Last updated 1915 UTC Apr 17, 2007 - Download a ZipFile of this proposal and spreadsheet

 

FSX AI Parking – A proposal

 

Background – AI aircraft parking has changed in FSX from previous versions of FS with AI traffic. The most significant change is how FS determines the ‘size’ of the aircraft – moving from the Model Radius value to ½ of the aircraft.cfg wing_span= value.

 

This creates a serious problem for the movement of FS2002 and FS2004 created AI aircraft to FSX – because very few aircraft have real world values for this setting. Luckily, this value can be changed without major impact upon the flight characteristics of the aircraft.

 

It is hoped that real world values will also represent the visual model as it appears in FSX. This may not be the case with some models.

 

Of greater concern is the increased importance of the empty_weight value on runway selection. A significant number of AI aircraft have very low values as compared to the real world aircraft. This causes FS to attempt to land heavy jets on runways shorter than 5,000 feet, and takeoff on runways as short as 7,000 feet. Both behaviors occur when longer runways are available. Unfortunately, changing this value to the threshold levels can have a significant negative effect upon AI aircraft performance behaviors, especially the landing phase of flight. That will need to be addressed separately.

 

While parking codes, parking types and other parts of the parking spot assignment process have a significant impact, the size of the aircraft as compared to the size of the parking spot remains the most important factor in the parking process.

 

Wing_Span – Parking Behavior vs. Real World Values:

 

Our goal with AI aircraft is to control aircraft behavior, therefore real world values are often an impediment to maintaining classes of aircraft in appropriate parking locations. Common values which define a Class of Aircraft offer the best option to control parking behavior. However, there must be some ability to separate aircraft of certain classes into groups, based either upon manufacturer, model or aircraft role.

 

My proposal is very simple:

 

AI aircraft of a similar class should all have the same wing_span= value

 

Passenger Aircraft Recommendations

 

Cargo Aircraft Recommendations

(Note Cargo Aircraft will have to be in a separate aircraft folder due to the size value being in a common section of the aircraft.cfg file.

i.e. AIA B767-200 & AIA B767-200F folders will be needed.)

 

Microsoft Default Parking Spot Values:

 

FSX is a significant step forward in matching aircraft size to parking spot size, for the commercial passenger aircraft. However, other classes of aircraft are left out of the updated process.

 

Matching the aircraft size closely to the parking spot size is critical in FSX. This impacts service vehicles, fuel trucks, aircraft crashes, etc. Our past practices of overlapping parking spots and assigning all cargo aircraft to 50M spots will only produce problems and frustration in FSX.

 

Categories of Aircraft and Parking Types:

 

Unfortunately, we utilize several additional categories of AI aircraft than are covered by the default Microsoft settings. We need additional categories of parking types. I encourage everyone to contact Microsoft and lobby for new parking type codes. http://www.fsinsider.com/feedback

 

At a minimum I feel we need:

 

RAMP_PAX – for commercial passenger aircraft – regional turboprops and small jets (15.0M)

 

RAMP_PCARGO – C208, SA227, and EMB110 sized cargo aircraft (12.0M)

RAMP_SCARGO – F-27, B727F sized aircraft (20.0M)

RAMP_MCARGO – A300, B707, DC-8 sized aircraft (24.0M)

RAMP_LCARGO – Large cargo aircraft (37.0M)

 

And retain:  RAMP_CARGO – Cargo aircraft larger than the default B744 (50.0M)

 

General aviation and military will be addressed separately; however, some ideas are a RAMP_GA_JET, and Small, Medium and Large categories for MIL_CARGO and MIL_COMBAT aircraft.

 

Concurrence with Default FSX Parking Sizes:

 

Microsoft’s new values for GATE parking and new way of determining aircraft sizes match well with the general categories we have used in the past. The most noticeable change is the B767 series aircraft move from the MEDIUM size to the HEAVY size parking spots.

 

While it is tempting to increase the size of Medium parking spots, we must remember that many of our airports will have default sized parking. This may well have a negative impact upon FPS if all the airports in the Active AI zone have not been resized for medium parking at the larger setting.

 

Another consideration is that no one has been able to demonstrate that parking spot type label has any impact upon AI aircraft behavior – i.e. GATE_HEAVY vs. GATE_MEDIUM. However, the size of the parking spot has significant impact upon behavior.

 

Therefore, the attached matrix / proposals maintain the categories and sizes of the default GATE parking. I have several additional categories / sizes of GATE and CARGO parking spots:

 

GATE_SMALL

Very Small Prop – 8.0M

Very Small Prop II – 10.0M

Regional Jet – 13.0M

Regional Prop – 14.0M & 15.0M

Small Jets – 15.0M, 16.0M, 17.0M, 18.0M

 

RAMP_CARGO

Very Small Cargo – 12.0M

Small Cargo 19.0M

Medium Cargo 24.0M

Heavy Cargo – 37.0M (The An-124C fits in this size spot)

 

There is one AI commercial aircraft which will not work with the default FSX setup – the A380 which needs a GATE_HEAVY parking spot of 40.0M. The other aircraft, for which there is no AI model, is the An-225 which would need a 45.0M parking spot.

