Client refueling walkthrough
Hi Guys,
Just a quick walkthrough for those that have difficulties understanding the refuelling or get a Flight Simulator not started warning.
OK, so what's going on here ? You can clearly see that my flight simulator is running so why is the client not recognising this? The most common problem is that the fsuipc.dll is not in your modules folder, so go take a look and make sure it is. If it is there then there could be another problem, let's go look at the client options ............
OK, I am running FS2004 and the client option is selected for simmconnect. FS2004 does not use simconnect, that is reserved for FSX so you need to change it to FSUIPC or Automatic.
If you use FS2004 or FSX you can leave it in automatic and the client will look for simconnect first and if it can't find it, it will use fsuipc. This is handy if you fly both sims on FSAirlines. When you change the fusipc/simconnect/automatic option you MUST close the client and then restart it for the change to have any effect. Change the option to Automatic, SAVE the change and then close and restart the client.
OK, now we've got that sorted you can look at your flight information if you wish, or if you forget where you are supposed to be flying :lol: . You can see my route and you can see the expected load of passengers, cargo and also how much fuel has been left on the aircraft for me - 'Fuel(tanked): 803kgs'. You will also notice that having started the sim with a default flight, I have 100% fuel currently loaded on the aircraft. I will now select the 'Fly' button to take me to the refuelling screen.
Here, you can see that I am in the 'simple' refuelling mode. The client has compared the fuel currently loaded on my aircraft in the simulator with what is the current fuel amount recorded on the database. It shows the initial fuel (from the database) of 803kgs and has added 3021kgs to give me 3824kgs of fuel (100%). You can see I cannot take that much fuel as I would be 2894kgs overweight. I could leave the fuel at 100% but then I'd have to offload pax/cargo which I don't want to do.
Before we go any further, I want to recommend that you do NOT use simple refuelling mode. Why ? :-
1) It's a pilot's lazy way of refuelling and you should get into the habit of distributing your own fuel where you want it on the aircraft.
2) More importantly, not all aircraft are compatible and recognise correctly the simple method due to multiple fuel tanks, see THIS THREAD.
Using the 'Back' button, go back to the client start page where you can change the options. Uncheck the tick in 'Use simple fuelling method', SAVE the change and select 'Fly'.
In the 'non-simple' refuelling mode you will see a completely different screen. To the left is the information about the initial fuel left from the last flight plus the added fuel that the client detected currently loaded on your aircraft. To the right, the client has shown you where the fuel is distributed. In my example, the centre tanks and exteral tanks are greyed out as they are not fitted on my aircraft. OK, so what if you don't want to add any more fuel above what was left over from the last flight ? You can manually reduce the load in the individual tanks and select 'Fuel Up!' or just select 'Load Initial Fuel'.
Here, this is the result of selecting 'Load Initial Fuel'. You can see that the client has removed the fuel from all of the tanks apart from the main tanks and reduced the amounts in those to the correct figure left over from the last flight. You will also notice that in the simulator the fuel has already been reduced to 21%. Hang on though, I've lost a kilogram of fuel!
The kilogram of fuel was lost due to a rounding of the lbs/kg conversion. If you want it back, add 1 kgs to one of your tanks. You will notice that the fuel amount on the left side of the client changes as you change the amounts in your tanks. Also take notice of the maximum amount that you can load into each tank. OK, so you are happy with that fuel ? Nope, I want a bit more please..........
Here I have added some fuel so that I have 1200kgs onboard. You can see on the lefthand side a summary of what affect that has on the fuel added and the cost of it. I'm happy with that, for now, so I select 'Fuel Up!'
So, I've selected the 'Fuel Up!' button which has taken me here to the 'Confirm Flight' page. You can see that the client is showing I have 1200kgs fuel, have 12 pax, 4219kgs cargo and my fuel in the simulator has incresed. But, I am 270kgs overweight and I need to reduce the payload. I can remove passengers OR cargo to bring me down to MTOW or below by selecting the change button alongside each. Selecting change of Passengers will remove passengers to get to below take-off weight by 102kgs per passenger. Selecting cargo will remove the exact amount of cargo by which you are overweight.
I opted to remove cargo. You can see my take-off weight is the same as MTOW and I am 0kgs overweight. The 'Change' buttons have gone and I can now see the 'Fly' button. Am I ready to fly? No, in hindsight, I decide that I would rather offload a bit of fuel and get some of the cargo back so I need to get back to the refuel page. I can do this by selecting the 'Back' button.
You can see that I reduced the fuel to 1000kg, the simulator fuel has been reduced to 26% and my take-off weight is now .......200kgs light? Why is this? To get back to maximum pax/cargo for 1000kgs fuel you need restart the flight to reset the pax/cargo to what is booked.
To restart the flight you need to use the back button to get back to the first client page and select 'Fly' again. This will reset your payloads to the booked amounts and take you to the refuelling page again. The fuel is already reset to 26% in the sim/1000kgs in the client so select 'Fuel Up!'
OK, so the payload has been reset, the fuel is at 1000kgs but I am still 70kgs overweight. I am going to opt to change the cargo.
Cargo has been reduced by 70kgs, I am no longer overweight, I'm happy with the fuel and i can see the 'Fly' button.
Having selected 'Fly!' I am now at the client 'Flying' page where you can monitor things in flight. You can see that I have correctly got 1000kgs fuel onboard and I'll need to turn my landing lights on before I take-off.
Ending the flight
After I land I can park up and finish the flight by selecting the 'End flight' button which will appear after landing. If I experience any difficulties in flight or find I am running low on fuel, I can press the 'Divert' button. When this button is pressed, it will no longer be visible and I can land at any airport I want. After landing at your diversion airport you will still need to select the 'End Flight' button. The client will send a report back to the database which will have no revenue applied - you don't get the revenue until you finally get to your intended destination. The flight will still show booked status on the website and you and your aircraft will still show at the airport of origin. You will however be able to start the second part of your diverted flight from the diversion airport. Your passenger and cargo amounts will be the same as what you landed with when you diverted, you will NOT be able to increase your payload to the original booked amount.
Please monitor your fuel in the client window as you are lined up on the runway for departure, during your flight and after you have parked up after landing. If your fuel amount has increased you will get penalised.
DO NOT park anywhere near a refuelling point at an airport DO NOT use 'Control + X' if you get a sim message that you are running low on fuel in your selected tanks - change tanks manually. DO NOT use any 'hot key' assignment in FSUIPC which will add fuel. DO NOT use the replay function before you have selected 'End Flight' in the client. DO NOT use the 'Exit' button instead of the 'End Flight' button by mistake - you WILL lose all the flight data and have to refly. DO NOT add any fuel manually after the client has refuelled you.
I hope that was not too long winded, I've tried to keep it as simple as possible. CEO's please point your pilots to this thread if they are having problems
Regards
John