is there a way to import a flight plan from PFPX to FSC?

[evolae]

I don't want to put the same values of ZFW, cargo and PAX 3 times every time I want to fly.

I want to choose a flight from my Virtual Airline, create the flight plan with PFPX and import to FSC becouse I like tue features of your software. Can I do something like that?

[peter]

Hello Evolae,

the answer to your question needs to be given by Dutch or Travis.

Cheers,
Peter

[Travis]

Peter's being modest. He's long wanted more interaction between FSCaptain and other flight-sim utilities. Something like this, in particular....

Then too, I share this idea - I'm all about "integration".

How would you like to see your idea 'work'?  In the discussions that we've had internally, we would generally drift toward something that would be Administrator-based, so you would have to run that to 'import' Flight Information

Essentially you would run the Administrator to Dispatch a Flight and it would inform you that a "cooperative planning tool" had generated some Flight Information. Once you accept that data, we would do our very best to make it all happen.

It would be the same as if on the Dispatch tab, you had entered the Departure Airport and had gone to Specify Flight Details to enter the Flight Number, Destination, First Alternate, PAX / Cargo values, Scheduled values, etc. We could be configured to also accept Fuel and Block times, weather data, and the PLN data of course.

Service data could be left as "optional" perhaps? I don't think there's a PFPX "Cabin Service" value.

Ditto for parking.  I don't know how they factor that to get their "Taxi Time" values, but there must be a way....

Still there could be lots of other grey areas - which aircraft do you really intend to use? - but a little time spent in working these 'corner cases' may be well spent.

Then too, FSCaptain has our very simple aircraft performance database which we need to honor.  I would guess that some attention should be made by each Captain to ensure that the equivalent aircraft in FSCaptain and any other "cooperative planning tool" had similar values.
----

With all that said, I know of no data source from PFPX that I could read for such an endeavor.

Perhaps after the holidays, I could make an enquiry to see what they might be willing to entertain in this area??

But until then, is there anything else you would like to see from something like this?

Regards,

[evolae]

The first thing would be match the airplains you are going to fly. It can be done in PFPX like this:


Match this with your aircraft editor.

After that I fill all the things I need to fill from my virtual airline:



With all this done, I compute my flight and I get my OFP. Then I can export it in various formats:



I use this to export the FP to IVAO and activesky. The thing would be that FSC would import one of this formats and fill every data: PAX, ROUTE, ZFW, FOB, CARGO, date and times....you know. 

The FP looks like this, I don't know if it's hard to get the data from it:



I mostly fly A320 and B738.

[Travis]

We do read PFPX PLN files, but those files don't include the information you're looking for.

PLN files normally contain a Departure Airport, a List of Waypoints for your "Route", and a Destination Airport. Nothing more.

Since these files are XML, it would be possible to include any bit of data that a developer would like to include - as an XML Comment. But to my knowledge no one does that.

I'll open a line of communication with the Aerosoft early next month about sharing data.

Regards,

[peter]

Dec 22, 2018 5:26:02 GMT -5 evolae said:

The first thing would be match the airplains you are going to fly. It can be done in PFPX like this:

Actually, that should be matched. When we support an airplane (and the PMDG 738 and Aerosoft A320 are supported), we go through their aircraft.cfg files to make sure the data are synced. If they are not, maybe PMDG changed some data. In that case you can edit the configuration files yourself to eliminate any discrpancies; let us know if you need help with this. Also, note that FSCaptain config files use lbs instead of kilogram as units of mass.

Happy Holidays,
Peter

[hardmanrb]

An option could be the text file PFPX generates as a briefing package which could be read as a custom text import. Sample below.

HORIZON AIR FLIGHTPLAN - IFR  QXE9913  N442QX  KSLC-KBZN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALL WEIGHTS IN POUNDS (LB)                                       STD 22DEC/0525Z
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFP 1 - PREPARED 22DEC/1749Z BY RICHARD HARDMAN  

QX9913/QXE9913      N442QX/DHC-8-402Q                     ROUTE:    KSLCKBZN-MAN

DEP: KSLC/SLC 16L   ELEV 4227  FT   CRUISE:     LRC       TTL G/C DIST:   302 NM
ARR: KBZN/BZN 30    ELEV 4473  FT   INIT ALT:   FL250     TTL F/P DIST:   320 NM
                                   FUEL BIAS:  136.7%    TTL AIR DIST:   312 NM
                                                         AVG WIND CMP: TL008 KT
ALT: KHLN/HLN 27    ELEV  3877 FT   97 NM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONFIG      DOW  PAX   CARGO   TOTAL   ULOAD LIM             ZFW     TOW     LDW
CREW      38234   62     510   13654    6112 ZFW     MAX   58000   65199   62001
                                                    PLN   51888   56272   54059
                                                    ACT  ......  ......  ......
              FUEL    CORR    ENDUR
TRIP           2213  ........  01:08
CONT 5%         194  ........  00:05
ALTN KHLN       812  ........  00:24
FINAL RESV     1165  ........  00:30
MIN T/O        4384  ........  02:06       .....................................
EXTRA        ......  ........  .....       CAPTAINS SIGNATURE  (....)
TAXI            110  ........  00:10      
RELEASE        4494  ........  02:16       I ACCEPT THIS OFP AND I AM FAMILIAR
ARR FUEL       2116  ........  00:54       WITH THE PLANNED ROUTE AND AERODROMES

FUEL TANK CAP 11724 LB / MAX EXTRA FUEL 7230 LB LIM BY CAPACITY
TRIP CORR FOR 1000 LB TOW INCR: +20 LB / 1000 LB TOW DECR: -20 LB
2000 FT LOWER:  +55 LB / EET 01:07  CLB: TYPE 2  DES: TYPE 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KSLC  STD 05:25Z/22:25L  ETD 05:25Z  ACT OFBL ....  EST T/O 05:35Z  ACT T/O ....
KBZN  STA 07:05Z/00:05L  ETA 06:48Z  ACT ONBL ....  EST LDG 06:43Z  ACT LDG ....
     SKD 01:40          PLN 01:23   TTL BLCK ....  EST FLT 01:08   TTL FLT ....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Travis]

A template-driven text file is not a reliable "data source" to establish a "contract" between applications....

