Introduction 

Flight Package Layout 

This topic will review the methods of creating a layout, use of default flight package layouts, how to preview each section, and how to configure layout automation. 

We estimate that this will take 4 minutes to complete.

Detailed Explanation 

Flight Package Layouts

This topic will show you how to add, copy, and edit contents of a flight package.

 The flight package building functionality in N-FP allows you to:

• create different package layouts catering to specific needs
• permit multiple instances of a component in the same flight package
• modify the order in which components appear in a flight package

Building a flight package is comprised of two parts: creating and managing flight package layouts, and using the flight package layouts to build your flight package to view or send.

 For information on the components of the flight package refer to the HTM documentation.

Click the Maintenance menu item.

Click the Flight Package Layout tab.

Click the Add button.

Enter PACKAGE1 into the Package Name field.

Click the Add button.

Click the Save As button.

You can create a new package layout by selecting an existing package and giving it a new name.

Click the Package Name input field.

Press the key.

Enter 2 into the Package Name field.

Click the Save button.

Add a component to the package by dragging and dropping it from the Available Components column to the Package Contents column.

Remove a component from the package by dragging and dropping it from the Package Contents column to the Available Components column. 

See the HTM documentation for more information on the available components.

Double-click the Note Icon beside Section: Weather Charts table cell.

When a component has been added to the Package Contents section, you can edit its options.

Click the Single Side Paper check box.

Click the Apply button.

Click the Save button.

Available Components List 
The Available Components list is a list of components that can be included in flightpackag e layouts. To add a component from the Available Components list, drag the desired component into the Package Contents list where it can be configured.
 In general, the components correspond to the high-level nodes in the current tree view in the FlightPackag e Layout group on the Reports Screen. The exceptions to this rule are marked with an asterisk below.

Section*
 This denotes the start of a new section (corresponding to a PDF bookmark). Components between two Section components will be included in a PDF bookmark whose name is the same as the name of the first Section component.

 Separator

This component has 3 options:

Page Break - start next section on a new page

Line Feed - start next section on a new line

Single Sided Page Break - start the next section on an odd page if previous section ends on an odd page. A message is displayed (set in the main parameter file) to indicate that the page is blank on purpose.

Flight Plan

If the Flight Plan node is set as Aircraft Specific, the flightpackag e layout uses the format specified in FOMS Menu 220 (Aircraft Characteristics Program) for the loaded flight’s aircraft. If no value is provided in FOMS Menu 220, the fallback format specified in FOMS Menu 170 (Airline Parameter File) is used.

If the Flight Plan node is set to a specified format, that format is displayed.

Display first leg only in multi-leg brief: when selected only the first leg of a multi-leg brief is added to the flightpackag e.

Note: Switching between flightpackag e layouts will not keep changes. If, for example, a user loads flightpackag e layout A, makes some changes in the tree view, loads layout B and reloads layout A again; then the changes will be lost (in fact they had already been lost when switching to layout B).

Atc Form

Adds the CA48 - ATC ICAO form to the flight plan. See CA48-ATC ICAO form for information on how to use and make the ATC ICAO form editable. 

 Weather & NOTAMs

The METARS, TAFs, and NOTAMs of the Weather and NOTAMs tree view nodes are merged into one component to allow you to sort and display results as you require.

METAR Buffer Time: When added, only METARs that fall into the buffer time are added to the FlightPackag e.

Order Enroute Airports By: Options are Airport Usage Type and Distance from Origin. If Airport Usage Type is selected the default logic of ordering by station type is used. If Distance from Origin is selected, the enroute (ETP/ETOPS/EEP/EXP/EnrouteWX) stations will be ordered by proximity to the origin.

Origin, Destination, Alternates and Others: Selecting or deselecting a checkbox will allow users to include or exclude METARs for an airport. If an airport falls into more than one of these groups, a you must uncheck all boxes that it belongs in. For example, if CYYZ is both an ETP station and an alternate it will still appear in the flightpackag e if only Alternates is unchecked.

SIGMETs

This component includes SIGMETs in the flightpackag e.

AIRMETs

This component includes AIRMETs in the flightpackag e.

PIREPs

This component includes PIREPs in the flightpackag e.

Company NOTAMs

This component includes Company NOTAMs in the flightpackag e.

FIR NOTAMs

This component includes FIR NOTAMs in the flightpackag e.

Tracks

Selecting Tracks includes tracks in the flightpackag e.

Several types of tracks are available to be selected:

• AUS
• NAT
• NOR
• PAC
• CEP 

Runway Analysis

NFP allows integration of third-party (AeroData) runway analysis data if your NFP environment is configured to do so. The reports that are pushed to NFP from AeroData can be viewed in the Runway Analysis branch on the Reports tree. If the system isnot configured for this functionality, the Runway Analysis branch will not be displayed.

Contact support for more information.

Route Profile

Selecting Route Profile allows you to incorporate graphic representations of available flight levels and available flight levels showing distance and wind components into the flight package.

