London Heathrow to Paris CDG

EGLL is London Heathrow, LFPG is Paris Charles de Gaulle. These ICAO codes come from your Operational Flight Plan (OFP) — the document dispatch provides before every flight.

Your callsign from the OFP. BAW = British Airways ICAO code, 304 = flight number. ATC uses this to identify you on radar.

Short-haul flights often use a lower cost index than long-haul because fuel savings per hour are smaller over short distances. Your airline's dispatch sets this value on the OFP — it's not a pilot decision.

For a 45-minute flight, you won't spend long at cruise. FL350 is a compromise: high enough for fuel efficiency, but not so high that you'd spend most of the flight climbing and descending. The OFP specifies the level.

The F-PLN page shows your route as a sequence of waypoints. After entering FROM/TO, the FMS creates a skeleton route with a gap (discontinuity) between departure and destination. You now fill in the airway.

Airways are published routes in the sky, like highways. UL9 is an upper airway running from London across the English Channel toward France. You find the assigned airway on your OFP. Using airways keeps traffic separated and predictable for ATC.

When you insert an airway, the FMS automatically populates all intermediate waypoints (here: DVR and KONAN). These are VOR stations and GPS fixes that define the airway's path. The FMS looks them up from its navigation database.

A discontinuity means the FMS has a gap in the route it can't auto-connect. This is normal after inserting airways. To close it, type the next waypoint name into the scratchpad and click the disco's LSK — the FMS replaces the gap with that waypoint, joining the route.

The PERF (performance) page is where you enter takeoff speeds and configuration. This data is critical for safe takeoff — the FMS uses it for speed callouts and flight director guidance during the takeoff roll.

V1 comes from takeoff performance tables or an EFB calculation. It depends on aircraft weight, runway length, temperature, altitude, wind, and surface condition. Below V1, you can still abort the takeoff. Above V1, there isn't enough runway left to stop — you MUST continue. A wrong V1 can mean a dangerous rejected takeoff or continuing when you should have stopped.

VR (rotation speed) is also from performance tables, based on the same factors as V1. At this speed, the pilot flying pulls back on the sidestick to lift the nose. Rotating too early risks a tail strike; too late wastes runway. VR is always at or above V1.

V2 guarantees a minimum climb gradient even with one engine failed. For the A320, it must be at least 1.13 times the stall speed in takeoff configuration. If V2 is wrong, you might not clear obstacles on the departure path during an engine-out emergency.

Flap setting is selected based on runway length, obstacles, weight, and temperature. Flaps 1 gives good performance with moderate runway requirements. Higher settings (2, 3) allow lower speeds but increase drag. Your performance calculation recommends the optimal setting — at Heathrow's long runways, Flaps 1 is usually fine.

In a real cockpit, you'd also complete INIT B (zero fuel weight, block fuel), review the secondary flight plan, crosscheck with the other pilot, and run the FMGS preflight checklist before pushback.