Constraints, Information and Tasks involved in Flight Planning
Immediately a distinction was made between Domestic and International Operations. The first portion of the discussion dealt with Domestic trips.
Domestic
One of the key distinctions between Domestic and International operations for the Honeywell pilots is in function or task allocation. When the flight is operated domestically, the pilot usually handles all relevant aspects of flight planning.
The main constraints and related information are weather en route, at the destination, and at an alternate landing sight (if the destination weather is marginal). Some of the first questions that runs through the pilot’s mind when examining Terminal Forecasts are:
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Is an Alternate required?
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The threshold for the consideration of an alternate is whether or not the weather is VFR at the destination.
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If the weather is marginal at the destination the pilot will ask the to-be-transported party(ies) if they would prefer waiting or landing at a near-by city and proceeding via ground transportation to their destination.
Next, the pilot is concerned about fuel constraints and information, including:
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The fuel load required to accomplish the mission.
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Diversion requirements.
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Ferry-fuel (Honeywell Flight Ops has a software package that logs the fuel prices from previous trips to those cities).
Next comes consideration of routing and ride quality along the most direct route of flight. The pilot will check various information sources, such as NOTAMs for the primary destination and alternate airports. Frequently the pilot will examine free sources of weather, such as “The Weather Channel” and, in the twin cities, the Public Service television service provided by Kavouras, to determine gross weather patterns (i.e., fronts, convective weather, etc.).
Next the pilot will try to obtain a Slot Time for the arrival at the destination airport. Frequently our aircraft, which are technically General Aviation aircraft, must compete with other General Aviation aircraft at large airports which are usually dominated by air carrier operations. These airports, such as Chicago O’Hare or Washington National have very scarce Landing Slots available to General Aviation aircraft on an hourly basis, and, in some cases, the competition for these available slots is very keen (especially at airports with large numbers of business jets, such as National). Once a landing slot time has been established the pilot will examine the actual route of flight.
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