Reading Your SimBrief OFP: A Practical Glossary
Make sense of common flight-plan fields before setting up a simulator aircraft.
What is an OFP?
An Operational Flight Plan (OFP) summarizes a planned flight. SimBrief is one popular way to generate one. You can use it for Delta Virtual flights when it suits the operation; the SOP also permits other route-planning methods and direct/VFR flying.
Useful terms
- Origin / Destination: Departure and planned arrival airports.
- Alternate: Another airport considered if the intended destination becomes unsuitable.
- Route: The waypoints or airways used for the planned flight.
- Cost index: An aircraft/airline planning input used in some performance and fuel calculations.
- Cruise level: Planned enroute altitude or flight level.
- ZFW (Zero Fuel Weight): Aircraft weight excluding usable fuel.
- TOW (Takeoff Weight): Expected weight at departure.
- Block fuel: Fuel planned to be on board before departure, including expected ground use.
- Trip fuel: Predicted fuel burned from takeoff to landing, depending on the OFP convention.
- Reserve/contingency fuel: Allowances for uncertainty, missed approach, holding, or other needs, as defined by the planning method.
Use the plan carefully
A generated OFP is only as good as the aircraft profile, weights, weather, and other inputs. Check whether the aircraft add-on actually supports the values before entering them into the flight management system.
For Delta Virtual
If you choose a charter or direct flight, you can still use SimBrief for fuel and timing even without following a complex airway route. Follow any special-event flight-plan rules if they apply.
Simulator use only: This glossary is educational and is not real-world dispatch guidance.
Policy reference: SOP v4.0, sections 1.5 and 6.4.
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