Flight Time Calculation Methods

Flight Time Calculation Methods

Flight Time Calculation Methods are applied to each individual aircraft from the Aircraft Profile > Performance tab; learn more by clicking here. There are four (4) different flight time calculation methods in Avianis:
  1. Avianis FT; 
  2. Avianis Predictor;
  3. SkyPlan; and
  4. Great Circle (Legacy).
Notes
If an aircraft is enabled with ForeFlight the flight time selection on the Aircraft Profile may be overwritten with the ForeFlight estimated time, depending on your settings. Learn more by clicking here

Avianis FT

The new Avianis Flight Time ("FT") calculation method is a point-to-point/great circle mapper with improved performance models and the latest/updated historical wind data from NOAA. Avianis FT takes 6 inputs - that may all be customized by the user by tail - to calculate the estimated flight time. Winds aloft impacts are applied only for the cruise portion of the flight that have been reported for the same day of the year as the departure for the past 3 years (averaged) at the cruise altitude for the applied performance profile line. 

Avianis FT Settings

When Avianis FT is selected for any of the four Flight Time Calculation options, the blue Settings button next to it will open the modal to edit.
Notes
Changing the settings will change for all options where Avianis FT is applied. For example, editing Settings launched from Trip Domestic Flights will make the same changes to Quote Domestic Flights if Avianis FT is also applied.
Performance profiles (rows) may be added or removed, but at minimum there must always be one profile. All profiles must have all 6 fields and NM range provided. 

Avianis FT Settings on the Aircraft Profile > Performance tab > Settings button


Avianis FT Setting Fields

There are default values applied to all aircraft for Avianis FT, but all may be edited/customized. The following fields are provided on an Avianis FT Performance Profile:
  1. Distance (NM) - Determines which profile is applied to a flight. E.g. if a flight is 62 NM, then it will use the profile for 50-150 NM. When the distance is entered, the rows will automatically rearrange themselves to be in a logical order. 
  2. Cruise Alt (ft) - Expected cruise altitude for the flight, indicated in imperial feet. Flight will calculate climb up to and descent from this altitude. This is also the altitude of the winds aloft that will be applied to the cruise.
  3. Cruise Speed (KTAS) - Expected cruise speed for the flight, indicated in true knots. 
  4. Climb Rate (fpm) - Expected climb rate for the flight, indicated in imperial feet per minute. 
  5. Climb Speed (KTAS) - Expected climb speed for the flight, indicated in true knots. Wind impacts will not be applied.
  6. Descent Rate (fpm) - Expected descent rate for the flight, indicated in imperial feet per minute. 
  7. Descent Speed (KTAS) - Expected descent speed for the flight, indicated in true knots. Wind impacts will not be applied.

Avianis FT Auto-Config

The automatic configuration ("Auto-Config") feature is meant to quickly build or adjust the Avianis FT performance profiles based on existing flight data for an aircraft. Auto-Config considers up to 50 of the most recently logged flights for that aircraft for each performance profile (NM) and does the reserve math to provide the average cruise, climb, and descent speeds. 

Requirements to run auto-config for an aircraft:
  1. Must have at least one performance profile (row) added
  2. Must have the following fields provided for each performance profile: NM, Cruise Alt, Climb Rate, and Descent Rate.
  3. Must have a minimum of 5 flights logged for each performance profile
Given all 3 of the requirements above are met, auto-config will run when the button is pressed. Auto-config may take up to several minutes, during which time a logo spinner will be shown (see image below). Do not close or cancel the modal while auto-config is running or it will not complete. 

When auto-config completes, the Cruise Speed, Climb Speed, and Descent Speed will automatically update with the values that will produce results most similar to the flights already logged by that aircraft. 

