Dynamic Boarding Method - Turkish Virtual Documentation Service

Dynamic Boarding Method¶

This method was developed for aircraft software to simulate passenger boarding by gradually weighing itself down. For example, models such as Zibo B738 in XPlane, PMDG B738, FBW A320, and Fenix A320 in MSFS can successfully simulate passenger boarding activity. These and similar planes gradually make the aircraft heavier during boarding; passenger boarding sounds, cabin attendants saying, "Welcome, can I see your boarding card?" They offer a delightful environment with their sounds. The points included in the Dynamic Boarding method and to be considered are as follows:

(a) The plane must be empty before starting the flight! All possible weight must have been unloaded, and the aircraft must not have begun to fill itself.
(b) First, the FDR's boarding process should be started, and then the aircraft's loading process should be started!
(c) After you start FDR boarding, your passenger amount will appear as 0 (zero) on the website and boarding music will not play until the aircraft is filled.
(d) After you command the plane to fill itself, even if it does not start filling immediately (due to stairs approaching the plane, opening the luggage covers, etc.), the FDR remains in standby mode and waits silently without playing music.
(e) This method allows you to take care of flight preparations in the cockpit without dealing with boarding duties. After all, you are a pilot, and loading the plane is not your job. You are responsible for planning and implementing a safe flight. Initiate boarding, command the aircraft to load, and continue your flight planning in the cockpit. When the passengers begin to step onto the plane, you will know that boarding has started when the music starts playing automatically. You will be informed that the aircraft is packed with the "Boarding completed" announcement.
(f) This method can only be selected through SimBrief Options transactions. Therefore, the "Dynamic Boarding" method cannot be used without SimBrief planning.
(g) If the aircraft is suddenly filled for any reason during Dynamic Boarding, or if a load much higher than the average filling rate is suddenly placed on the plane, FDR will disqualify the flight.
(h) While Dynamic Boarding continues, if you suddenly start unloading the plane using its capabilities (using the dynamic unloading process coded to the plane), and if this process occurs at standard rates, the boarding music will stop. The number of passengers and cargo on the aircraft will start to decrease. FDR will not disqualify. Therefore, you can simulate the evacuation of passengers after flight cancellation before you even board the flight.

(i) With the Dynamic Boarding method, your aircraft may load passengers, baggage, and freight separately onto the aircraft. FDR only looks at the plane's weight; it cannot determine whether the aircraft’s weight is cargo, luggage, or cargo weight. Therefore, the number of passengers, baggage status and load status shown on your aircraft's EFB or CDU may be different from the figures shown to you by the FDR. FDR reflects each weight added to the aircraft, within its logic, first to the freight, then to the baggage, and finally to the number of passengers. While doing this, it considers the weight of a passenger and the weight of a passenger's luggage coefficients determined in SimBrief.

(j) In addition to all these, FDR aims to reach those figures by considering the final number of passengers, luggage weight and load amount planned and reported to you in SimBrief. You will receive an audible "Boarding Completed" warning when the passenger, baggage, and cargo numbers are reached. Your aircraft can continue to be loaded after this warning, but your flight will be disqualified if the total payload exceeds the planned weight by more than 15%.

(k) Although your plane should be empty when starting boarding using the Dynamic Boarding method, especially in XPlane, it has been seen that the Zibo B738 plane has a load of 1600 kg even when it is empty. This situation will probably be encountered in other aircraft software as well. It is considered that this weight is kept constant to represent the cabin crew, pilots, their luggage and catering equipment on the aircraft. This weight cannot be relieved no matter what you do. Therefore, although FDR expects to start "Dynamic Boarding" empty, FDR approves starting with some weight for situations similar to the Zibo B738. If there is more weight than the accepted weight, FDR will not begin the flight and will notify you of this situation. While the “FDR Tool” menus are explained, you will be shown how to tolerate this weight in the following chapters.

(l) If there is an accepted amount of weight on the aircraft when starting Dynamic Boarding, FDR will first reflect this to the Freight weight and then to the baggage weight after that weight reaches 100%. If that weight reaches 100%, it will be reflected in the number of passengers. Therefore, as soon as you start Dynamic Boarding, it is customary to see that there are a few passengers on the plane on the FDR's information screen, even though your plane's EFB or CDU says, "The plane is empty". In this case, even boarding music can be started immediately.

(m) If your aircraft can weigh itself and you use the Dynamic Boarding method, it is essential that your aircraft can connect to SimBrief, read the SimBrief plan you created from FDR, and reach the weight and loading status specified there. Although FDR allows a 15% tolerance for the total weight, it disqualifies the flight when this rate is exceeded, and in case of underloading more than 15% of the total weight, it will never give you the "Boarding Completed" warning. If you continue your flight this way, you will be penalised for taking off with insufficient load.

(n) If your aircraft cannot reach the weight specified in the SimBrief plan due to minor differences, provided that it remains within the 15% limit, you must complete the boarding process manually. For this, when the current weight of the aircraft reaches 90% of the SimBrief plan weight, the "Boarding Completed" button opens in both the FDR Tools menu and the Systems menu at the bottom left of the screen. To see this button in the Systems menu, you must expand the menu to the right. When this button is clicked, the "Boarding Completed" announcement will be heard; FDR will now accept that the planned weight has been reached, and you can continue your flight without any problems. If you continue without doing this, FDR will consider that you took off with the missing weight and penalise you. This button has been placed solely to help you.

(o) Dynamic Boarding can be used with all aircraft and simulators that can fill themselves, that is, can gradually become heavier and lose weight.

(p) At the end of a flight completed with Dynamic Boarding, if you wish, you can evacuate your aircraft during the Shutdown phase using the same method. In this phase, called deboarding, you can see that your number of passengers is slowly decreasing on the Turkish Virtual website. Meanwhile, your status will appear as "Deboarding".

(q) Music will also be played during deboarding.

(r) FDR will NOT disqualify you due to reasons such as weight change when you enter the Shutdown phase at the end of a flight completed with the Dynamic Boarding method and completed without any problems. Therefore, after shutting down, it is entirely up to you to send your flight report immediately before evacuating the plane or send it by deboarding. It is possible to unload the entire aircraft load at once while deboarding. To avoid wasting your flight, we recommend that you evacuate the aircraft as soon as possible and send a report, or send a report directly, without subjecting the plane to constant loading and unloading operations, considering that it may be possible to create a CTD (crash to desktop) in the simulator by performing irrational operations in the EFB or CDU.

(s) After completing the flight by using the GSX boarding method, which will be explained in detail below, if the GSX cannot deboard for any reason at the landing airport, you can switch to the Dynamic Boarding method with the "Change Boarding Method" button in the FDR Tools menu. You can perform the deboarding process on the aircraft's EFB or CDU if you wish.