Etops

ETOPS AND OCEANIC PROCEDURESA practical guide froma "not-know-it-all" to fellow "not-know-it-all"s

PART 1: THE DISPATCHER'S OFFICE

2013 Belisar Hoxholli

FOR FLIGHT SIMULATOR USE ONLY

Based on PFPX and the PMDG 777LR

What is ETOPS?

ETOPS, as all of you reading this probably know, stands for Extended range Twin Operations. It is nothing more than a set of rules that allow twin engine aircraft to fly long distance in routes where at any given time they might be more than 60 minutes away from an adequate airport in case something goes wrong a diversion is needed. These rules and procedures affect the design and operation of ETOPS certified aircraft.

As we fly from our origin to our destination, we have a good handful of alternate airports to divert to in case of a decompression or engine failure... unless there are no more adequate airports to handle us within a short distance. So what is an adequate airport?

An adequate airport is one that can handle you safely. It should have long enough runways, airport lighting, ATC, have at least one approach aid available to assist with the landing (do not read ILS here). Forecast weather at the time of its expected use is not part of the definition for an adequate airport. When flying in remote areas and/or over oceans, sooner or later that list of adequate airports within 60 minutes reach gets smaller and smaller and eventually you will have no adequate airport reachable in that distance.

How far is 60 minutes anyways?Now that is a good question and I will not go into the math of it at all. It may also vary between operators. Typically the 777 will have a single engine diversion speed of M.84/329KIAS and how that results in the answer to the above question, which is 453nm, is out of the scope of this guide. The reason why it is out of the scope of this guide is, as you might have guessed, that I have no clue about it and I am damn too lazy to make the calculations myself. However, since people smarter than me write this in the actual operator manuals for the 777, than I take that figure for granted and live happily with my ignorance on the details.

Basically, where you see time you have to read distance when it comes to ETOPS, and that distance is based on single engine performance at ISA conditions. ISA conditions means that the actual conditions are not of relevance as the folks who build planes and make the rules have no intention of changing said rules as weather changes. Makes sense to me.

First things first...

I am not an aviation professional. This guide gathers information I have learned over the years and makes it available in a practical way to absorb by fellow simers. You may spot spelling errors which I tried to avoid. English is not my first language so apologies if you find them disturbing. I hope you enjoy the read and I hope you find it useful. You are free to distribute it as is but not sections of it separately.

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So, you are flying past that last 60min/453nm circle?

Welcome to ETOPS!

To fly past that, the operator needs an ETOPS certification for the airplane flying that route, depending on how far it is deemed safe to fly from an adequate airport that is suitable to be used when need arises. As before, in the ETOPS club, how far is defined in minutes. The tables for the 777 time/distance relation at M.84/329KIAS are found in the table below.

There you have your distances to play with by intersecting circles. I surely loved doing it when I was a kid and still do. I guess the most common ETOPS certifications for the 777 would be the 180, the 207 which is actually an extension of the 180 and the 240. If you fly for VA that operates the 777, you will easily find the ETOPS rules it operates by reading through the documentation or asking fellow pilots. Let's have a look of a typical ETOPS flight and get an overview of what is what in ETOPS lingo.ETOPS Anatomy 101:

Some introductions are in order. Getting to a party and not knowing the host and other guests might be an uncomfortable situation.

ADEQUATE AIRPORTS

We talked about this earlier. An airport that can handle you in terms of infrastructure and ATC services and it can do so safely. It has adequate lighting, communication facilities and at least an approach aid to assist you in your landing. There are 60 minutes circles around each adequate airport, which correspond to a 453nm distance in our case. As long as your flight path is within the area defined by successive and intersecting adequate airport circles, ETOPS is not applicable. When you run out of them and are 60 minutes/453nm away from the last adequate outbound, you have reached your EEP.

ETOPS ENTRY POINTor EEP, which referenced in the PFPX map as (ENTRY). This is the point where you are 60 minutes away from the last adequate airport in your outbound leg. It defines the entry into the ETOPS segment of your flight. Its position is calculated by PFPX and is part of the OFP.

Time (minutes) 60 75 90 120 138 180 207 240

Distance (nm) 453 561 670 886 1016 1320 1516 1750

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Welcome to the big circles club! As you might have guessed or known, those 60min circle dont cut it anymore. You need some bigger ones and how big those are is defined by the how the operators 777 is certified. In this guide I will assume we are operating under ETOPS180. Those big circles are drawn around your suitable airports.

