Viggen Flight Plan Decision Questions

[Horns]

Hi all, I have some questions about aspects of flight planning in the Viggen that I hope you might help me with.

 

1) IRL would the flight lead create the flight plan for the other pilot/s in their flight?

I know I've seen people say the pilot makes his own flight plan, but I don't see how missions could go smoothly if each pilot was working off a different flight plan, but then again I can't imagine an efficient way for the flight lead's flight plan to be uploaded to each a/c in turn either.

 

2) Would a flight plan creator need a specific reason to set a particularly high or low altitude or a speed higher than cruise speed?

I'm most comfortable under 60m over land and 80m over water, but I don't know if I'd need to justify this beyond 'personal preference' in the real world. Similarly, I'm more comfortable flying at 800 kms + when fuel isn't tight, but I don't know if this would be acceptable in the real world.

 

Thanks for reading :)

[QuiGon]

Hi all, I have some questions about aspects of flight planning in the Viggen that I hope you might help me with.

 

1) IRL would the flight lead create the flight plan for the other pilot/s in their flight?

I know I've seen people say the pilot makes his own flight plan, but I don't see how missions could go smoothly if each pilot was working off a different flight plan, but then again I can't imagine an efficient way for the flight lead's flight plan to be uploaded to each a/c in turn either.

 

2) Would a flight plan creator need a specific reason to set a particularly high or low altitude or a speed higher than cruise speed?

I'm most comfortable under 60m over land and 80m over water, but I don't know if I'd need to justify this beyond 'personal preference' in the real world. Similarly, I'm more comfortable flying at 800 kms + when fuel isn't tight, but I don't know if this would be acceptable in the real world.

 

Thanks for reading :)

 

1) "Pilots are making their own flight plan" doesn't mean that every single pilot is making his own flight plan. It just means, that the flight plan is not done by someone who doesn't fly it himself, e.g. some planners in the command center. A flight is flying together in formation, so every flight member is following the same flight plan.

 

2) Yes, they would need a particular reason (threats, timing, ...) as they don't change procedures just because it's fun. ;)

[renhanxue]

Low altitudes were typically not specified in meters in the Swedish Air Force flight plans of this period. It was typically stated as “lowest altitude” which in practice meant “as low as you reasonably can”, with certain peacetime restrictions. It was up to the flight lead to decide in flight exactly how low he wanted to go, keeping in mind the threat level, terrain etc.

Edited January 8, 2018 by renhanxue

[Horns]

1) "Pilots are making their own flight plan" doesn't mean that every single pilot is making his own flight plan. It just means, that the flight plan is not done by someone who doesn't fly it himself, e.g. some planners in the command center. A flight is flying together in formation, so every flight member is following the same flight plan.

 

2) Yes, they would need a particular reason (threats, timing, ...) as they don't change procedures just because it's fun. ;)

 

Low altitudes were typically not specified in meters in the Swedish Air Force flight plans of this period. It was typically stated as “lowest altitude” which in practice meant “as low as you reasonably can”, with certain peacetime restrictions. It was up to the flight lead to decide in flight exactly how low he wanted to go, keeping in mind the threat level, terrain etc.

 

Thanks QuiGon, as always I appreciate the info :) The most recent time I remember seeing a conversation about who makes the flight plan was when someone had suggested it was done by the ground crew, so it makes sense that the correction was that the flight plan was made by *a* pilot, not *each* pilot. Thanks for the info on the need for a reason for low altitude/high airspeed too, guess I should wait for radar warning rather than dropping low just in case.

 

Thank you to renhanxue too, it's good to know that when there was a need for pilots to fly low it was up to their judgement to decide how low they could be. It makes sense too, when I was editing flight plans to reflect my preferred altitude I was unsure of the altitude I should set because I felt safe flying over flat terrain with few trees at 20m, but over unveven terrain with a lot of trees, powerlines etc I often felt like less than 40m was unsafe.

[QuiGon]

Thanks QuiGon, as always I appreciate the info :) The most recent time I remember seeing a conversation about who makes the flight plan was when someone had suggested it was done by the ground crew, so it makes sense that the correction was that the flight plan was made by *a* pilot, not *each* pilot. Thanks for the info on the need for a reason for low altitude/high airspeed too, guess I should wait for radar warning rather than dropping low just in case.

 

The ground crew has absolutely nothing to do with flight planning. They are "just" mechanics and maintain the jet. Flight planning is either done by the pilots themselves (doesn't have to mean every pilot ;)) or a planning cell in a command center.

[Horns]

The ground crew has absolutely nothing to do with flight planning. They are "just" mechanics and maintain the jet. Flight planning is either done by the pilots themselves (doesn't have to mean every pilot ;)) or a planning cell in a command center.

 

Is it common for a planning cell to create flight plans during combat operations, or is it just in unusual or very specific situations?

[QuiGon]

Is it common for a planning cell to create flight plans during combat operations, or is it just in unusual or very specific situations?

 

Not sure to be honest. I guess this differs from country to country, as things are done different in various countries, as well as the type of operation and how it is beeing conducted.

 

For bigger NATO operations there is usally an air warfare command center who does the strategic planning. That means identify targets from various intel sources and assign assets to them. This results in the so called ATO, the Air Tasking Order which contains all the targets and assigned assets for a certain time frime, usally a day. The ATO is then distributed to the various units which take the fragment from the ATO which they are involved in. This is then called a fragmentary order or just FRAGORD or just FRAG. Based on this FRAG the pilots will then plan their mission on the tactical level.

Edited January 8, 2018 by QuiGon

[Vatikus]

As QuiGon said it depends on country basis, however I have attached one way of doing it as a .pdf (it briefs a flight (4 pilots) duties in planning)

 

Hope it helps clearing some questions ...

flight planning duties.pdf