[hardmanrb]

In my case, I'm happy. I use FSCaptain's manifest weight and pax values to plug into PFPX, calculate the flight, then update only the fuel and block time in the administrator prior to committing to the flight. Seems to work pretty well that way andI'm generally off only by a few pounds and a minute or two on the flight. I can understand wanting to automate it though as I can spend up to 30 minutes just getting a flight plan and values into FSCaptain, PFPX, ProAtc, REX, ActiveSky and the Q400 manager.   Anyways, I know your desire for perfection Travis, if it can be done, you would find a way. Thanks again for all you do Travis!

[evolae]

The problem is that in the harder ("most realistic") Virtual Airlines you have to use their weights, it's mandatory. So if I want to keep using FSCaptaing and my VA I need some kind of automation or something to edit the manifest in FSCaptain. Because now the weights are not correct and I have to correct the payload to match the ZFW. It`s not so hard to do but...well. If I could have the configuration to match the PFPX to FSCaptain would be perfect.

[Travis]

Evolae,

I'd like to try and hash this out in public! I can approach the Aerosoft / PFPX team to ask for data, but I'd first like to know exactly what data are you looking to receive from PFPX?

Post a "briefing package" from PFPX and note which values you would like to be "automated" for import to FSCaptain.

Take your time and basically align PFPX flight data with FSCaptain flight data. I might suggest you take the next VA flight you want to make and take notes on what you see in PFPX and translate that to what you need to enter into FSCaptain.

If you have any questions about our side of things, let us know!

Best,

[Travis]

Rick,

That's a long process, but I can relate....

I've no VA to satisfy, so usually I begin by deciding where I want to fly from and to... then use FSCaptain to set up a basic direct-flight package and allow FSCaptain to generate Payload and Fuel data. (I know the aircraft I like to fly and I have many many hours in Test Flights to get the best FSCaptain numbers to suit my flying style.)

If it's a flight that's long enough to need special routing, I'll use FlightAware or another RW flight data source to get my route data.

I'll then take my flight data to ProATC/X and generate a route-specific PLN. I'll also go to AivlaSoft EFB to check on STAR / SID / Approach data so I can be aware of any ATC changes....

I'll reconcile everything, and then go back to the Administrator and re-dispatch my flight now with new WX and PLN/route data.

Then after I'm in the cockpit and have Clearance Delivery signed off on my flight, my PLN data will be updated (by ProATC/X) and reflected in my FCDU's final Dispatch Release by the time I'm supposed to start boarding PAX & Cargo.
-----

Anyway, we want FSCaptain to be able to support many different ways to get a flight properly Dispatched, all the while serving several masters/authorities....

If there's something we can do which would benefit many other Captains, we're happy to experiment.

Best,

[evolae]

Ok, I'm going to do a flight and take screenshots of everything I do to see if I'm doing something wrong and what things can be improved (by me or FSC).

[evolae]

First thing is to go to the VA and reserve a flight.




Now I know my flight departure and estimated arrival. I sign up for the flight and I get this:



Now I know the route, alternate, num of pax, cargo, and flight level. This numbers cannot be modified. Now I go simultaneous to FSC and PFPX:



FSC in utc+1 (local peninsular Spain time) and PFPX in zulu.
Ok, now I need the flight plan to export to all the programs (IVAO, Active Sky, REX and FSC) so I fill all the data in PFPX:
I know that at this time the active runway for Madrid is the 36R/L and the arrival to Barcelona is the 25R, tuhis can be changed in the plane, so no problem with this.
The Payload, here comes the problem:



Ok, now I have the ZFW, that is one of the most important data I need for the flight: 61843kg.
If I go to the preliminar manifest in FSC we see that the ZFW is not the same:



Now I can play with the bagage to make it more or less the same but I don`t like to do it. I'm going to fill up the other data to get my Operational Flight Plan in PFPX:



I get this that now I can export:






Now that I have the FP exported (this step I'm not sure if Im doing it right but...) I import it to FSC to know the altitude and get the winds (Select flight plan, Get Weather and recalculate):



Now I get another Block Time stimate and a FOB. Now, I don't know which one to use, the last time I reentered the Fuel that PFPX estimates in the fuel fill click shift and recalculate:



Well, we get some crazy numbers here (-49kg for taxi ?¿) but now the PFPX and FSC fuel match.
I click approve and commint to get the flight dispatch and my OFP. I open P3D and select the airport, plane and time (I usually enter the plane 40 minutes before my scheduled flight):



I start the FSC CDU:



Yes, I proceed and I fill (again) the number of PAX, Cargo and fuel to the Aerosoft or FSLabs sistem) I normally use GSX but for now we will skip it.



I have this onoooooooooooother discrepancy with the ZFW....

If I proceed with manual load I get this, of course:




and of course, the manifest of the FSC and the airplain does not match....so here I don't know what to do, I'm pressing the "aircraft" button knowing that the manifest is not right but...I dont like it.



That's it....a nightmare of weights...xD

[Travis]

I moved the "Late Arrival" to another thread and will respond there.

I'll be back here later in my day for the "automation" bits....

Best,