SUITABLE AIRPORTSare adequate airports that during the time you would use them, should need arise, have weather minima that are at or above the specified minima. So you can build bigger circles around them to intersect your 60min circles around the adequate airports, but there is a glitch: Unlike adequates, suitables have to meet ETOPS weather minima as well. Remember I said during the time you would use them, which means it can all be nice and shiny now, but if visibility and ceiling drop below minima during the time you would use them, you would not consider them as suitable for dispatch. The current METAR of the airport is of little importance. The forecast weather is, which means you will be after Terminal Area Forecasts (TAFs) more than after METARs when it comes to ETOPS suitable alternates.

Minima and then someKnowing ETOPS weather minima required for dispatch is essential in selecting suitable airports. Keep in mind though, ETOPS minima apply only at dispatch and not when airborne. ETOPS minima are higher than charted minima. Different agencies have these fine tuned differently, but they are pretty much the same. Below the CAA minima requirements are used.

WEATHER MINIMA AT SUITABLE AIRPORTS FOR ETOPS DISPATCH (CAA)

With one runway equipped with ILS usable for landing.

With two or more runways equipped with ILS at one or more airports within the 180min (or

other rule) available for landing,

On non-precision approaches

CEILING: LOW+400 / MIN600Lowest landing minima +400ft on cloud base (ceiling) but not lower than 600ft.

VISIBILITY:LOW+1.5 / MIN3 Minimum +1.5Km (1sm) but not lower than 3Km(2sm) on visibility.

CEILING: REDUCE by 200ft

VISIBILITY:REDUCE by 1Km/0.5sm

CEILING: LOW+400 / MIN800Lowest landing minima +400ft on cloud base (ceiling) but not lower than 800ft.

VISIBILITY:LOW+1.5 / MIN3 Minimum +1.5Km (1sm) but not lower than 3Km(2sm) on visibility.

There are some things to keep in mind. The above table is based on Civil Aviation Authority (UK) regulations. Tables with minima as specified by other agencies are specified at the end of this guide. They do have small differences among them, which means that a British Airways flight is subject to slightly different dispatch minima from a Delta flight etc. However the most important things to note about minima are:

At the planning stage, if weather is below minima for the forecasted time, you cannot choose the airport in question as an ETOPS alternate.

If airborne however, even if weather falls below minima, you are not require to reroute. The above are planning minima. They define whether a flight can be dispatched with the selected alternates or not. Lets take an example so that we do not spend lots of time explaining something that is easier understood by doing. Lets get our dispatch minima figures for Keflavik (BIKF), ILS Runway 02.

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As long as we have suitable airports to cover our route, we are good to go. We will have the 60min circles of our adequate airports intersecting 180 min circles of our ETOPS alternates, that in turn intersect each other... How cool is that? Word play out... With a greater distance available to fly from with our ETOPS alternates in place, we can build routes that keep us at all times within 180 minutes of safe ground. .

If you are en route from London (EGLL) to New York (KJFK) and your dispatch ETOPS alternates are Shannon (EINN) and Stephenville (CYJT), you will eventually reach a point where your diversion time/distance to Shannon, equals that to Stephenville. There are some difference scenarios for this diversion such as one engine out, a simultaneous one engine out and decompression or just a decompression. Because aviation folks are a lot into drama, calculations are made on the worse case scenario of the three (you can safely guess which). Now when you reach this point you have reached your:

CRITICAL PONT (talking about drama...). This where you know you are the same distance from Shannon and Stephenville considering the example above, but the real sweet part is that this where you are the furthest away from any dispatched alternate in that segment of your route. ETOPS fuel calculations, suitability time for weather consideration are dependent on this special point. If you are like me and do not enjoy much of math doing these days, PFPX will calculate this and more for you so no worries and well get to that sooner or later in this guide as well. In the ETOPS section of the OFP PFPX generates, the fuel requirements at the critical point(s) (CRP) are presented, alongside the CRP(s) coordinates and other information of use to the crew. Three scenarios are analyzed and fuel data is given for all of them. Past that critical point, you are closer to your second ETOPS alternate, and because all good things come to an end, sooner or later you will be within 60 minutes of at least one adequate airport again and your ETOPS segment ends.

