Dispatch
After placing a bid on a flight, whether it be through the Schedule Search, Assigned Flights, Tours, or Charter systems, you will find your flight in the 'Dispatch' menu option, under 'Flight Ops'.
On this page, we are going to select our options that we want to be part of the simBrief flight plan.
None of these options need to be filled in. If you leave everything blank, it will still generate a simBrief flight plan for you.
The map shows your departure and arrival airports, as well as the live weather in the area.
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The options section will automatically fill in your Aircraft and Airline Code. You can however, change these options to your liking. Hovering your mouse over the information icons to the left of each section will tell you more information about that particular unit. Once you've filled in all of your preferences, you can click on the yellow gear icon button at the bottom.
To file a manual PIREP, click on the middle blue button at the bottom. Please note that manual PIREPs are only for when smartCARS fails to submit your PIREP automatically.
To delete a bid, you have to double-click on the X button at the bottom. |
Generating a simBrief Flight Plan
After clicking on the yellow generate button pictured above, a pop-up window will appear.
If you're not already logged into simBrief/Navigraph, it will prompt you to do so.
The flight plan generation option is only available to those with a simBrief/Navigraph account. You can create your free account at https://www.simbrief.com
Viewing Your Flight Plan
After successfully generating a flight plan, the crew website will automatically redirect you to the page seen above. Here, your entire flight plan is broken down for you.
The cards on the top-left of the screen show you:
- Aircraft Type
- Flight Number
- Departure Runway
- Arrival Runway
By The Numbers
The 'By The Numbers' section gives you a detailed breakdown of all the different figures needed for your flight. Here you can see your cruise altitude, gross weight, block fuel, etc. At the bottom of this section, is your planned alternate airport, should you need to divert.
| Departure Time | Time of scheduled departure |
| Arrival Time |
Time of scheduled arrival |
| Flight Time | Estimated time enroute |
| Distance | Distance in nautical miles |
| Altitude | Planned cruising altitude |
| AVG Cruise Winds | Average winds at your cruising altitude |
| ISA | The International Standard Atmosphere (ISA) is a static atmospheric model of how the pressure, temperature, density, and viscosity of the Earth's atmosphere change over a wide range of altitudes or elevations. |
| Cost Index/Mach Speed | Used to take into account the relationship between fuel-related costs and time-related costs. With time-related costs, the faster the aircraft is flown, the more money is saved in time costs. / Speed in mach format |
| Block Fuel | Block fuel is the total fuel required for the flight and is the sum of the Taxi fuel, the Trip fuel, the Contingency fuel, the Alternate fuel, the Final Reserve fuel, the Additional fuel and any Extra fuel carried. |
| FMS Reserve | Reserve fuel factored into the block fuel. |
| Min. Takeoff Fuel | The minimum amount of fuel you should have prior to taking off. |
| Zero Fuel Weight | The zero-fuel weight (ZFW) of an aircraft is the total weight of the airplane and all its contents, minus the total weight of the usable fuel on board. Unusable fuel is included in ZFW. |
| Passengers | Total passengers on your flight. |
| Cargo | Total cargo on your flight. |
| Takeoff Weight | Weight of the aircraft at the time of takeoff. |
| Landing Weight | Weight of the aircraft at the time of landing. |
In the top-right corner, is a download dropdown. From here, you can download your flight plan in many different formats and for various aircraft and simulators.
Map
The map will show you a line of your waypoints along your route. The yellow dots are waypoints/fixes, while the larger, purple dots are your Top of Climb (TOC), and your Top of Descent (TOD).
The TOC and TOD shown on the map are just estimates based on your altitude and speed. Please use the FMC in your aircraft for an exact TOC/TOD.
Along the top of the map, you have your Planned Route. Clicking on the route itself will automatically copy the text to your clipboard, so that you can easily paste it within SmartCARS.
Edit Flight Plan - This option will take you to the simBrief OFP options page. You can make changes to your flight plan from this page.
Making changes on this page will not update your briefing on the United Virtual crew site.
Dispatch Release - Clicking on this button will open a pop-up with a text version of the flight plan in more detail. You can always download a copy of this using the download option at the top of the screen. Click anywhere outside of the popup to close it.
METAR Reports & Pre-File Options
At the very bottom of this page you will find METAR reports and Pre-File options.
METAR reports are current when the flight plan is generated. These reports do not auto-update.
The pre-file options are to automatically fill-in flight plans on the various online ATC networks. Clicking on the appropriate button will take you that organizations flight plan page. Most of the information should already be pre-filled for you.