard)
1 800kg
    300kg
1 500kg
1 300kg
1 300kg
This will give us a total of 6 400kg

Weather requirement for selection of alternate.

There is no weather requirement for destination aerodrome. The weather at destination however, determines the number of alternate aerodromes to be used in the planning phase.

If weather reports or forecast, or any combination thereof for the destination aerodrome indicate, that during a period commencing 1 hour before and ending 1 hour after the estimated time of arrival (ETA), the weather conditions will be at or above the following minima, only one alternate aerodrome is required. Otherwise two alternate aerodromes are required.

Type of approach Weather requirements
CAT II/III Visibility as specified on IAL plate
CAT I Visibility as specified on IAL plate
Non-precision Ceiling/Visibility as specified on IAL plate
Circling Ceiling/Visibility as specified on IAL plate

Weather requirements for the alternate aerodrome. This is called "ONE UP". The alternate aerodrome weather must enable an approach even if the best landing system is unservicable.

Type of approach Planning minima
CAT II/III RVR/Visibility as for CAT I
CAT I RVR/Visibility and ceiling at or above the MDH for Non-precision
Non-precision RVR/Visibility and ceiling at or above the MDH for Non-precision plus 200ft/1000m
Circling Ceiling
Go back toFlying the MD80 Move on toCockpit preparation.