Feature suggestion: Simulator Time option

SimBrief Dispatch
1

Hi Team

I wanted to suggest an idea and at the same time use this post to gauge interest for this if other wish to express an opinion.

The suggest feature is the option to generate an OFP for real-time/live weather while then expressing the UTC timings for the OFP to a different “simulator time”.

The likely scenario for this is where pilots operate a flight at a different time to real time UTC while also having live weather enabled for dynamic weather feed in their simulator.
Some VAs advice or require pilots to set their simulator to the flight plan time when flying at a different time of the day than what the flight plan says.

To get accurate wind data calculated for the OFP the pilot would be selecting a departure time in SimBrief which corresponds to the real time UTC around which they will depart. But in the simulator they need to set a different time of the day to log the flight with the correct flight plan time through the VA’s ACARS systems. This feature, if enabled for the flight generation, would then express the generated OFP in the stated simulator UTC time.

An example would work as follows:

It’s 1602 UTC. I started my simulator and booked a VA flight which according to the booked schedule would be departing at 0700UTC. I have live weather enabled in my simulator for dynamic weather throughout my flight.

I plan to depart at 1650UTC real time, as that fits the time I need to set my plane up for flight and get everything ready. I now generate the OFP in SimBrief. I would, however, prefer if my SimBrief OFP could be generated to say I have an 0700UTC departure and be based on that UTC time on the “printed” OFP (as that will be my simulator time of departure), while having been calculated on the weather data as of 1650UTC (as that will be my real life time of departure for realistic weather). Having the OFP express my departure in simulator UTC time would then allow me to easily reference any timings to the simulator UTC time during my flight.

Where this matters a bit is that addons like the Self Loading Cargo (SLC) and also the EFB in the Fenix A320 for MSFS do import the expected departure and arrival times into the sim and use it to simulate events happening.
It would also mean the OFP is aligned with the timings in my simulator and I don’t have to manually correct any timing information for the difference between real UTC and simulator UTC.

By default the option could be turned off to set to be simulator UTC = Real life UTC.

Kind regards,
Marek

2

Might be a bit tricky to implement, but it would definitely be useful to some. Might be easier to just have a checkbox for “use current weather irrespective of EOBT” or something like this (you would then have to manually select the time, but you’d always get the latest weather at the time of planning, instead of past/future winds based on the EOBT you selected).

Regards,

Tim

3

This is a feature I would use on pretty much every single flight I make using SimBrief!

Maybe the implementation could be something like this:

  • In the “Edit Flight” window, repurpose the “Historical Weather” field to be “Weather Time Adjust” (title TBR).
  • Keep the current snapshot functionality in that field for those who want to use that.
  • Add a “Weather Time” (title TBR) selector similar to the “Departure Time” selector in the “Flight Info Field”. Provide a check box to “Lock to Departure Time”, default checked. If the check box is unchecked, allow the user to set a time within a suitable time window based on how far out weather forecasts are already available to SimBrief (I am not sure how big that window is, perhaps it is 36 hours into the future so it would make sense to allow for weather time adjustment up to 24 hours later than departure time?).
  • In the OFP, all times are relative to “Departure Time”, except for weather data used for flight planning, weather data used for alternate availability, wind and Sig WX data provided in weather charts, and weather data provided in the WX list, which are all relative to “Weather Time”.
  • Add a Dispatch Remarks entry to the effect that " “Weather Time” has been adjusted (+/- Hours Minutes) relative to “Departure Time” " if the “Lock to Departure Time” checkbox is unchecked.
  • TBD if the NOTAM bulletin should be relative to “Weather Time” or “Departure Time”; I would probably prefer for it to be relative to “Weather Time” but can see pros and cons with both.