fuel calculation

[jimble]

When is an aircraft deemed as "overweight " when it lands. The reason i ask is i just landed a CRJ700 and by the time i arrived at the gate, i was running on fumes. When i fly the A321 i allways seem to have a lots of extra fuel on board. I refer to the estimated fuel burn in the flight planner.
Many thanks.

[lbc1971]

I would consult with the manufacturing companies:

Airbus: http://www.airbus.com/en/aircraftfam...fications.html
Stated max landing weight of the 321: 171,500 lbs (77,8 metric tonnes)

And Bombardier:
http://www.crj.bombardier.com/CRJ/en...Id=700#weights
Stated max landing weight around 67,000 lbs (30,5 metric tonnes)

I've never found the estimated fuel burn in the flight planner to be helpful at all - it almost always underestimate the fuel burn. In order to calculate fuel on board I guesstimate, based on journey length (minus climb, descent and approach), wind direction at cruising altitude, fuel flow per hour (at cruising altitude), and then add fuel for taxi, takeoff and climb, plus 45 min for a possible go-around.

[jimble]

Lars thanks for the superb info, appears i was barking up the wrong tree. Ithought that when the A321 was was fully loaded with fuel, and the default payload, quite a lot of fuel would have to be burned to aviod landing overweight.If i have calculated correctly, i could take off from Dallas Ft worth, and land at Dallas love, full tank of fuel, default payload settings, and still be underweight.

[n4gix]

Yes, you could. However, in real life (TM) no one would ever do that. It costs a lot of money to carry around all that excess fuel weight... ;)

[Kiwi_in_the_sky]

Speaking of fuel calculation, are there any websites out there with accurate info about fuel burn for both GA, and large aircraft?

I'll contribute what I know, a 100hp Cessna 150 will burn about 22 litres per hour :)

[lbc1971]

By the way, if you want somewhat of a challenge (and avoid landing with lots of fuel in the 321), try to fly some of the real world routes.

I found it a challenge to fly the scheduled US Air flight from Charlotte (KCLT) to Seattle/Tacoma (KSEA), with prevailing winds from NW. Full tanks at CLT will eventually be around 4,000 lbs at SEATAC without any Go-Arounds... Which leads to the assumption, that US Airways have restrictions on the payload carried on these 4 daily flights?

/Lars

[claudej1]

I have found the fuel use to be inaccurate for most flight sim aircraft based on the stated range. You can reduce the fuel flow by entering the cfg file. Go to General Engine Data and find the Fuel Flow Scaler. Reducing this number will reduce the fuel flow and increase range.

Claude