CEILING MINIMA CALCULATION VISIBILITY MINIMA CALCULATION CROSSWIND

200ft Charted minima+400ft ETOPS Regulations

1200m Charted minima+1500m ETOPS Regulations

600ft 2700m

600ft 3000m

Max crosswind component

38kts600ft = 600ft(min) 2700m < 3000mETOPS PLANNING

MINIMA ILS 20 BIKFETOPS PLANNING

MINIMA ILS 20 BIKF

However, in this example I am assuming none of the other airports within the 180 minutes rule would be suitable because of weather etc. Normally the minima for BIKF ILS02 would be 600-200=400ft on ceiling and 3000-1000=2000m on visibility (second column in the table on the previous page). I will be honest here and admit that I put crosswind up here because it looks nice on the page... and because you are actually required to consider it together with any forecast gusts. The maximum crosswind limitation comes straight out of the FCOM and mine reads:

Maximum demonstrated takeoff / landing crosswind component: 38 Knots

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ETOPS EXIT POINT EEP, which is referenced in the PFPX map as (EXIT) and is part of the OFP as well, with its coordinates etc.

You might have more than one ETOPS segment in your flight, more than two ETOPS alternates, two or more critical points depending on the number of alternates etc. All of the above apply the same.

FLIGHT PLANNING AND ETOPS IN PFPX AND THE PMDG 777LR

The reason why you probably downloaded this for starts here. I do hope that you read the above in order to make more sense of what PFPX is calculating and the information it is presenting you with. PFPX is an amazing piece of software, introducing unprecedented realism in flight planning for desktop flight simulation. The manual it ships with assumes you knew how to do it properly in the first place, which it is not usually the case (guilty as charged!). The manual explains how PFPX works without much detail into actually learning how to approach flight planning using it. Here is how I do it, covering the process planning to integrating that information into that shiny CDU of your brand new 777.

FLIGHT # BA215 CALLSIGN BAW21GDEPARTURE EGLL SCHEDULED AT 1700Z DESTINATION KBOS ESTIMATED ARRIVAL AT 0005Z

The map below is an overview of great circle direct path from EGLL to KBOS showing the 60 minutes, 120 minutes and 180 minutes areas for the 777. We will be operating under ETOPS 180 and as you can see we can probably take our pick among the North Atlantic Tracks because chances are well be well within our limits with any them, which would not be the case if we were on ETOPS120.

The map is generated by Great Circle Mapper. You do not need to do this. The reason I put it here is mainly to give an overview of the area well be flying over. I do however advise yo to visit their website and play around if you are not familiar with the area you will be flying to.

Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright Karl L. Swartz. www.gcmap.com

GENERAL FLIGHT INFORMATION

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Lets fire up PFPX and start building our route to Boston.

On the left is my flight schedule. It includes flights operated by British Airways in the 747 and 777. It shows me upcoming departures to be scheduled. Our flight today is part of that schedule. It is not required for you to add a schedule to plan a flight. You can just as well plan a non scheduled flight by clicking on the *New button in the ribbon.

I have toggled westbound tracks and winds aloft to show on the map here to get an idea of the general situation in terms of winds. In the next page we through each section and explain what is what.

CLICK ON PLAN FLIGHTWe are now required to enter information in regards to our flight.

BUILDING OUR ROUTE

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ENTER FLIGHT INFORMATION

ENTER AIRCRAFT INFORMATION

ENTER PAYLOAD INFORMATION

ENTER FUEL INFORMATION

These are pretty much self explanatory. It is important to get the runway right as per the runway in use. PFPX might choose the wrong runway in the box. You make your best judgment. As for the landing runway, you do the same. If I would depart at the shown time, I would arrive in Boston with night noise abatement procedures ongoing and 33L would be the preferred runway. Again, this info might change during your flight and is not of real importance other than indicating you what to expect. Taxi out and taxi in time might be important. If you have a slot in the middle of Cross the Pond , you can expect some longer taxi out times than the 10 minutes. You adjust accordingly and again make your best judgment. It will influence fuel predictions for taxi fuel. Check your STA (Scheduled Arrival Time) so that you can have that information at hand when looking at weather forecast or as it is the case with Boston, if special noise abatement procedures apply during the time frame of your arrival etc.

Choose your aircraft from the drop down box. The rest of the fields will fill automatically with information you have in your aircraft database entry. Nothing else to add here.

I click random until it comes up with a payload that is not too light. This is a question of preference. You can put the numbers in manually etc. This is not something I do. I just go with a random payload. In this case my ZFW is 204480Kg. I take note of this so that I later load the same weight in the payload section of the PMDG 777LR FS Actions menu in the FMC.

Make sure the fuel policy is the one applicable to you. In my case it is. If flying for a popular event on VATSIM make entries for extra fuel, hold time etc. by using your best judgment on what the situation might be in terms of traffic at your departure and destination.

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BUILD YOUR ROUTE You can choose the drop-down list and click Find. It will get you a route in a blink of an eye, although it maybe not be the best one. Here is what it came up with for me:

CPT3G CPT UL9 GAVGO UL18 DIKAS UL9 SLANY DCT GISTI DCT MALOT NATD VIXUN N114C ALLEX DCT ENE OOSHN2

Question 1: Is it routing through one of the current North Atlantic tracks? Yes. It doesn't always do that, so it is good to check.

You can skip on the following, but the route to be more realistic and not just go with what PFPX come up with, I would suggest you read on.

Question 2: Is it using one of the standard routes from EGLL to the track entry point?Track entry point is MALOT. Departing from EGLL, the Standard Route Document (SRD) for the UK & Ireland the following routes are available:

CPT UL9 KENET UN14 PEMOB UN24 SLANY DCT MALOTUL9 KENET UN14 PEMOB UN30 BANBA DCTAnswer: No. Needs correction.

Question 3: Is it using one of the North American Routes when exiting the track?Answer: Yes. N114C (VIXUN DCT ALLEX).

Question 3: Is this route wind optimized?

Maybe, but it looks on the map like I am chasing the strongest headwinds. I would normally try each of the tracks individually and compute to see what they give me in terms of fuel and time en route. In this case I will just go with D. I suggest you experiment with different routes/tracks. It gives you a good idea of how the software works and makes better and faster in using it.

We will correct the route on our next page and proceed with setting up the rest in PFPX.

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CORRECT YOUR ROUTE Click on the drop-down arrow in the route block, and choose Edit:

You will be presented with the following:

You edit the route in the bottom for the section from EGLL to KBOS as shown to comply with the SRD:

PFPX will notify you that the routes as been manually modified and you need to build it. Click the Build button in the ribbon, and then click apply. We are not going to proceed with setting up the take off, en route and destination alternate. We will tackle a wind optimized route a little later on because we cannot compute a flight without our alternates and ETOPS set up.

CPT3G CPT UL9 GAVGO UL18 DIKAS UL9 SLANY DCT GISTI DCT MALOT NATD VIXUN N114C ALLEX DCT ENE OOSHN2CPT3G CPT UL9 KENET UN14 PEMOB UN24 SLANY DCT MALOT NATD VIXUN N114C ALLEX DCT ENE OOSHN2

ALTERNATES BLOCK (If you skipped the last two pages, this is where you need to get back reading)

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ETOPS PLANNING

Alternates required is 1 for this flight priority stays at Min Fuel but since I only have selected 1 alternate, it not really applicable. Same goes for the 1st and 2nd Alternate boxes.

Take-Off Altn We need one if the conditions at our departure airport allow for a safe take off, but not for a safe landing. In this case I have filled just as an example. We do not really need one on this flight.

Enroute Altn You can leave this blank. If left blank, a standard 5% contigency fuel will be applied to your flight. If you click on it, the map will focus in an area with a red circle around it. Select an airport within that area, and your contigency fuel will drop to 3% for this flight.

Destination Altn It is what it says it is. In my case it is KJFK. If something goes wrong at KBOS, this where I will be heading. The route box requires you to generate a route from your destination to your alternate. Takea good look at it, because we will put it in our RTE 2 page when we get to the 777, because we'll get there eventually.

On the background, PFPX created the adequate airport list for you. Not that it has not created a list for suitable airports. Go ahead and select the ETOPS rule time that will define your flight. On the drop down box, select ETOPS 180. If it is not there, go to your aircraft database, edit your 777LR so that ETOP180 is available for it (or your set of ETOPS rule time). When editing your aircraft just change the ETOPS scenario name to ETOPS 180, diversion time to 180 minutes and distance to 1320nm. If it is already there, just select it from the drop down menu. Now then, bak those adequates PFPX came up with:

EGLL EIKY [ETOPS SEGMENT] CYYT CYTN KSFMI will go ahead and exchange Kerry (EIKY) with Shannon (EINN). The reason being I am going to use EINN as an ETOPS alternate as well, and I like to keep my flightplan clean from unnecessary clutter. Weather is fine there and so is for St. John's (CYYT). With ETOPS 180 they cover my route nicely.

