Flight Planning Meets Weight and Balance Training

Argentina-based aviation instructor and flight dispatcher Marcos Tehaux has developed OPERDAT Training, a web-based environment designed to support practical instruction in flight planning, fuel planning and aircraft weight and balance.

The platform brings these subjects into a connected teaching workflow. An instructor can assign a scenario with a route, aircraft, passenger and cargo loads, and planning assumptions. Students then prepare a simulated flight plan, assess fuel requirements and manually transfer the relevant figures into a passenger or freighter loadsheet.

This manual step is intentional: students must identify the information required for each stage rather than rely on automatic transfer. They can then examine aircraft weight limits and centre-of-gravity envelopes, identify discrepancies and revise the exercise under instructor guidance.

Passenger and freighter exercises provide different loading contexts, allowing instructors to discuss how load distribution affects the resulting balance. A weather centre provides access to METAR and TAF reports to support weather interpretation during lessons.

Developed from Tehaux’s experience in aircraft dispatch and aviation instruction, OPERDAT Training is intended to complement an institution’s existing teaching materials and instructor-led activities. Its flight-planning environment uses generic training scenarios and is not presented as an approved operational dispatch system.

The project is currently seeking feedback from aviation training organizations through guided demonstrations, with a focus on how the exercises can fit into existing curricula.