JET BLUE Weight and Balance

[ASABound]

Are you folks still using the laptops or have you guys transitioned to a ACARS weight and balance tool ?

 

[Fins Up]

Are you folks still using the laptops or have you guys transitioned to a ACARS weight and balance tool ?

Still using laptops. I like being able to do it myself. Periodically we taxi around other airlines who are "waiting on the numbers".

 

[ASABound]

i hear ya, just curious. Thanks !!

 

[paluch]

We recently switched to slide rulers

 

[Hair-on-Fire]

Airbus does our W/B. We don't have to start paying for that until 2020.

 

[BeachBummer]

I like to use the E6B, laptops are slow.

 

[CA1900]

Airbus does our W/B. We don't have to start paying for that until 2020.

:laugh:

 

[najet]

ACARS is much more foolproof.....

 

[BeachBummer]

ACARS is much more foolproof.....

Couldn't do it on the E90 anyhow... MEL list often too long, we'd either never recieve it or it would run out of paper before the preflight was over.

 

[Fins Up]

I heard if we vote in a union the company will switch us to an abacus.

 

[AKAAB]

I heard if we vote in a union the company will switch us to an abacus.

More like an AAbacus.

 

[Headfake14]

Are you folks still using the laptops or have you guys transitioned to a ACARS weight and balance tool ?

I hope we NEVER go to an ACARS based system for that. Takes me less than 30 seconds to re-do numbers for different runways, intersections..ect. We can manipulate everything...thrust, flaps, bleeds, APU and a few others...and no paper needed.

ACARS gets MEL'd sometimes...that'd suck with the other system. Not sure how you get around that one for those guys.

 

[n757st]

Just curious, how does this system work? Do you pass out a paper copy of a wieght and balance on a worksheet, or do you have some kind of cellular / wifi etc data connection from the laptop that sends the info to the company?

 

[Blue Dude]

We send the results for posterity via ACARS, or paper as a backup, but we don't have to wait for some other number cruncher's W&B data from ACARS. We can calculate all the data on our own.

 

[n757st]

We send the results for posterity via ACARS, or paper as a backup, but we don't have to wait for some other number cruncher's W&B data from ACARS. We can calculate all the data on our own.

Good deal, thanks for the info.

 

[Fins Up]

More like an AAbacus.

That's funny.

 

[critterair2]

Ours is done through aero data. 99 percent of the time we have our numbers before we push

 

[huncowboy]

I hope we NEVER go to an ACARS based system for that. Takes me less than 30 seconds to re-do numbers for different runways, intersections..ect. We can manipulate everything...thrust, flaps, bleeds, APU and a few others...and no paper needed.

ACARS gets MEL'd sometimes...that'd suck with the other system. Not sure how you get around that one for those guys.

Sometimes VHS3 goes into psycho mode. In other words "company datalink stby". If you can't reset it and make ACARS work you have to radio ops with the bag count and pax count. Wait about 2 min and get the V speeds and config. You have it before you are anywhere close to the runway. It is very rare I can't remember last I had to do it but it does happen.

I hated the laptop. I mean it was not as bad as the wheel LOL... but you had to power it up, down, charge it, stow it, unplug it, all while buckled up in the seat. We have the numbers before the gate is removed and it transfers onto the perf page with 3 pushes and fills the V speeds. It also catches a ton of errors like planned Gross vs actual exceeds treshold, zones off, etc. It is very nice. You can still override a lot of settings. The occasional hickup (and it is way below 99%) is nothing compared to the convenience and the additional "heads up time".

 

[Lake Alice]

Its a lap top. Close it and shove it in a bag. It doesn't get much easier than that. T akes 5 seconds. The flexibility the lap top priovides us is nice.

 

[Hair-on-Fire]

I'm just tired of carrying that crappy laptop around.

 

[UpNDownGuy]

I guess the plan is to eventually replace the laptops with EFB's, running OPS.

Until that happens I will carry my laptop happily, if the choice is delegating one more function to someone outside my cockpit. I have no control over folks not on my airplane, and the less I have to depend on them, the better.

 

[GogglesPisano]

To put things in perspective, a certain non-sched I used to work for as recently as 2007 used this procedure on the MD11:

Five minutes prior to push the Ops Rep would give three or four different fuel slips to the FO along with a pax count by zone and cargo loads by hold. The FO would then research the empty weight and CG of the aircraft by way of the latest Config Sheet then enter all the information on an 12 x 20 inch load sheet -- being careful to utilize the correct load sheet for the configuration (three possible load sheets.) He would then enter the ZFW, Pax and Cargo Loads and, using a ruler, plot a ZFW CG on a graph. He would then add up the fuel load (converting litres or gallons to lbs using the latest fuel density reading) and calculate a TO weight and then plot a TWCG, again utlizing a ruler, on the chart. He would then pass everything to the captain for his signature and then tear one copy of the load sheet off to hand to the Ops Rep.

Non-sked vs major: miles apart in so many ways.

 

[House_X]

To put things in perspective, a certain non-sched I used to work for as recently as 2007 used this procedure on the MD11:

Five minutes prior to push the Ops Rep would give three or four different fuel slips to the FO along with a pax count by zone and cargo loads by hold. The FO would then research the empty weight and CG of the aircraft by way of the latest Config Sheet then enter all the information on an 12 x 20 inch load sheet -- being careful to utilize the correct load sheet for the configuration (three possible load sheets.) He would then enter the ZFW, Pax and Cargo Loads and, using a ruler, plot a ZFW CG on a graph. He would then add up the fuel load (converting litres or gallons to lbs using the latest fuel density reading) and calculate a TO weight and then plot a TWCG, again utlizing a ruler, on the chart. He would then pass everything to the captain for his signature and then tear one copy of the load sheet off to hand to the Ops Rep.

Non-sked vs major: miles apart in so many ways.

Yeah, World tends to complicates things.

 

[IslandDriver]

I too at WN like to use our very own "Etcha Sketch". Like above I like the flexability. Also nicw to just stow it and not to have to take it home.

 

[propilot]

Yeah, World tends to complicates things.

Things have changed since 2007...

 

[cstrick2]

We are looking at using another median...ie Ipad and it would be a ship W&B tool like WN has in their cockpit. But having issues with Ipad compatibility with JetBlue systems.