FS Flight Calculator - Version 1.5
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Overview:
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The FS Flight Calculator will calculate arrival times for both FSX and FS9 (FS2004) versions of Microsoft's Flight Simulator. The program has four input components, Local Time Zone, Departing Airport, Destination Airport and the Aircraft to be used for the flight.

The program calculates the distance in miles and nautical miles between the two FlightSim Airports. Then it reads the Aircraft file and retrieves the speed parameter. Next it divides the distance flown by the Aircraft speed and determines the flight length in hours. The flight length in hours is then added to the Departure time to calculate the Arrival time. (Note: If the flight time passes midnight the arrival day is incremented by one day.)

Keep in mind that these distances and times are based on point to point calculations and do not allow for taxi out, taxi in, start-up times etc. This is referred to as the ETE (Estimated Time en Route). To compensate for this you can input a corrected time period (in minutes) to take into account the time needed for flight preparation (start up, taxi in, taxi out, take off, landing etc.) and this is added to the flight time to calculate the ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival). Routes can be calculated by adding the flight times for each leg of the route to get the total flight time.

Start Up
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The first time FS Flight Calculator is started after installation you will be presented with a Windows "File Open" Dialog window. This will allow you to browse and select the Airport and Aircraft files you wish to use. These files are normally located in your TTools directory. The default files are Airports030528.txt and Aircraft030528.txt. When you exit the program these file locations are saved to file and do not need to be reselected the next time you start the program. If you wish to change either the Airport or Aircraft files use the options shown in the File menu to browse for different files.

Menu Options
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File Menu Options -
Load Aircraft Text File - Displays a Windows Open File Dialog that allows you to browse and select
an Aircraft Text file.

Load Airport Text File - Displays a Windows Open File Dialog that allows you to browse and select
an Airport Text file.

Print Arrival Times – This option will send the Arrival Times text file to the printer.

Exit - Closes FSX/FS9 AI Flight Calculator

Preferences Menu Options
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Copy ETE UTC Arrival Time to Clipboard - If this option is selected the estimated UTC time en route (ETE)
is put into the Windows Clipboard. If you are editing a FlightPlans text file you can paste the arrival
time directly into the file. (Note: When this option is selected the background colour of the ETE UTC
Time box will change from light grey to light pink. This allows you to know at a glance if the option
is selected.)
Copy ETA UTC Arrival Time to Clipboard - If this option is selected the estimated UTC arrival time (ETA) is
put into the Windows Clipboard. If you are editing a FlightPlans text file you can paste the arrival
time directly into the file. (Note: When this option is selected the background colour of the ETA UTC
Time box will change from light grey to light pink. This allows you to know at a glance if the option
is selected.)
Save Flight Leg info to File - If this option is selected all the displayed information is saved in a file
named "Arrival Times.txt". In addition a command button named "Edit Arrival Times.txt" will become
visible on the main screen. When the size of the Arrival Times.txt file exceeds 25K you will be
prompted to delete the file and start a new one.
Display Time Zones - When this option is selected a list of the worldwide Time Zones is displayed. By
default your Local Time Zone is selected when the program starts but if you wish to change the Time Zone
for your flight calculations you can select a new Time Zone from the list. This choice is NOT saved, so
the program will revert back to your Local Time Zone the next time is starts. ( The status bar at the
bottom of the screen displays the chosen Time Zone and the GMT offset.)
Set Corrected Flight Time (min) - This option is used to add a pre-determined amount of time in minutes
that will be added to the calculated Arrival time. This additional time allows for taxi out, taxi in,
take off and landing times to give a more accurate Arrival time. (The corrected Flight Time Minutes is
shown in the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen.)


Help Menu Options
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Help - Displays this document.
About - This option displays an "About" Window showing the program version and other program
information. Email links to the author are also displayed.

Program Information
===================
When FS Flight Calculator is started the Departure Date and Time fields are set to the current system time and date, the Time Zone is set to your system Time Zone (determined by the Windows operating system.) Calculated flight times are added to the displayed departure times to calculate the arrival times, both ETE and ETA. The departure date and time can be set to any time you desire. When you click on the departure Date box a calendar will be displayed allowing you to choose any date desired. To change the time click on the hours (or Minutes) in the Time box and use the up/down arrows to set the desired time.

To select the airports click on the "down" arrow to display the lists. If you know the ICAO you can type it in and the selected airport will be displayed at the top of the list, click on it to set the Departing or Arrival Airports. (You can also use the arrows to scroll through the list). After selecting the Departure and Destination Airports,

selecting an Aircraft and setting the Departure date and time, click on the "Calculate Flight Time" command button to calculate the arrival time.

When the arrival time has been calculated and displayed the Departure and Arrival Airports are swapped. The Arrival Airport will be selected in the Departure list and the Departing Airport will be selected in the Arrival list.

If the "Save Flight Leg info to File" preference is selected a new command button with the caption "Edit Arrival Times" will be displayed. Clicking here will present the Arrival Times text file in Windows Notepad allowing you to view and/or edit the flight info.

Dave Westbury
digiwest2002@rogers.com
digiwest2002@hotmail.com

February 2009

Copyright and Distribution
==========================
This program is released as Freeware. Copyright (C) Dave Westbury. As freeware you are permitted to distribute this archive subject to the following conditions:

The archive must be distributed without modification to the contents of the archive. Redistributing this archive with any files added, removed or modified is prohibited. The inclusion of any individual file from this archive in another archive without the prior permission of the author is prohibited. No charge may be made for this archive other than that to cover the cost of its distribution. If a fee is charged it must be made clear to the purchaser that the archive is freeware and that the fee is to cover the distributor's costs of providing the archive. The authors' rights and wishes concerning this archive must be respected.