Originally Posted by
Regularguy
OK
First if any of you are doing Class II Nav you'd better be using the Flight Plan and not the how gozit. Read your Class II Nav procedures. I also believe there was a memo recently about such a thing.
This is for you and Motch I think who was commenting on this . . .
Yes there was a memo on the HOWGOZIT and it outlined it's possible uses . . .
The SABRE plan has 3 time columns ET/ETA/AT. One TECHNIQUE that is allowed and is the preferred technique in the 76T fleet and has been for the almost 2 decades I've been flying the Atlantic is after takeoff to fill in the ETA middle column with times from the HOWGOZIT. Then the estimated times you give either by voice or position report are recorded in the ET column and lastly the actual crossing time is recorded in the AT column. This is one of the techniques allowed in lieu of the green dot technique. No one is using the HOWGOZIT in place of the FPF. The HOWGOZIT is merely used to do the initial destination ETA check, fill in the ETA column on the FPF, and it can be a backup tool usable by the pilot not handling the MASTER FPF on international flights. On transcons since recording fuel over position is not required the HOWGOZIT is a convenient place that is easy to read and record your fuel score so you can keep an eye on the fuel and ETA trend.
When I have flown trips and followed SABRE I almost always land +- 400 lbs from the SABRE planned fuel. I realize there are many possible reasons why SABRE may be wrong on any given flight or day, but that doesn't mean it isn't a powerful tool to which we now have access. Whether we as crews choose to use the tools we are given to their full effect is up to us.