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XPlane Low Fuel Use

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 2:22 am
by Cat
Question: If our XPlane pilots plan for the proper fuel burn to match real world and they land "heavy" due to XP not using the correct fuel amount, will the new FSA tool simply move fuel from "remaining" to "used" at the end of the flight? They would not be intentionally cheating and some do not have the skills or desire to go messing around with XP11 cfg files.

Re: XPlane Low Fuel Use

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 4:58 am
by joefremont
Hey Sam,

Interesting idea. Its the, "I know my AC does not use enough fuel, FSA client please fix it for me" feature.

I suppose it would not be too hard, we already can calculate an expected fuel usage, we show it in the flight report but its not a very sophisticated formula, it does uses a linear regression formula on previous aircraft flights and the max fuel/max range ratio to figure out how much fuel 'should' be used. If this option is on then at landing the difference would be removed from the current tanks before calculating landing weight.

Option two: A Dump fuel button that would simply remove enough fuel from the tanks so that your below the landing weight, this would avoid the 'landing weight exceeded' issue but not the issue where AC don't use enough fuel.

Re: XPlane Low Fuel Use

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 1:20 pm
by Cat
Option 2! That was the first thing I asked the pilot in question - does your software have a working fuel dump? That would be the easiest way to do it and it would have the benefit for others who grab a nice tailwind then have to "hold at the marker" circling while they burn off fuel to get down to MLW.

Re: XPlane Low Fuel Use

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 5:56 pm
by joefremont
Option 2 is good for the pilot who is making a longer flight and started at MTOW, it won't help those pilots who are doing flights where they start below MLW but know there AC's fuel usage is way off but don't know how to fix it.

Maybe we add a settings in the options that is something like "Dump average fuel usage" that when the 'fuel dump' button is pressed it lowers the fuel on board to the lesser of MLW or to what ever average fuel usage would require.

Not very happy with the label "Dump average fuel usage" and will need to come up with something clearer.

Re: XPlane Low Fuel Use

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2019 3:11 am
by Cat
"FUEL DUMP" then a window pops up type in lbs/kg to dump much like cargo CHANGE tab when over MTOW and yes if they are not paying attention, just like the real world they can empty their tanks and be screwed LOL :shock:

It could work something like: click FUEL DUMP tab on Client - window opens ENTER WEIGHT OF FUEL TO DUMP - then another tab DUMP NOW

It would just have to be calibrated to match the user's preference of kg or lb or that could end up being awkward and/or ugly :roll: