Part 5 - Debriefing
As we cruised above the clouds, we've been keeping tabs on the aircraft's performance and situation. Here is how things looked about halfway through the flight, courtesy of FSPassengers' inflight report:
As expected, the aircraft burned through a good deal of fuel during takeoff and climb, but the fuel consumption will have gone down after we leveled off in the high, cold, low-density air, so that burn rate of 3300lb per hour we see now should average out closer to 2300lb per hour by the time we land. The passengers have been given their complimentary drinks and snacks and have no complaints about the service.
And so after we landed and pulled into Charlotte, how have we done? FSPassengers' final flight log provides a comprehensive debrief.
We pushed back from the gate at Buffalo on time, took off 14 minutes later at 13:55, and arrived at Charlotte 7 minutes later than the assigned 15:30. So even with the holding time in Buffalo, I think we can definitely call this flight on time! All of our passengers will be able to make their connections. All other performance figures are more or less in the ballpark for where they should be - we used 4400lb of fuel and had 2200lb to spare, about 100lb more than initially planned. Definitely acceptable given that we spent some time idling on the ground, and coming around Charlotte to land on a northbound runway (which we would not have had to do were the runways operating in the other, southerly direction). We settled onto the runway at about 2.5ft/sec, not quite a kiss, but enough for the undercarriage to absorb without problem and for the passengers to consider the landing smooth.
The passengers have no complaints whatsoever and consider the flight exceptionally good. Oh, and they liked the elevator music - so maybe I should question their tastes. Then again, I wonder who asked them about it... anyway, no complaints is good news indeed! I don't pay too much attention to the financial report*, noting only that the flight was a profitable one - great.
(*With FSPassengers, I find it impossible to operate regional or other small jets at a profit with 1x income because of maintenance costs - the game is just not designed for this and you go broke quickly. I found that by 'buying' a small fleet of planes and jacking the income per flight to 4x the 'real' profit, I am able to break even as long as I fly the planes well, and can pay for occasional mechanical breakdowns and regular maintenance. This encourages me to fly carefully and not slack on maintenance, and that's all I need.)
And with that, I leave the aircraft on the ramp with a feeling of accomplishment - while 34 passengers continue their journey. Fair winds!
THE END