TAKEOFF With APG podcast: Recent Episodes
Aircraft Performance Group
The TAKEOFF with APG podcast – hosted by Mike Caflisch, CEO of APG – is designed to provide insight, offer safety and compliance solutions, and introduce new technologies to business aviation operators and pilots. Tune in to hear insightful and informative discussions on a wide-range of topics, including real-time curtailment; Engine Out Procedures; regional regulatory obstacle clearance requirements; how to best manage the integration between flight planning, weight/balance, and runway analysis; TERPS vs. Runway Analysis; and third-party flight planning.
Mark Thelen, one of the co-founders of APG, has extensive experience in Airplane Flight Manual interpretation and the development of aircraft performance programs. Additionally, he has operational experience having logged over 4,500 hours flying commercially. This episode reviews regional performance compliance requirements and demonstrates how APG can help you navigate them.
Listen and Learn:
- Why operators must be aware of regional requirements for calculating obstacle clearance
- How APG’s performance programs support operational regulations for each region
- What specific obstacle clearance requirements are in different regions
- How APG aligns regional regulatory requirements
Ken Hurley is a Weight and Balance engineer and subject matter expert for APG. His 42 years of experience in Airline Performance engineering, weight and balance, and electronic flight bag development includes the industry’s first EFP deployment at FedEx in 1990. Ken is also a FAA licensed aircraft dispatcher. This episode reviews the importance of curtailment.
Listen and Learn:
- Why the operator must assure that the airplane is always inside the manufacture’s CG Envelope
- Discover why operational variances are critical to weight and balance
- What curtailment is and why it is important.
- Why APG prefers to use real-time curtailments instead of fixed curtailments
- How APG provides operational flexibility
Tom Rosenkrans began as a weight and balance analyst in 2013 and is now a key account manager, overseeing some of APG's largest customers and key integrators. This episode offers a high-level review of APG's flagship iPreflight app.
Listen and Learn:
- Why the All-In-One Package standalone feature is unique to the market
- How Weight and Balance and Runway Analysis simultaneously save operators time
- Why iPreflight is specifically configured to an individual aircraft's serial number
- What the three main features of iPreflight are
- How operators can try iPreflight to evaluate the app
Utilizing an electronic database of obstructions and aircraft-specific performance data, APG tailors special Engine-Out Departure Procedures (EOPs) to optimize maximum allowable takeoff weight and payload for the specific aircraft/engine combination. Listen to this episode to discover the ins and outs of Engine Out Procedures, with Scott Dueck.
Listen and Learn:
- What Engine Out Procedures (EOPs) are and why they are important
- When an EOP needs to be developed
- Criteria and thought process for building an EOP
- What tools are required to build an EOP
Mark Thelen, one of the co-founders of APG, has extensive experience in Airplane Flight Manual interpretation and the development of aircraft performance programs. Additionally, he has operational experience having logged over 4,500 hours flying commercially. This episode is a must listen for learning more about APG’s ATLAS service.
Listen and Learn:
- Access and use of the ATLAS service
- The various types of information contained in an ATLAS report
- Use of ATLAS as a planning tool
- 3rd party integrators and ATLAS
Gene Albright is the Chief Engineer for APG. He has a deep understanding of Airplane Flight Manual data development processes and a history of implementing these data into software solutions. Listen to this episode for a look inside the process of building takeoff and landing performance calculation programs at APG.
Listen and Learn:
- How APG has delivered runway analysis calculation capabilities to the corporate aviation market
- An overview of the multiple levels of regulation an operator needs to comply with
- Program development workflow
- Determining your maximum takeoff and landing weights - multiple limitations you must consider
- Actual weights and V-Speeds
Mark Thelen, one of the co-founders of APG, has extensive experience in Airplane Flight Manual interpretation and the development of aircraft performance programs. Additionally, he has operational experience having logged over 4,500 hours flying commercially. This episode is a must listen for understanding more about TERPS and One-Engine Inoperative procedures.
Listen and Learn:
- Differences between TERPS criteria and One-Engine Inoperative operations
- How TERPS sets the standards for how you design instrument flight procedures
- Use of special departure procedures
- Considerations for the development of special departure procedures