Flight planning refers to the formal process of coordinating air travel between the passengers and the air traffic controllers before departure. It is important to ensure that all passengers are booked onto the flights on time. If there is any confusion or if there are any mistakes made in booking these flights, it will definitely affect the flight schedule and the safety of all the passengers. A flight plan therefore consists of many different things that have to be arranged and executed properly.
There are many aspects to flight planning. The first aspect is an IATA Flight Schedule and this contains all the schedules for all the airports across the world. This schedule indicates the scheduled route of the aircraft and also includes the time and day of departure. Flight plan format is defined in ICAO Doc 44444. IATA Flight Schedules provides all the details about the time and day of departure as well as the destination airport that has to be met for the flight.
Next step in flight planning is Fuel Consumption calculation and this is very crucial. This is used for calculating the amount of fuel required for the journey and the amount of oxygen consumed by the passengers. The reason for using fuel consumption calculations is to ensure that there is sufficient supply of oxygen and at the same time there is enough supply of fuel for the journey. This is especially necessary for long distance journeys as unforeseen circumstances may prevent a smooth and safe journey.
Reserve Fuel consumption is another vital component in flight planning. Reserve fuel is the amount of fuel that needs to be stored in reserve when there is a deficit in flight production. For example, if there are more passengers than the planned number of seats, fuel reserve calculation will be used. The reserve fuel needs to cover the difference between the number of seats available for the flight and the actual need for seats. If reserve fuel calculations are not done carefully, it could result in a lot of unnecessary expenses.
Another important component in flight planning is Air Traffic Control or ATC. An air traffic controller is responsible for managing flight planning process as well as providing their assistance to the pilots. There are various types of ATC like flight crew chief (FO) and captain (CC). A flight crew chief is the one who is responsible for flight-related activities like taking calls, briefing the passengers and providing reports to the air traffic control. On the other hand, a captain is in charge of the flight operations like planning the route, maintaining radio contact with passengers, controlling the flight plane etc. A CC is in charge of providing entertainment to the passengers.
Nowadays, computerized ATC systems are being used in which the flight planning systems are programmed in such a way that they can react to unexpected circumstances. Moreover, in case of emergencies like depressurization of cabin pressure, fire alarms going off in the cabin etc., they can immediately call the control tower and thus provide assistance to the passengers. Computerized ATC’s are very convenient and effective when it comes to providing immediate assistance at the point of occurrence of any emergency.
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