Avianis FT Settings when the Auto-Config is running


Avianis FT Copy From

The 'Copy From' setting provides a quick way to reuse Avianis FT performance profiles that have already been applied to another aircraft. Clicking the Copy From button will reveal an additional field where another aircraft may be selected. After pressing the green check mark button the performance profiles from the selected aircraft will populate. The fields may be further edited, if desired. The performance profiles are still managed separately; in other words, editing one aircraft will not edit the other moving forward. To keep them aligned the updated profile must be copied again to the other aircraft. 

Avianis FT Settings Copy From additional field


Avianis FT Default Performance Profiles

To jump start the adoption of Avianis FT, default performance profiles have been applied to all aircraft. Default performance profiles are meant to be approximate and provide a starting point to build out and customize. The fastest way to do this with aircraft that have been in the application for some time is to use the auto-config option
Notes
There is no connection or transference from Great Circle (Legacy) performance profiles to the Avianis FT because it is a completely updated model that would not produce the same calculations. 
Default performance profiles are applied to aircraft based on their category/size. The default profiles are:


Avianis FT Calculation Transparency

When the Avianis FT is applied on either a Trip or a Quote, the flight time calculation method pop-over may be opened to see details on how the flight time was generated. Use the information to verify the performance profile applied, estimations for each segment of flight, the wind adjustments, and the rounding method (if applied). 

Avianis FT details pop-over on a Trip or Quote


Avianis Predictor

Idea
As of December 2024, the Avianis Predictor is still in BETA version and only available to enterprise customers by request. If you would like to participate in user testing, contact your account manager.  
Unlike all of the other flight time calculation methods, the Avianis Predictor does not actually calculate or do any distance or performance math to determine a flight time. This method "predicts" what the flight time will be based on the data of previously logged flights. Based on settings, the predictor will use flights logged from your Avianis account and flights logged by other Portside product users. Flight included for consideration:
  1. Operated by the same aircraft FAA type
  2. Within a +/- 30 day range of scheduled departure date for this year and any previous year
    (This is to align with any seasonal weather or congestion patterns.)
  3. Where the departure and arrival airport are within a 50km radius of the operated airports
    1. If non-exact match airports are considered, a +10% time adjustment is added 
There must be a minimum of 10 flights that meet this criteria or the Avianis Predictor will error due to insufficient data and use the fallback FT calculation method selected in settings. Given there are 10 or more flights meeting this criteria, then the Predictor will take a weighted average of all the times logged to apply as the flight estimation. 

Avianis Predictor Settings

Avianis Predictor Enrollment 

A company must be enrolled in the Avianis Predictor in order to use the flight time calculation method. This is a one-time setting required for the entire company / all aircraft. Found under Operations > Settings (tab) > Avianis Predictor.

Operations > Settings > Avianis Predictor


Avianis Predictor Aircraft Options

The Avianis Predictor has two options per each aircraft:
  1. Consider Global Data, with 3 options:
    1. Always Use Global Data 
    2. Only use when My Company data is insufficient
    3. Never use Global Data
  2. Insufficient Data Fallback - The selected FT calculation method will be used in the event there is insufficient data to use the Avianis Predictor or there is an error. (Avianis FT is the default method selected.)
Avianis Predictor settings on the Aircraft Profile > Performance (tab)


Avianis Predictor Graph

When the Avianis Predictor is applied to a Trip or Quote, clicking on the calculation method name will open the pop-over that will provide details on how the FT was generated. A graph of all the flights included for consideration will display where the green bar indicates flights logged for your company, and the blue from your company and other companies in the Portside application network. The red line indicates where the predicted time falls relative to the considered flight data. 

Avianis Predictor settingse


SkyPlan

SkyPlan is an external service provider that has partnered with Avianis to provide a flight time calculation method that uses/considers routing.  
To learn more about SkyPlan and how to use it, please click here

Great Circle (Legacy)

To learn more about how Great Circle works, please click here
Warning
Great Circle (Legacy) calculation method will be discontinued in 2025, as it is replaced with the new Avianis FT. Several user-wide communications will be sent in advance of its shut down. 

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