Three profiles can be selected:

• available flight levels
• available flight levels showing distance
• available flight levels showing distance, wind components, tropopause and MORA

Country Info

The Country Info branch allows the user to select permit-related information for inclusion in the flightpackag e.

There are two options:

• permit report, which adds the permit report to the flightpackag e
• overflight report, which adds the overflight charges to the flight package 

Notam Table Report

When added to the Package Contents, notams are displayed in a table format like the example shown below. You can also attach company documents and images to the report. Company documents are displayed in the general section and images are added before the table.

Map Images*

For more information on including map images in the flightpackag e, refer to Map Images.

Choose Select All to automatically add images to the flightpackag e.

City-Pair Map Images - This is a placeholder for city-pair map images matching the city pair.

Standard Map Images - This is a placeholder for standard map images for all flights.

City-Pair Map Images - This is a placeholder for city-pair map images for the flight. 

 Weather Charts*

Weather charts are divided into several components. Each component matches the lowest folder from the current tree view. For example, the current European tree folder in the UKMET tree folder corresponds to the UKMET European component.

To facilitate identification, icons for related weather charts are color-coded.

Several types of weather charts are available to be selected:

• Sat Asia
• Sat Europe
• Sat Goes E
• Sat Goes W
• Sat Meteo 5
• Sat Meteo 8
• UKMET

                - European

                - UK

• SigWx

                - Americas

                - Atl

                - Nat

                - Australasia

                - Pacific South

                - Pacific North

                - Pacific ICAO Area M

                - Pacific ICAO Area F

                - Asia

                - Mid East

                - Europe

                - Europe-Africa

                - Eurasia

• BOM

                - Icing

                - SigWx

                - Grid Point Winds

                - MSL Analysis

                - MSL Prognosis

• Winds

                - NAT (North Atlantic)

                - MID (Middle East)

                - EURAFI (Europe - Africa)

                - EURSAM-B (Europe - South America)

                - URSAM-B1 (Europe - South America)

                - INDOC (Indochina)

                - ASIA (Asia)

                - PACIF (Pacific)

                - EUR (Europe)

                - SAM (South America) 

 Package Contents List

The Package Contents list displays the actual contents of the selected flightpackag e layout. 

Dragging a component from the Available Components list and dropping it in the Package Contents list will include it in the flightpackag e layout. The same component can be included multiple times (e.g.: various Flight Plan components in the same or different formats).

Items can be removed by dragging and dropping them in the Available Components list.

To reorder items, users can drag and drop them at the desired position in the list.

Adding a component or double-clicking an existing one from the list opens a configuration dialog with configuration options specific for that component, as shown in the following illustration.

All configuration dialogues include an Apply button which, when clicked, applies the changes and closes the dialog. Clicking anywhere outside the boundaries of the dialog will close it without applying any changes.

The SIGMETs, AIRMETs, PIREPs, FIR NOTAMs, Company NOTAMs and Runway Analysis components are not configurable. Double-clicking any of these will not open a configuration pop-up. Double-clicking weather chart components  opens a  dialog that displays the names of the charts applicable to that particular component.  For example, the SigWx Americas component shows the following labels: AMERICAS (FL250-630) VT00, AMERICAS (FL250-630) VT06, AMERICAS (FL250-630) VT12 and AMERICAS (FL250-630) VT18, as shown in the following illustration.

A Show Route checkbox, when selected, allows you to select to show the route over the weather chart.

An Auto Select checkbox, when selected, automatically selects the weather chart to be used in flightpackag e if it meets the following criteria.

• the flight path crosses the area that the chart covers
• the flight cruise level is within the flight level that the chart covers
• the flight time intersects with the chart's valid forecast time range

The following details the configuration options for the configurable component.

Section: This dialog contains a text box for the section name limited to 30 alphanumerical characters (including spaces), which is empty by default.

If the text box is empty when the popup’s Apply button is clicked, the operation will fail, the dialog will not close and the following error message will be displayed in the status bar: "Invalid section name."

Section names are required to be unique within the same flightpackag e layout. Therefore, attempting to create a new section with a name already used by the loaded layout will fail and display the following error message: "Duplicate section name."

Flight Plan: This dialog contains a drop-down list containing Aircraft Specific (the default) plus one entry for each available format. Highlighting keywords can also be customized with bold, italicized and colored text.

Weather & NOTAMs: This dialog contains checkboxes for METARs, TAFs and NOTAMs. Highlighting keywords can also be customized with bold, italicized and colored text.

Other Weather: This dialog contains a text field to allow you to add a customizable queries to display in the flightpackag e contents.

Tracks: This dialog contains a drop-down list containing NAT, PAC, AUS, NOR and CEP options.

Route Profile: This dialog contains a drop-down list containing Available FLs, Distance FLs  and Distance Winds options.

Country Info: This dialog contains a drop-down list containing Permit Report and Overflight Charges options.

For added visibility the text for a Section component list item includes its name (e.g., Section: Charts). Similarly, the text for a Flight Plan component list item includes the selected format (e.g., Flight Plan: Format 03).