AE Analysis
IR Cloud Tops
Pairing Summaries
PBS and Scheduling Tools
Rotation Format Translator
HTML Flash Card creator
Weather Report
MEL Extract from iCrew
ForeFlight KML stuff
The iOS Shortcuts are gone. I had previously hosted links to Joseph Okasinski's Oak Notes as well as shortcuts from Justin VanDemark and myself. These shortcuts are no longer being distributed.
At the time the shortcuts were created, I felt that they met both the spirit and letter of the Delta IT Acceptable Use policy. However, Delta revised the policy on 7/10/2023 and the shortcuts are not in compliance with this update. Most specifically, they violate 10.5.
Delta's Information Technology Acceptable Use Policy
10.5. Except as expressly authorized by Delta Information Technology and approved by Delta Information Security, Users must not independently develop, use or distribute any IT applications, software, code or other IT solutions that process Delta information or interface with Delta’s computer systems, network or applications, or which act as alternatives to, or supplement functions provided by, Delta’s internal IT applications. Users must not load any such solutions to any Delta Device. Users must not use and must report any unauthorized IT solutions of which they become aware to Delta Information Security.
contentscontentsOther sources of staffing analysis:
While I don't have any immediate plans to discontinue my analysis, there are some other sources.
Delta's Crew Resources and Scheduling page.
Crew Resources and Scheduling -> Advanced Entitlements -> AE Awards -> Supporting Documents.
Delta now creates a projected list in Excel format that is published with the award. This list used to take several weeks to be published and is one of the major gaps that my analysis was created to fill.
Dalsen is an analysis app written by another pilot.
AE Analysis for Nov 14, 2023 award
Once again, I had to synthesize a projected category list from the previous projected category list and the award. This is always a little error prone. Let me know if you find errors. thejohnbell@gmail.com
PDF version
This version lists each pilot twice -- once for the category that he is entering and once for the category that he is exiting. Thus, it is possible to see the change in a category. This is also available as the "Analysis" tab in the Excel file.
Excel Version
If you want to interact with the file online, you must do step 1 and then step 2.
1. While you cannot interact with this link online, but you can download the Excel file and use it. You also need to open this link to establish authorization to use the interactive version in step 2.
2. Use this link to interact online with the data. This will not work until you have established authorization by accessing the file with the previous link. I will ignore the request if you click on the button to request access. If you are denied access, go back to the previous step. This method of access awkward, but it allows access without any changes that you make being propogaged to anybody who subsequently accesses the file.
iPad notes:
To use this on your iPad within Safari (the browser)
1. Tap the highlighted cell to enter your employee number. This just selects the cell.
2. Do a quick double tap to allow entry into the cell. This is a little tricky to get just right. The keyboard will pop up when you have done this correctly.
3. Enter your 6-digit employee number.
To use this within Excel for iOS (the browser)
There is a version of Excel for the iPad. It is a little quirky, but hopefully this will help you if you want to give it a try. You will need Excel for the iPad from the app store link.
In order to interact with Excel on your iPad, you will need to activate it. If you already have one, you can use your Office 365 account. However, you may be able to activate it with your Delta e-mail and sign in if you do not have an Office 365 account or do not want any personal items on your iPad.
When you open the file, there will be a bar at the top that will say that it is Read Only. There is an option to Save a Copy in the right side of the warning. You should be able to interact with the saved copy.
Delta has Cloud Tops in the iOS version of the weather viewer. I think this is a big deal that not a lot of pilots know about. This is especially a big deal where there is no radar coverage. I have brief overview:
contentsNote that the above link will require you to sign into Deltanet and the files are not available publicly. While I am flattered by the fact that many people find these useful, I would highly encourage that you learn about the analysis tool in the PBS Web App. More details are available in the PBS Gouge or the YouTube videos produced by the PBS Committee. Both are linked from http://pbshelp.info/delta
. contentsWhile not a full PBS manual, I have put together some of the things that I wish more pilots knew about using PBS.
John Bell's guide to PBS John Bell's guide to PBS for EasyBid Users
contentsFAR 117 calculator in Excel.
This uses a copy and paste of the pairings from iCrew to calculate some of the FAR 117 cumulative parameters. This depends on macros, so you must download the file to a computer and run it in Excel.
Mac: You should get a prompt asking if you want to enable Macros. Enable them.
Windows: Microsoft added a new (and annoying) secuity feature that blocks unsigned macros. Before you use the file, right click on the file and select "properties". Click on the box to unblock the content. Here is a picture: picture
FAR 117 calculator in ExcelReserve Pay Calculator (updated 3/1/2023 for new PWA):
HTML version of the Reserve Pay Calculator optimized for the iPad. note: This should work on any computer.
Excel version of the Reserve Pay Excel Spreadsheet Use it interactively in your browser or download it for offline use. The download icon is in the bottom right corner of the frame.
Reserve Line Simulator
This is a tool that allows you to switch days from X to R and see how many work days you have used in a row, X day blocks, etc. This was created to help answer e-mails with reserve questions. This may not cover every scenario and is offered on a use at your own risk basis.
