Easy Jet Flight Plan

[Grasscarp]

Just got in from a delayed Easy Jet flight back from Pisa to Gatwick. The 45 minute late arrival at Pisa was blamed on not being able to get a flight plan if I heard the Captain's explanation correctly. I am intrigued as to what caused this. Unless this was not the whole story!

[student88]

When easyJet file the flight plan with CFMU in Brussels they'll check it before they acknowledge it. If there is a mistake (the aircraft is planned to fly down an airway which is closed etc) then the central flow management unit will reject the flight plan. Sometimes it's quite hard to find an alternative route which could have caused the dealy. It's been known for CFMU to close the wrong airway which can cause mania when trying to find alternative routes.

[JB007]

It's more than likely it was just lost at the local ATC unit. I've called for start many times and as far as my own Ops department is concerned our FPL has been acknowledged and filed by BRU but it doesn't appear in the local tower!

Or the crew's paperwork was missing...

I would also imagine (someone in LTN can correct me) that easyJet Ops use RPL's, Repetitive Flight Plans (Same route, time and date) and software today is advanced enough to avoid what Student88 is suggesting..

[student88]

Yes - Egyptian airports often being a nightmare when it comes to the tower having a copy of the plan! However some repetitive flight planning programmes can have their flaws - not being able to match flight numbers with flight plan numbers etc. The joys of Ops!

[ReadyToGo]

Could it be a "load plan" rather than flight plan? Last time I flew Easyjet we were delayed because of "Loadplan" indiscrepancies. Talking to the crew afterwards, in some places they really struggle with Loadplanning, and thats one of the areas where crews do not take any chances.

[OpsSix]

A problem with the loadplan would be to do with baggage and where it is loaded. This is down to the Dispatcher and loaders to sort out.

[Grasscarp]

I have received some information that confirms it was the paper copy of the actual flight plan that was the problem, rather than a CFMU rejection or ATC problem. My curiousity was aroused due to being in that area of operations for the past twenty years and never having heard it being the cause of such a long delay before! Thank you to those who responded.

[vipero]

The problem with ATC fpl's dissemination in Italy is that ATC depts do not get them straight from the CFMU, but have the fpl's loaded from an office in Rome that receives them from Brusselles and make a re-launch in the ENAV system (it's called AODO if I'm not wrong).

Sometimes it happens that they loose something...

[Grasscarp]

From what I have been told it was the systems for downloading a copy of the flight plan that were not working, so nothing to do with ATC on this occasion.

[one post only!]

45 mins is a long delay due to not being able to get a flight plan out of the system but maybe the crew simplified!

Maybe there was a 10/15 min delay in getting the paperwork due to I.T issues (we all have them!). Therefore they missed a slot or the ground crew had to dispatch another aircraft first delaying your aircrafts departure.
Arriving late into Pisa means that instead of being number 1 you are now number 5 on approach and therefore slowed down really early adding another 5 mins on to the flight time. A small delay soon snowballs into a bigger one through no fault of your own!

I am sure the crew were being honest and there was no sinister cover up going on!

[j140870]

MIght have something to do with that fancy new flight planning system from Germany they just switched to.

:ugh:

[Lauderdale]

Have they switched? Since when? I wonder how that change over is going with the type of operation (size) they have!

[speedbird_481_papa]

JB007 I was talking to a captain the other day at work and certainly the EZY A319s (not sure about the B737s) do have the saved flightplans in their MCDus, so all they need to do is load them up and hit send, to aid in their quick 25 minute turn-arounds.

[one post only!]

The routes are all stored in the box in both aircraft types but without a paper flight plan you don't know which route (of the several sometimes) you are supposed to fly. Hence the possibility of a delay if you cannot get the paperwork.

EZY switched to LIDO from Jepps flightplans a month or so back. The new flightplans were tested at a couple of bases before the whole network went over. The switch itself was fine and went over without any real problems. Few grumbles about the new flightplans though...........!

[groundhogbhx]

From personal experience I could easily believe the time taken, last minute change of route requiring busy ops office to add sending new plogs to where ever required add in printer problems meaning someone has to find a printer that works before it finally gets on-board and fuel figures get checked. A bad day at the office can become a major delay before you know it, and that's before you ask for more fuel only to be told it will be a couple of hours because you are now off schedule.:*