ATR 72-500 Fuel Planner Utility

Current Version: 1.1.1 Released: April 15, 2005

ATR72FP is a fuel planning and boarding utility for Microsoft Flight Simulator. It is specifically designed to work with the ATR 72-500 from Flight1, but it should work well for other ATR 72 aircraft provided they have the same operating limitations and fuel tank capacities.

This simple utility is intended to be run just after you configure your aircraft for passengers and cargo using the Flight 1 configuration manager utility. (ATR72FP can read the total payload weight directly from the aircraft if MSFS is running.) You then enter a few variables about your trip, such as total distance, distance to your alternate airport, and planned cruising altitude. You can also enter the amount of fuel you wish to have on board for taxi, holding, and reserve. The utility will calculate the total fuel required and show how many pounds or kilograms of fuel should go into the wing tanks. Using FSUPIC, you can actually board the fuel with the press of a button. As of version 1.1, you can now generate a printable HTML page of all the values. (Requires internet connection to this site.)

• Values can be entered and displayed in pounds or kilograms.
• Reads payload (crew, passengers and baggage) weights via FSUIPC.
• Calculates enroute fuel burn based on cruise altitude and trip distance.
• Calculates fuel burn to reach alternate airport.
• Calculates increased or reduced fuel consumption due to forecast winds and temperature enroute.
• Allowances for taxi-out fuel burn, holding fuel burn, and minimum landing (reserve) fuel.
• Indicates if any parameters exceed aircraft operating limitations.
• Sets actual fuel levels in your aircraft via FSUIPC.
• Displays commonly used V-speeds based on calculated gross takeoff weight.
• One simple .exe file, no external DLLs or data files required.
• Fully FSUIPC accredited for use with non-registered copies of FSUIPC.
• Generates printable HTML page with all fuel, weight and V-Speed data.

Note: This program is a work in progress. So far, I have only tested it on my system running Flight Simulator 2004 and FSUIPC 3.4.1.1. Use this software at your own risk. I am not liable for any damage or loss of data resulting from the use of this software.

• ATR72FuelPlanner.exe (148K)

Installation:

Simply save the file to your hard drive in any folder you like. Double click the file to run it.

Note: Flight Simulator with FSUIPC must be running in order for the program to read your payload weights or set your fuel levels. You can still run the program without FSUIPC, but you will have to manually enter your payload weights and manually set your fuel levels in each tank.

After starting up Flight Simulator, run the Fuel Planner. The program will automatically recall the values you were working with the last time you ran it.

First, select the weight units you would like to use, pounds or kilograms, from the dropdown list at the bottom right corner of the window.

Next, select your trip distance, cruising altitude, distance to your alternate airport, and cruise altitude for the flight to the alternate, from the dropdown boxes in the upper-left corner of the window. Choose the option that matches your trip the closest, rounding up.

Next, enter the average forecast winds during the enroute portion of your trip. Select "Headwind:" or "Tailwind:" as appropriate. The program will calculate the increased or reduced air miles that will be traveled as a result of the winds. Also enter the forecast enroute temperature.

Next, press the "Read Payload Weight" button. This will read your current settings for passenger and baggage weights via FSUIPC. The value should appear in the list of weights along the right side of the window. Alternatively, you can manually enter the total weight of passengers and cargo in the box provided.

Next, enter values for taxi fuel, holding fuel, and reserve fuel. Reference the ATR documentation for good values to use here. You can enter only whole-pound or whole kilogram amounts here, with no commas or decimal points.

At this point, you've entered all the information that is required. Each time you change a value, the program recalculates the required fuel and resulting weights. If any value exceeds the operating limitations for the selected aircraft, it will be shown in red. The resulting fuel distribution among the wing tanks will be shown in the boxes superimposed over the aircraft image at the top of the window.

When you are satisfied with the fuel load, press the "Board Fuel" button to actually set the levels in each wing tank.

If you would like to print the data, press the "Print" button. This will send the data to a script on this website which will format the data in HTML, suitable for printing.

That's it! Feel free to (Ross Carlson) with suggestions or comments. Enjoy!

• Add calculations for required runway lengths.

Version 1.1.1 - April 15th, 2005

• Fixed two bugs with incorrect values shown on print page

Version 1.1.0 - February 17th, 2005

• Added print capability
• Placed V-Speeds on black background for better readability

Version 1.0.2b1 (First beta) - December 29th, 2004

• Initial Release