PBS reserve line simulator in Excel
Online version of PBS Reserve simulatoriPad notes:
- If you have Office 365 with Excel on your iPad: Use the normal link. Use the square with an arrow comming out icon near the URL window to send the file to Excel.
- If you do not have OneDrive or Office 365: Use the "online" link. This should work in Safari. However, selecting cells with pull down menus such as the month can be problematic. I find the trick is to do a double tap, but continue to hold your finger down on the second tap until the menu appears.
- If you have OneDrive installed, but do not have Office 365: I have not found a good solution other than to find another device or computer.
Rotation Pay Calculator (LCA Block and Minutes Under Extract)
This started as a way for standards pilots to extract the block plus minutes under for each leg. While I developed it a little beyond that point, the analysis just uses information within the rotation and is not sophisticated enough to determine if DBMS is making the calculations correctly.Rotation Pay CalculatorLeg Extract from iCrew Rotations
This allows you to paste an iCrew rotation and then will extract the basic items such as block time. The initial purpose was to allow line check airman to track their line check time by filtering for "L" legs, but it can be used for total block.Important note: Excel "thinks" in days. For example, even if Excel shows 72:00, it is "thinking" 3 days. If you want to make any pay calculations based on the totals, multiply by 24.iCrew Legs Import spreadsheet
Summary:contentsI find that civilians such as family members have a hard time reading the rotation. This is a quick way to extract the legs and hotel information into a readable format with local times. You can then e-mail or otherwise share your rotation.
I have some other functions for the pilot version:
- Translate into printable format: This cleans up the rotation for printing. I used to like to print a copy of the pairing and put it in my front pocket. I now mostly use MiCrew, but this is for those of you who are old school.
- Extract legs: This extracts the legs. iCrew now offers similar functionality, but I already have this programmed so I am leaving it up.
- AeroWeather Pro link: This creates a group in AeroWeather Pro (you must have the pro version) consisting of the airports in the rotation.
- Aviationweather.gov link:
Aviationweather.gov has a cool feature called a TAF table which lists the TAF by columns. This takes the the airports in the rotation and makes a TAF table.Create e-mails from the rotation
This allows you to take a rotation or multiple rotations and create a list of the Delta e-mails from the employee numbers. This is designed so that you can e-mail a crew.
I have an Excel workbook that allows you to create flash cards in an html format. I have an example below of for 330 Memory and Limitations, but you can create flash cards for any aircraft. The Excel file is used to generate an html file that is used for quizing.
Example of the output: 330 html flash cards
Example of the Excel file used to create the 330 example.
The easiest way to use this on your iPad is to use the resulting html file like an html flight plan file:
1. You must download the file and use it in Excel. I have not tried this in the Mac version. You may need to do it in the Windows version.
2. Create the html file using Excel.
3. Email the html file to yourself.
4. Save these to a folder in the files app.
5. Open the file into Microsoft Edge by using share to Edge.
contents
Aviationweather.gov Impact Board
I used to have a weather report that I created by extracting data from NOAA's aviationweather.gov site. However, NOAA updated and improved their site which broke my script. Since my report was experimental and for demonstration, I am not sure if I will update it. My favorite part of the aviationweather.gov was the TAFF board. This is now called the Impact Board. You can enter a list of airports and press "Load". Note that when you follow the hyperlink to an individual airport, there is now a switch on the page to show the crosswinds for each runway. Some airports lack the runway data and will return an error, but this is a very nice feature.
contentshttps://www.johnfbell.com/Extract_MEL_from_iCrew.html
There is MEL information in the ship routing page in iCrew. This is available long before the flight plan is available. This page extracts this MEL data to make previewing the MEL information more practical. Note that this is all done internal to the page with JavaScript and no information is sent over the internet.
contentsClicking on one of the links for the files below will cause Safari to prompt you to download the file to your iPad. After downloading, open the file from the Files app. After opening these files, use the share icon (box with an arrow coming out) to share with ForeFlight. Once imported into ForeFlight, you can use these as an overlay in the map display.
The basic version is to add a rough lat long grid to the globe view. I have lines of parallel for arctic circle, equator, as well as 30 and 60 degrees. I have longitude lines in 30 degree increments.
The more detailed version gives a 1 degree lat lon grid. This is not for viewing, but to facilitate using the ForeFlight annotation tool to draw things like turbulence reports. I have added thicker lines at 5, 10, and 30 degree increments. You can turn the layer on to draw and then turn it off after you have drawn the area. ForeFlight video tutorial on annotating the map.
The purpose in this project is to give a way of drawing turbulence areas when WiFi is unavailable to populate the Flight Weather Viewer. If you do not have the ForeFlight link from using my page to translate the flight plan, you can still import the route from the official html flight plan. Type in the origin, space, paste the route from the Jepp FD Routing in the Route Extract section, space, type in the destination.
This is an Excel spreadsheet that allows you to take a list of waypoints and turn them into a kml file that can be imported into ForeFlight.