It's something that I've always sought
but never really had the determination
to complete. I'll be glad if somebody
takes care of it.
Maybe we could come up with a batteries
of tests to run on the various aircraft and
slowly collect the info.
This brings up two questions:
1) What data do we need to collect?
2) In what conditions that data need
to be collected?
The second question is slightly easier
to answer: whatever the data is, it
should be collected all the other conditions
being the same.
I.e. if we are collecting the climbing rate
of a plane and its fuel consumption in
such phase, we should make sure that:
- the plane is flying straight and it's in a
stable climb, with absolutely -no wind-.
- we don't include the transitions in the
measurement (i.e. if we set the AP to
climb from 2000ft to 8000ft, we should
only take note of the fuel in the tank
at 4000ft and 6000ft.
- The -thrust- setting should be kept at
80%, while the speed is allowed to
settle accordingly (and according to the
climbing rate).
- Climb rate 1000 or 1500fpm (depending
if the plane can sustain it)
- The pressure should be set the same
during all tests: 29.92/1013
- The units should be all the same (lbs/hr).
- The airplane configuration file should be
EHM's original, otherwise we are gonna
get different results all the time.
- Before you make the test, refill (in-flight)
the tanks so that it's at 100%.
Back to the first question:
The data for FSNavigator is definitely a
good start. climb/descent rate, speed,
fuel consumption for each phase.
Is there any other program out there
that need similar but not exactly the
same kind of data?
How to actually get the the data: AFSD
is a nice free application to get all sorts
of in-flight instantaneous statistics.
You can find it on avsim.com. If you have
any other method, share it! =)
Preliminary Specifications for the descent
and cruise tests:
Descent:
-Same as above, with 20% thrust and
1000fpm descent rate.
-Everything else inverted: start descent
at 8000ft, check fuel at 6000ft, check
fuel again at 4000ft, let the descent
continue unaltered until 2000ft.
- Before you start the descent, tweak
the fuel tank so that it's only 20% full.
Cruise:
- again, thrust at 80%
- test to be executed in level flight
with no wind, stable speed, at the
following altitudes:
- FL100 for VFA planes
- FL240 for C1-C3 planes
- FL320 for C4-C6 planes
- FL360 for C7 planes
- refill to 50% before the test begin
- when you decide to begin the test,
take note of the time and fuel.
- The test ends 5 minutes later,
when the fuel is measured again
and the final calbulation is made
(fuelEnd - fuelStart x 6 = lbs/hr)
When we are done, let's post the
results here, where Murray will collect it.
If more than one pilot make a test for
the same plane, no worries! The results
should be the same, if not, we'll make
an average or we'll investigate why
there's a discrepancy...
Furthermore, if you notice that a plane
for whatever reason can't do the test
as I proposed, please report it here, maybe
with a proposal of what should be different
for that plane.
Ok, I guess that's enough for this post...
Ciao ciao!
Manu
