Configuring the Aircraft
Now that you have planned your route and fuel requirements for the flight from WAJJ-KAS-NOI-NOI-WAVA-WAJJ, it’s time to calculate weight and balance. The fuel calculations you made from the NAV Tab are fed to the W&B Tab for each leg, and the gross weights you come up with on the W&B Tab will be used for takeoff and landing performance calculations. The W&B tab will look different for each aircraft type, but the principles are all the same. To follow along with this training module, your iPad still needs to be logged into the Demo version of FlightSpan™.
Start by tapping on the W&B Tab.
FlightSpan™ will switch to the active leg (in this case, Leg 1) automatically regardless of which leg you have selected on the NAV tab. A brief reminder will appear.
Fuel from the NAV tab and crew from the DFR tab are prefilled.
Note: Changing fuel on the W&B tab changes fuel on the NAV page too – this is not just a weight and balance tool, it’s a flight planning tool!
Start by configuring the aircraft how you want it using the quick configure buttons, and install or remove seats, aux tanks, and cargo pods. Go ahead and add the cargo pods on all legs.
Since you have cargo and three passengers departing WAJJ, and since you might have passengers who want to come in from NOI, configure the aircraft with the front row and two seats in the tail by tapping their respective buttons. Try a couple different configurations first to see how it works.
In the PC6, when you tap on Seats in the tail, a configuration chart will pop up.
From here you can also make custom configurations. Make sure you finish with just the front row and two seats in the tail.
From the weight and balance page, you can also add and fill seats with a short tap. Try adding and filling a seat by tapping on an empty square.
Or you can add just the seat with a long tap on the seat and selecting Done; or remove it with a long tap and selecting Out. Go ahead and remove the extra seat you just added.
You can also add or remove aircraft equipment (if enabled) with the Equipment button.
Tap in the On Board column to add or remove individual items; use the Add All or Remove All buttons to add or remove all equipment; and use the Reset button to return to the standard configuration. Click on the blue column headers for different sort orders. When you have the desired configuration, tap Done.
Decide which leg(s) you want the change to apply to – All Subsequent and All Previous Legs include the current leg.
The change in weight due to the equipment change is listed on the button. Go ahead and return the equipment configuration to standard.
With each configuration change, your configuration weight and CG are displayed under the aircraft number, and the gross weight is updated.
In the next lesson you will learn how to load passengers.
Video Version
