Details of The Preparation of a Airliner's Flight

Before a airliner is pushed back at the door, a whole series of actions occur, that allow the aircraft to be prepared for flight. If one wants to fly realistically, it would be appropriate at least to know that chronology. Because to respect it would imply, for a first flight when leaving one's company's hub base, for example, 1h 45 in addition to the flight time! A good detailed article (in French unluckily!), abstract of which inspired our tutorial, is on the page https:// www.flightsim-corner.com/aller-plus-loin/navigation/navigation-deroulement-vol/ at the site FlightSim corner. The pushback is considered the beginning of the flight as, for our example, that will be at 8:20 a.m.):

• 6:35 a.m. (1h 45 before pushback): pilots enter the airline's flight planning area, where they will practice the pilots' briefing. The company's flight manager prepared their flight's flight plan (contained in a 'flight folder') and sent it to the pilots who, in the room, have all the means of communication with their airline's operational services. Pilots are studying this flight folder (which, for information, is very similar to the listing produced by flightplanner sites like, for example, the site Simbrief). The flight record, in the real world, represents 20 pages minimum or the double and more. It includes the list of crew members, the elements that the flight manager used (weather en route, TAF arrival and alternate, NATs for transatlantic flights, various weather maps and winds in altitude), maps necessary to the flight, the flightplan, etc. The common reading by both pilots of the data allows the pilots to have a idea of the flight. They choose the plausible departing runway, based upon weather forecasts and the arrival one. They consider any elements that could impact the flight (NOTAMs, technical characteristics of the aircraft (RCT), safety (RCS), experience of other crews on the road (RC)). They check the deposited flight plan, the fuel (about which the Captain remains the ultimate decision-maker, depending on various last-minute changes)
• 6:20 a.m. Meal trays are loaded at the dedicated company premises and taken to the aircraft
• 7:05 a.m. Luggage leave the airline's baggage area and head to the plane
• 7:10 a.m. Pilots arrive at the aircraft. They contact the ground personnel, confirm the requested fuel and take knowledge of the latest information regarding the loading and technical status of the aircraft
• 7:20 a.m. Pilots are on board and brief the cabin crew (the company's international flight manager may intervene: domestic animals, blind dog, etc.). Passenger cabin safety is checked as communications between the flight deck and the cabin are tested, along with the cabin alarms
• 7:30 a.m. Passengers are beginning to board at pushback-50. Pilots prepare the aircraft (systems, etc.) with the craft powered through the APU and they enter data into the FMC. They perform a departure and flight briefing
• 7:50 a.m. At pushback-30 the passenger registration has ended so the pilots have a more accurate idea of the load, freight. By the ACARS, they receive a mass estimate and a optimized flight plan. Pilots confirm or not to the supplier the fuel asked for. A few minutes before the pushback the pilots receive the final mass estimate, which is signed by the Captain, and the fuel is brought to the aircraft
• 8:20 a.m. The boarding of passengers has ended; The airplane is ready to pushback (last baggage belonging to late embarking passengers can still be loaded)

That description is valid for the first flight of the day of a aircraft which, usually fly several destinations during that same day. Between landing at one destination and departure from it for the next flight, 45 to 60 minutes are needed (between 25 and 30 for low cost companies). Thence it will be up to each one to organize all that, by the beginning of a flight, to render these peculiarities. Personally, being applied to :) and practicing some temporal ellipses, I take around 42 minutes of preparation before the flight. I think it's worth a try because you will realize the reality of a airline flight and then you can abbreviate further (the following text was changed):

• route preparation with a site like Simbrief; such softwares, generally, bring to that they generate a .pln FSX file
• determination of the weather for both the departing, and arriving airport. Thence one determines SIDs, STARs, and ILS. A good weather site may be the U.S. NOAA AVIATION WEATHER CENTER, the U.S. weather agency
• find the doc for the departing, arrival and ILS procedures
• launch FSX with your possible first display settins (like with NVIDIA Inspector)
• load the flightplan .pln file. With that eventually add some more accurate SID and STAR points; copy the FSX route points list, calculate TOD (that point where the descent begins)
• transfer the flight doc on a smartphone, which will serve like a flightdeck tablet
• as the last passengers boarded, possibly set FSX time accurately, set the passengers and fuel weight settings
• prepare the plane for the flight (ATIS, IFR clearance IFR, taxi clearance); the plane is ready for pushback as the flight begins with the latter