Hi, is there any possibility to take the ETOPS ratings into account for every aircraft? Like selecting the ETOPS regualtions in the Aircraft Editor? If you want to start a flight going from Europe to the Carribean islands, the routing of an A330 should be way more direct than what the API is suggesting.
I’ll give an example: 4Y(OCN) 100 EDDF-MPTO had a flight-time (27.03.2022) of 11:17hrs. When trying to fly the same flight (28.03.2022), SimBrief calculates the flight-time with roughly 12:30hrs!
When scrolling trough the other route suggestions, the flight-time does not get any better…
Hi,
This is not related to ETOPS, instead it has everything to do with wind optimized routings.
Wind optimized routings change each day, so you can’t plan yesterday’s flight using today’s winds and expect the same results. In addition, SimBrief doesn’t perform full wind optimization when it comes to routes, since it operates mostly on a database of real world and previously used user routes.
With all that said, this particular flight planned a route only slightly further south than SimBrief’s (which followed the great circle route more closely). But due to the winds over the atlantic on the 27th, this made a big difference and was well worth it.
Today’s jetstream on the 28th has shifted to the Southeast, making this route no longer optimal. For reference, this appears to closely match the route flown by OCN100 EDDF-MPTO on the 27th:
ULKI1L ULKIG Y180 DIK UN857 GIMER UT300 PON UN872 TERPO UN461 AKEMO DCT LAPEX SEPAL 45N015W 43N020W 38N030W 33N040W 29N046W 27N050W DCT RKDIA M576 OBIKE L335 SCAPA UL335 BOGAL BUSUN1
I planned a flight on SimBrief using that route, with 200 passengers, A330-200, at Cost Index 50, and with the departure date set to Mar 27 at 9:50 UTC (important), and got the same air time as the real flight (11:16).
EDDFMPTO_PDF_1648500547.pdf (877.0 KB)
But using the same settings, and only changing the departure date to the one you used (Mar 28 20:05 UTC), the air time jumps to 11:46. If the route is a bit further north, the air time will be even more as you’ve seen.
So in short, SimBrief’s calculations aren’t wrong. But in this specific case with the jet stream so close, small changes in the route (or departure time) can make a big difference. SimBrief may have better automatic route optimization for winds in the future, but for now it still needs to be done manually if you choose.
Best regards,
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Well described. People usually just throw terms like “ETOPS” without having a proper knowledge about it. Thus, the planning criteria itself (Mimimum Fuel, Minimum Time, Minimum Cost) are completlely detached from ETOPS attributes.