FS Flight Calculator - Version 1.6.5
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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. This version provides support for DST (Daylight Savings Time) 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. If the flight time passes midnight the arrival day is incremented by one day. The Arrival Time
takes into account both the Departure and Destination Airport's local Time Zone and the arrival time is displayed in
local time with the appropriate Time Zone offset applied. (This Time Zone offset is displayed in the Status Bar at
the bottom of the main screen.)
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. Select "Enable Routes" from the "Preferences" menu to enable this option.
This version includes a generic set of Airport and Aircraft text files. The Edit Menu option allows you to edit
both these files to add/edit additional aircraft or airports as desired. In addition a utility program is included
to allow the user to create a new aircraft.txt file.
Start Up
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The included modified Airports.txt and generic Aircraft.txt are loaded when FS Flight Calculator is started. 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 the Aircraft file use the options shown in the File menu to browse for a different
file.
Menu Options
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File Menu Options:
Create New Aircraft Text File This option will run a utility program that will create a new aircraft.txt file.
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.
Print Route Times This option will send the Route Times text file to the printer.
Exit - Closes FSX/FS9 AI Flight Calculator
Edit Menu Options:
Edit Airport Text File - Opens the airport.txt file for edit in Notepad.
Edit Aircraft Text File - Opens the aircraft.txt file for edit in Notepad.
Edit Arrival Times Text File - Opens the Arrival Times text file in Notepad for editing.
Edit Route Times Text File - Opens the Route Times text file in Notepad for editing.
Preferences Menu Options:
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.)
Display Flight Summary in UTC Time This option controls how the Departure and Arrival times are
displayed in the Flight Summary window on the main screen. If this option is selected the Departure
and Arrival times will be shown in UTC time, otherwise the Departure and Arrival times will be shown
in Local time for the currently selected TimeZone.
Select Airports by Name - This option allows you to select the departing and destination airports by name
rather than by ICAO. A popup screen will present you with a list of Countries, then States/Provinces, and
finally Cities. When the departing airport has been chosen the process is repeated for the destination airport.
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.)
Enable Routes This option is used when you want to create a route consisting of several individual flight legs.
When creating routes you will notice the following changes:
1. The background colour of the Departure and Arrival combo boxes changes to from light blue to pink as
a reminder that the Route option has been selected.
2. The Arrival Times text file is replaced by the Route Times text file.
3. After the first leg as been calculated when you click on the Departure combo box the destination
from the previous leg will be selected as the departure airport for the new leg and the departure time
will be the previous legs arrival time plus 60 minutes. A pop-up screen will display the arrival date
and time for the previous leg and the suggested departure date and time for this new leg. You can
change the date and time if desired or simply click on OK to accept the date and time as shown.
4. The route leg number will be added to the data stored in the Route Times text file. (i.e. Leg 1, Leg2, Leg 3 etc.)
Help Menu Options:
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.
There are two methods available for selecting airports. The default method allows you to select the airports
by clicking 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.
You can also choose to select the airports by name rather than by ICAO. To use this method select the option
Select Airports byname in the Preferences Menu. Now when you click on the airport list box a popup screen
will be presented showing a list of Countries. After selecting the Country of departure, you now select the
Province or State and then finally the city of departure. This process is then repeated for the destination
airport.
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.
After the arrival time has been calculated and displayed a one-line summary of the flight is displayed on the
main screen.
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
September 2011
Copyright and Distribution
==========================
This program is released as Freeware. Copyright (C) DigiWest Enterprises. 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.