EGLL EINN [ETOPS SEGMENT] CYYT CYTN KSFMPut EINN in the first box of ETP Airports 1 / Put CYYT in the second box of ETP Airports 1It should look like below, and ETOPS has turned green informing you that the section is complete.

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Here is the map with our current route and ETOPS set up. Back to our list of adequates:

EGLL EINN [ETOPS SEGMENT] CYYT CYTN KSFMPFPX has drawn a 60 minute circle around EINN (Shannon, Ireland). That is our last adequate in our outbound leg. Where that 60 minute circles intersects with our path, we are 60 minutes away from any of the adequate airports in our list. This is our ETROP Entry Point. You see it in the map as (ENTRY).

Because EINN was also chosen as an ETOPS sutable airport in this flight, a 180 minutes cricle has been drawn around it as well.

The same goes for St. John's. We have a 60 minutes circle around it as well as a 180 minutes circle.

You will notice that EINN alone would suffice to cover our route in terms of being no more than 180 minutes away from a suitable. Even if we do not have CYYT as an ETOPS alternate, the 180 minutes circle around EINN intersects the 60 minutes circle around CYYT. However, it is safer and logical to have at least two ETOPS alternates and our critical point will be closer to the middle of our route.

We can compute our flight now, however, we need to visit the Speed/Altitude block as well. When cleared on North Atlantic Tracks, it will usually be at a specified Mach and altitude, and you are expected to keep that speed and altitude along.

I put in constraints so that PFPX doesn't build a plan with the assumption that I will step climb along the track. It is possible to step climb on the tracks, but I prefer to plan for a constant speed in the North Atlantic. You now Compute the flight and have a look at the results.

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The previous section was written two days before this one. Today we are still flying to Boston, but because North Atlantic Tracks change twice a day, so does our route for the day. So we will very briefly go over the process again, but before doing that, let's make sense out of the North Atlantic Track system so that we can properly cross to the other side.

Flights from Europe to North America will usually route over the North Atlantic region. There is a lot of action going on in the area in real world, and with the release of the PMDG 777, so does on VATSIM.

What makes the North Atlantic region different?

No radar coverage to assist with separation. No nearby radio navigation aids to assist with... well, navigation. Communications are done via HF radio (because you are out of VHF communications range)Those are the things that dictate procedures and while the region may be special for a lot of other things as well, as far as we as virtual pilots are concerned, that's about it.

Since the area is busy, that lack of radar coverage is an issue that is addressed by creating specific tracks connecting the two sides of the pond. Traffic is then directed in those tracks, at specified flight levels and speeds depending on the flight plan and the clearance you receive. I will outline some general NAT information below:

Shanwick Center (EGGX) and Gander Center (CZQX) publish the North Atlantic Track message with the current available tracks.

Tracks are published twice a day. Their exact routing is dictated mainly by the jet stream. The purpose is to have tracks that minimize headwind when flying Westbound and maximize tailwind when flying Eastbound.

They have validity periods, and for Westbound (Europe to North America) tracks that is: 11:30z-19:00z The validity period for Eastbound (North America to Europe) tracks is: 01:00z-08:00z The validity period is related to the time you cross 030W. Vertically the NAT area is from FL2850 to FL420. This is important to note because in case of an emergency or deviation beyond specified limits, you will descend to FL280 or below to avoid this altitude band.

Besides the tracks themselves, standard routes to and from the tracks are generally published to assist with the traffic flow. In the UK and Ireland, these are part of the Standard Route Document (SRD). We mentioned this as we planned our flight earlier. In North America they part of the North American Routes system (NARs). Information on where to get them can be found at the end of this document in the Resrouces and Useful Links section.

In the next page we go over the NAT message for today and I will try to explain what is what. You are after all required to read it as part of your preflight routine.

NORTH ATLANTIC TRACKS

Up to this moment we have been doing the dispatchers job. We have:

- Entered all aircraft information, including payload in PFPX.

- Picked a NAT and built our route around it, with a slight modification to respect standard routes out of Heathrow heading for the oceanic entry points.

