CDU Question
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: on the golf course (Covid permitting)
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In BA on the 747 we tend to put in TOC wind and then a couple or so waypoints later the average wind from the flight plan, much as Old Smokey suggests. That will get rid of 'insufficient fuel' messages and give reasonably accurate ETA and Fuel Remaining numbers right away.
On reaching TOC the PF goes 'head down' and updates the en-route winds/temps as necessary. That can take as little as 5 but as much as 15 minutes (or longer in the early days). The rule of thumb is for entering changes seems to be 30/3, ie input a new value when the wind changes by 30 degrees or 30 knots, or the temp by 3 degrees C.
Personally, I try to put the winds in to the Oceanic Entry point before departure if I can, else I just add the EET to that point when firing off the ACARS Oceanic clearance request in the climb - works well.
Hopefully in the future we will be CPDLC-able and get the flight plan and winds etc uploaded as the 777 does.
On reaching TOC the PF goes 'head down' and updates the en-route winds/temps as necessary. That can take as little as 5 but as much as 15 minutes (or longer in the early days). The rule of thumb is for entering changes seems to be 30/3, ie input a new value when the wind changes by 30 degrees or 30 knots, or the temp by 3 degrees C.
Personally, I try to put the winds in to the Oceanic Entry point before departure if I can, else I just add the EET to that point when firing off the ACARS Oceanic clearance request in the climb - works well.
Hopefully in the future we will be CPDLC-able and get the flight plan and winds etc uploaded as the 777 does.
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: London
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Out of interest, what does your ops manual say?
And not a single captain talked about it during line training. I guess since we don't do long haul, they did not feel like expanding on the subject. Still, with some (few) sectors around the four hour mark, it's worth trying to get it right.P
