PMDG 737/747 and FsP

[SWAFO]

Drew wrote:
well im going to ask a noob question here....


the Zero fuel weight (for the FMC) is my ZFW excluding or including the passengers and cargo???

also what do i enter for reserves, as im no good with fuel yet?
and also in the cost index what to people usually enter?


im sure Brad could help you with your problems as he flys this plane.

is there no swedish tutorials on avsim?

Alrighty Drew... let me see if I can help.

The zero fuel weight (ZFW) is just as it sounds. It's everything on the aircraft, except for the fuel! That means the empty weight of the
aircraft, PAX, crew, cargo, and anything else that might factor in (besides the fuel). This number is very important, because not only does
it allow for easy planning, however it lets us know if we are at a weight at which we can burn fuel to get below the max landing weight in
an emergency (among other things). There are maximum limits for ZFW in place on ALL aircraft, and these numbers are more strict than
that of the max gross weight, or max takeoff weights (because of the fact that we can't throw people or cargo out of the plane to lower the
weight in an emergency... just the fuel )

Typically, on a VMC day with no need for an alternate, we'll enter 5.0 as the reserve fuel (keep in mind I'm speaking from a SWA specific
standpoint here). Arrival will never be planned with less than 5500LBS of fuel on board. When operating in IMC conditions with a need
for an alternate, the number we enter for reserve fuel in the FMC varies depending on distance to the furthest operational alternate. I've
had reserve fuel be as high as 15,000LBS on one occasion.


Here at SWA, we use 36 for the cost index on ALL of our aircraft.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you've got any more questions!