On 13 Oct 2009 07:30:14 -0700, [email protected] (Ed Finnell) wrote: >Anyway in this day and age TI or HP calculators can do most of >the preflight calculations...
It's not quite that simple. Sure, your TI or HP probably could perform the calculations, but they don't integrate very well with the rest of the system. Once you've figured out your basic payload and center of gravity, now you need to order fuel. How much fuel? You don't want too much, since excess fuel travels at air freight rates. Obviously the outputs from weight & balance become input to your fuel calculations. But fuel requirements are also also a function of weather along the route. So you'd also like to tap into the weather forecasting system as inputs to the fuel system. When you've figured out how much Jet A you need, then you'd like the system to shoot a message to Chevron, Shell or whomever is handling your planes to let them know which plane needs filling, the gate where it will be and how much it needs. There's a lot of pre-flight activity when taken by itself isn't all that difficult to handle manually. But those activities do have complex interactions. (Back in the mid 80s I was involved in the design of a weight and balance application for one of the major carriers. It's a fascinating activity, and at the time the carrier WAS doing it manually!) Some years ago I read an analysis to the effect that generally, computerizing a particular manual process doesn't by itself lead to significant cost savings. But having that process (or at least the data resulting from the process) available in machine-readable format opens up all sorts of possibilities that do save money or increase productivity. Eric -- Eric Chevalier E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.tulsagrammer.com Is that call really worth your child's life? HANG UP AND DRIVE! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
