Predicted To Save GA Pilots $700 Million In Annual Fuel Costs

True Flight says it's released two new functions -- its exclusive Fastest Flight Level Search and Cheapest Fuel Price Search for its Flight Cheetah portable displays and TrueMap software packages with the WXWORX data link. Fastest Flight level Search, which automatically computes the most favorable flight level based on data link winds is expected to have the largest impact on increasing routing efficiency since the introduction of GPS Navigation and data link weather.

Wind speed and direction at different flight levels via the WXWORX XM Radio data link is processed by the Flight Cheetah over the entire course of the route. Next, the Flight Cheetah automatically generates an in-flight report of estimated times enroute with winds at not only the current flight level, but all flight levels up to FL 480. Typically, total estimated time enroute with winds will vary significantly from the previous method of deriving the same information via the "instantaneous" ground speed from GPS which in reality can vary significantly during the course of the flight.

An additional set of information (available in the near future) that will be presented to the pilot is the total fuel savings in gallons at different flight levels over the course of the flight. This data will be derived from the actual fuel burn performance numbers of the aircraft. When this additional capability becomes available pilots can select the fastest, the most economical or the best combination of the two when selecting a flight level for their route of flight.

The second function is the cheapest fuel price search, which incorporates fuel price data from some 2,500 airports. Unlike many existing fuel data prices that are currently available in the field this data is updated by personally contacting each airport by phone for improved accuracy. The Flight Cheetah makes finding the cheapest fuel price easy, by displaying airports in ascending order, starting first with airports with the lowest prices on the moving map.

AOPA estimates some 1,334,000,000 gallons are consumed by General Aviation annually. The cheapest fuel price search, used in conjunction with the Fastest Flight Level Search could represent savings of some estimated 746 million annually to the general aviation public. This is based on the assumption of a modest reduction of 7% in-flight times and an average savings of 35 cents per gallon. "This is the first step towards taking data link to the next level past simply providing only weather information to now saving real money for the consumer" said President Robert Kalberer.

As an example, a typical twin engine aircraft burning 30 gallons an hour at the rate of 150 hours a year would experience an estimated $2,300 savings in fuel costs.

FMI: www.AviationSafety.com