 

Two levels of parking complexity are proposed:

 

Recommended Level – AI aircraft sized by type similar to the FS2004 Recommended Radius Settings

 

Advanced Level – A few AI aircraft types are sized differently than other models in the aircraft production series. These are based upon the need to separate types of aircraft parking due to aircraft role. An example is the B767 series, where at some airports the B763 aircraft of some airlines need to park at international terminals, while B762 aircraft of the same airline need to be parked at domestic terminals. A spreadsheet is attached with the Advanced Level changes.

 

Your Comments and Suggestions Needed:

 

I do not expect everything in the matrix and sizing is perfect or meets everyone’s needs.

 

Remember the discussion is controlling AI aircraft behavior – NOT the specifics of real world numbers or whether the DC-9-20 is a regional jet or a small jet.

 

Similar size and role aircraft need to behave in the same manner.

 

Comments and Suggestions should be added to threads on FSDeveloper.com under forum Scenery Design section - XML,AFCAD, SceneGenX

 

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=31

 

 

Recommended Parking Setup Values – Passenger Aircraft

Aircraft

Wing_span= value (ft)

Parking spot size (M)

Parking Spot Type

Cessna C-401/411, C421A, C402, C414, C404, C208 / Beech 99, 90, B100, C90B / Piper PA-31 / Fairchild Merlin IIIC & Metro II / Britten-Norman BN2 / Pilatus PC-6, PC-12 / BAe JS31 / Embraer EMB-110

52.0

8.0

GATE_SMALL

Beech B200, B300, B350, B1900C, B1900D /  Fairchild Metro 23/ SA227 / Britten-Norman BN2A / Dornier Do228 / Harbin Y-11 / BAe JS41 / Embraer EMB-120 / Let 410 / Casa C212C / DHC-6 / Do328Prop

65.0

10.0

GATE_SMALL

ERJ-135-140-145 / D328Jet / CRJ-100-200-700-900-1000 / Yak-40 / F-28 / ERJ-170-175 / BAe 146 – RJ-70-85-100

85.0

13.0

GATE_SMALL

Casa C212-300/ Do 328Prop / S340B / An-38 / Sh330-360 / An140 / ATR 42-72 / SB20 / Cn235 / Dh8A-B-C-D

90.0

14.0

GATE_SMALL

F-27-FH-227 / Viscount / F-50 / An-24-26-30-32 / IL-114 / L-188 / ATP / HS748 / YS-11

98.0

15.0

GATE_SMALL

BAC-111 / DC-9 / B712 / ERJ-190-195 / Tu-134

98.0

15.0

GATE_SMALL

B731-732-733-734-735 / An-72/74

104.0

16.0

GATE_SMALL

Md-8X / MD-87 / MD-90 / A319-319-320-321 / B727

107.0

17.0

GATE_SMALL

B736-737-738-739 / Yak-42

118.0

18.0

GATE_SMALL

IL-18 / An-10 / Tu-154

130.0

20.0

GATE_MEDIUM

B757 / Tu-204 / B707

135.0

21.0

GATE_MEDIUM

IL-62 / DC-8

140.0

22.0

GATE_MEDIUM

A310 / A300 / A306 / VC-10

150.0

23.0

GATE_MEDIUM

IL-86

160.0

25.0

GATE_HEAVY

B767

175.0

27.0

GATE_HEAVY

L-1011 / DC-10 / MD-11

180.0

28.0

GATE_HEAVY

IL-96

200.0

31.0

GATE_HEAVY

B777

208.0

32.0

GATE_HEAVY

B747

220.0

34.0

GATE_HEAVY

A340

235.0

36.0

GATE_HEAVY

A380

260.0

40.0

GATE_HEAVY

 

 

 

 

Recommended Parking Setup Values – Cargo Aircraft

Aircraft

Wing_span= value (ft)

Parking spot size (M)

Parking Spot Type

Cessna C-208 / Be99 / B1900C / B1900D / Sa227 / EMB 110-120 / DHC-6 Cargo versions

70.0

12.0

RAMP_CARGO

F-27 / ATR / L-188 Cargo versions / DC-9F / B727F / B737F

120.0

19.0

RAMP_CARGO

IL-18F/ An-12 / Y-8 / DC-6 & 7 / L-100-30 / B757F/ DC-8F/ B707F/ VC-10F/ A300F/ A310F

154.0

24.0

RAMP_CARGO

B767F / L-1011F/ DC-10F/ IL-76 / MD-11F/ IL-96T / B747F / An-22 / An-124

240.0

37.0

RAMP_CARGO

An-225

290.0

45.0

RAMP_CARGO