"As on the ground, air traffic also follows fixed "roads". Aircraft therefore do not fly in a straight line from to start to destination, but on predetermined routes delineated by waypoints", the captain explains. Lido/FMS of Lufthansa Systems contains over 129,000 waypoints worldwide, as well as details on nearly 50,000 landing and take-off procedures. These are updated at regular intervals.
For the final flight preparations, Pikolin now uses Lufthansa Systems’ Lido/TakeOff. With a few entries on the workpad, this calculates the optimum take-off speed and the thrust required – giving consideration to various aspects such as runway length, weather, and weight. This is considerably simpler and more efficient for Pikolin as compared to manual calculation.
Lido Take-off Performance Analysis
Despite the IT available in the cockpit, the pilot and his first officer require paper navigation charts for the take-off from Frankfurt. On the navigation charts developed by Lufthansa Systems, the Lido/RouteManuals, they find all the information relevant to the take-off – in particular the planned SID (standard instrument departure) and important radio frequencies. Topographical information about the surroundings such as waypoints and altitudes are color-coded to aid orientation. Even true-to-detail representations of the airport with its take-off and landing runways, taxiways and parking positions are provided. This means that both pilots always have the right information at hand for every situation.
Lufthansa Systems produces the high-quality approach and take-off, airport and route charts for practically every aeronautically relevant point on the planet. This is one of the reasons why the navigation charts are used not only by Lufthansa, but also by many other airlines all over the world.
Jörg Pikolin explains the flight path with Lido/RouteManual
Jörg Pikolin works for Lufthansa as an A320 captain, and at the same time in his management position at Lufthansa Systems he contributes his practical expertise to the development of IT products in the operational flight area. "What makes this combination so exciting", says Pikolin, "is that, as someone responsible for products at Lufthansa Systems, I help to design the products which I later use as a pilot." In both functions, his objective is a smooth operation, from the creation of the flight plan to the landing. A cockpit without IT is now simply unthinkable.
