Terminal Flight Planning

Welcome back to Jump Seat. Released in September of 2020, our Next Generation Flight Planning engine opened the door to several new and exciting features for ARINCDirect. One of those was a significant change in how the engine calculates routes and performance within the terminal environment.

Legacy vs. NextGen 

Compared to our legacy engine, NextGen can incorporate more elements of the terminal procedure and therefore provides a more precise performance calculation. These expanded elements include Instrument Approach Procedures (IAP), the Forecasted Runway and the Published Missed Approach. Our Legacy engine had a more limited calculation which planned the published STAR to the airport center point, then directly into the alternate route. 

Altitude within SIDs/STARs 

Another NextGen terminal enhancement is the ability to follow altitude constraints within the SID and STAR procedure. Altitude floor and ceiling information which are on published charts are defined in aeronautical data we ingest for each AIRAC cycle. That data is stored within individual airport terminal records which the engine then uses to calculate your plan. The result is an accurate altitude profile which is more realistic to actual ATC guidance. The example below references the DREEM2 STAR into KBED. The chart notes DVANY at 11000ft and GASSE at 5000ft.

Runway Selection 

Runway selection is another new feature of the NextGen engine. Previously our legacy engine would be limited to planning the route from the center point of the departure airport to the center point of the destination. With this new feature the NextGen engine will assign the runway based on the following methods:

1. METAR data based on the ETD/ETA of the plan.
2. If the ETD/ETA is outside of the METAR validity time, then the forecasted TAF will be used.
3. Outside of the TAF validity time, the engine will choose a runway based on zero winds and least cost option.

Other factors which can determine runway selection include:

• Minimum runway length (configured by individual aircraft setting).
• Published Constraints: Landing Only, Take-Off Only and Closure.
• Runway Surface Type: Asphalt and Concrete will be preferred over grass and gravel.

Our Flight Planning and Navigation team (FPLNAV) can set runway preferences for specific airports based on feedback from ATC, dispatchers, and pilots. Please feel free to contact our team with any information concerning our runway selection.

To provide greater flexibility, we allow you to override the NextGen runway selection with your own preference.

*The runways are included as information and for planning purposes only. They are not included on the ICAO filing strip. 

STARs and Instrument Approach Procedures 

Our previous legacy flight planning engine did not provide any information concerning instrument approach procedures on arrivals. Essentially a performance gap existed between the end of the STAR procedure and destination airport. The NextGen engine allows us to utilize this important step in the terminal environment and the result produces a more precise calculation. If the airport has published IAPs, every STAR terminal record loaded into our database will be defined with that approach information and properly categorized for the planned runway. The information includes altitude and any navigation capabilities/equipment requirements such as RNAV and RNP. The NextGen engine has the intelligence to recognize whether your aircraft is properly configured for this operation in your Tail Profile and provide the correct option for your flight plan. If you are not receiving the appropriate STAR or the route is failing due to your selection, please make sure your aircraft’s equipment is configured accordingly. 

The architecture of the NextGen engine is based on runway-to-runway flight planning. This means points along the STAR as well as the IAP are included in the overall route. The additional IAP points will be added to the navigation log of the computed OFP only and are for planning purposes only. The planner will never see IAP points in route summary, nor will they be included in the ICAO flight plan. 

Missed Approach Procedures 

The ability to include the missed approach procedure in NextGen planning is a significant upgrade from our legacy engine. The legacy alternate calculation presented the route as a direct climb from destination straight into the alternate route, bypassing the missed approach procedure completely. The NextGen engine is able to ingest missed approach route information for the planned IAP and use it in conjunction with the alternate route calculation. You can tell a missed approach was used in the plan by reviewing the Route information in the Alternate Route Summary of the OFP. Generally, a code referencing the destination runway is used to denote the procedure.

The example provided is R11 -Z. “R” is for RNAV, “11” is for Runway 11 into KBED and “-Z” indicates the RNAV (GPS) Z procedure. The code for the missed approach can look different based on the IAP used for the destination runway. Some other examples are: I22L, L06, H14-Y, MISAP.

For smaller airports which do not have IAPs, the engine will use a published SID as the missed approach which will connect to the alternate route.

At ARINCDirect, we strive to bring a more complete flight planning product to our customers and expanding the terminal phase helps achieve that goal. Our team welcomes any feedback regarding our NextGen terminal capabilities including routing, altitudes assignments and runway selection. Please reach out to our FPLNAV team or our 24x7 Flight Operations team at +1-410-266-2266 or [email protected].

• Missed Approach Routing details can be included in your OFP navigation log. Since the Missed Approach is part of the alternate route calculation it will require updating your flight plan format to display the alternate navigation log. Please contact our Formats team with any questions at [email protected].  
• Altitude constraints within SIDs/STARs can be ignored by selecting the “Ignore Published Altitude Restrictions” checkbox on the Create FPL page. 

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