- Checked PFPX list of adequate airports.

- Reviewed weather and picked up ETOPS alternates for our flight.

HEADING FOR THE FLIGHT DECK... in a moment or two

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North Atlantic Tracks - Last updated at 2013/09/21 08:00 GMTThe following are active North Atlantic Tracks issued by Shanwick Center (EGGX) and Gander Center (CZQX). Any NOTAMs pertaining to these tracks (waypoint changes, procedures) will be found by searching the ARTCC NOTAMs under Shanwick Center (EGGX), Gander Center (CZQX), Boston Center (KZBW) and New York Center (KZNY).

There is not much to get from the header. The "last updated at" info is good to have a look at just to check. It shows you who prepares it and where to look for NOTAMs pertaining to the tracks. Following is the begining of the message itself.

The remarks... from Gander, with love:

201259 CZQXZQZX (Published on the 20th at 1259z by Gander Center, just the date and time is there, month is omitted)(NAT-1/2 TRACKS FLS 320/400 INCLUSIVESEP 21/0100Z TO SEP 21/0800Z (Validity time, related to the time you cross 030W)PART ONE OF TWO PARTS-T YAY HECKK 53/50 55/40 56/30 57/20 SUNOT KESIX (The track ID (T) with its routing)EAST LVLS 320 330 340 350 360 370 380 390 400 (The Eastbound flight levels available on this track)WEST LVLS NIL (The Westbound flight levels available on this track. Nil as this is an Eastbound track)EUR RTS EAST NIL (European routes available for this track)NAR N125A N129B- (The North American Routes related to this track)

(it continues with the rest of the Eastbound tracks published by Gander, which are read as above. You may have different parts of the track message published at different times by Gander. The actual date and time published is repeated in each section where that is the case.)

REMARKS:1.TMI IS 264 AND OPERATORS ARE REMINDED TO INCLUDE THE TMI NUMBER AS PART OF THE OCEANIC CLEARANCE READ BACK. (Here is where you given the TMI, along with a nice reminder)2.ADS-C AND CPDLC MANDATED OTS ARE AS FOLLOWS TRACK V 360 370 380 390 TRACK W 360 370 380 390 END OF ADS-C AND CPDLC MANDATED OTS (Not applicable on VATSIM since it is not integrated into any of the pilot clients yet. It can be simulated via the use of hoppie.nl free ACARS application when Shanwick or Gander have "CPDLC in use" in their ATIS info)3.CLEARANCE DELIVERY FREQUENCY ASSIGNMENTS FOR AIRCRAFT OPERATING FROM KENKI TO TALGO INCLUSIVE: KENKI TO GRIBS 132.02(It continues with the rest of the frequencies. Not applicable on VATSIM.)4.EIGHTY PERCENT OF GROSS NAVIGATIONAL ERRORS RESULT FROM POOR COCKPIT PROCEDURES. ALWAYS CARRY OUT PROPER WAYPOINT PROCEDURES.(We'll cover this shortly)5.OPERATORS ATTENTION IS DRAWN TO AIC 40/12 RE DATALINK MANDATE INITIATIVE6.OPERATORS ATTENTION IS DRAWN TO NOTAM A0017/13 RE CHANGE IN NEW YORK CENTER OCEANIC CLEARANCE PROCEDURES.- (You are reminded of some technicalities and we will cover some of them as we go along)END OF PART TWO OF TWO PARTS)Truly yours, Gander.

The part of the message related to Westbound tracks is read in the same way and contains information laid out exactly the same way. It is published by Shanwick. In the remarks section Shanwick also has a reminder for the strategic lateral offset procedure (SLOP), which we will accomplish during our flight as well.

The need for position reportsBecause there is no radar coverage, we need to communicate our position to the controllers at each waypoint so they can do the math and keep us separated over the Atlantic. There are two ways to do this:

- Via Controller Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC). Our airplane will give the controller Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS) information.

- We call on the frequency as tell them where we are, how high, how fast, when do we expect to get to the next waypoint and where we'll be headed after that.

The later is most common on VATSIM, with the first being possible as long as you are using the ACARS addon mentioned earlier and the controller has "CPDLC in use" in their ATIS info.

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END OF PART ONE

This is where we finish the dispatcher's job and get ready for the captain's job in the next part.

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2013 Belisar [email protected]

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Etops