Simviation Forums

  I always make my flight plan and see my navlog before start a flight, although my plane always take so much more fuel than that what the navlog estimate... I'm flying with a 737-400 and I had already search for tips to make my flight more economical but I didn't found anything....  Thanks...

Dienadel:
 Not sure what you are saying here . I fly the 737-400 a lot and recently I down loaded a little program called fuel planer that is for all of the 737 series except for the 200 version. This program allows you put in all the info you need to plan for a fuel load, and is straight forward. I have found that the fuel load this program suggests is usually not far from the one that navlog computes I think the biggest differance is the fuel planer alows to to put in such things as taxi times and apu burn, and reserve fuel. Where the navlog is probably just actual flight time burn. Before I ever had this program I always added extra fuel to allow for the unexpected. And old saying you will hear pilots say is there is no such thing as to much fuel
  Hope this helps

When you are flying do what the real pilots do.

1. Plan enough fuel to fly for 1 hour longer than the actual flight.  Do not just take the minimum, although it is cool to see if you can make it on the minimums.  Your flight plan doesn't take into acount engine start up, taxi, climb, cruise, vectoring around, decent, taxi, shut down.  When flying IFR real pilots plan enough fuel for the destination, plus enough to get you to an alternate or 1 hour of flying.  

2. Don't cruise with the throttle full open.  You will burn up more fuel that way.  Climb to your cruise altitude and set your aicraft up for a cruise speed.  You may not get there faster, but atleast you will better manage your fuel and you will arrive.

Hope you found that a bit helpful.

Yeah as a general rule I take about 1 and a 1/2 more fuel than the navlog tells me to. It considers the fuel usage as if you were cruising straight away.
The climb takes a large ammount of fuel, but in cruise the navlog is pretty close to the actual ammount.

Dont forget the general rule; the higher you go, the less you burn . Try cruising at the speed that it tells you to in the notes/specification.