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Aircraft and fuel

An aircraft profile holds the performance numbers OpenVFR uses for leg times, climb and descent, the vertical profile and fuel. Pick one for your route to get a fuel plan and an accurate profile. Without one the app still plans the route, but it cannot tell you fuel or realistic climbs.

Managing aircraft

Section titled “Managing aircraft”

Open the aircraft list from the planning panel. You can:

  • Create a new aircraft, or duplicate an existing one as a start.
  • Edit or delete (with a confirmation step).
  • Select the aircraft used for the current route. Tap again to deselect.
  • Import from a POH: upload the performance pages as a PDF and the app proposes values. Fields it could not find are flagged with a ?: always check those against your own documentation. Importing needs an account and sends the document to a cloud service for extraction.

Profiles sync between your devices when you are signed in.

The fields

Section titled “The fields”

All speeds are indicated airspeed (IAS) in knots, fuel is in litres.

Identity

  • Name, Registration (for example SE-ABC), ICAO type (for example C172).
  • Category: single engine piston, multi engine piston, microlight/ULM, gyroplane, helicopter, touring motor glider, or glider. The category gives sensible defaults and the right silhouette on the chart.

Cruise

  • Cruise altitude: the typical level, used when a leg has none.
  • Cruise IAS: used for leg times and the wind triangle.
  • Takeoff speed: ground speed at which the aircraft lifts off. It drives automatic start and stop of flying mode and flight-log detection. Leave 0 to use the category default. See Flying mode and alerts.

Fuel

  • Burn (L/h) at cruise.
  • Max capacity (L), usable.
  • Taxi / T/O (L): start, taxi and takeoff roll.
  • Reserve LDG (L): fixed landing reserve.
  • Holding (min) at cruise burn.
  • Diversion (min) at cruise burn. Default 30.
  • Contingency (%) of the en-route fuel.

Climb and descent

  • Service ceiling, rate of climb at sea level and at ceiling, climb IAS, optional climb fuel burn.
  • Descent rate (positive number), descent IAS, optional descent fuel burn.
  • Without these the whole trip is treated as cruise.

Glide

  • Best glide IAS and glide ratio (for example 30 for 30:1). Used to show which aerodromes are reachable in a glide (see Aerodromes and briefing).

The fuel plan

Section titled “The fuel plan”

For a route with an aircraft the plan lists:

Item What it is
Taxi / start Fixed amount from the profile
Climb, cruise, descent En-route fuel by phase, with the time in each
Contingency The percentage of en-route fuel
Holding Holding minutes at cruise burn
Diversion Diversion minutes at cruise burn
Landing reserve Fixed amount from the profile
Min required Sum of all of the above
Available Maximum capacity of the aircraft

The plan uses true airspeed at each leg’s altitude and the effective wind of each leg, so its times match the route table. Climb and descent distance is taken off the cruise distance. If Min required exceeds Available, the pre-flight check warns you.

The fuel plan is a planning aid. Compare it with your POH, weigh and balance, and company or national requirements.