Flight Plan with A330-MRTT not working

[Anubis]

Hello All,

I am using version 2.1.07 but I have had the same problem with older version:
when I create a flght plan using the A330-MRTT of Thomas Ruth (http://www.flightsim.com/file.php?cm=SEARCH1&fsec=0&fname=TOMA3MRT.ZIP) the aircraft does not spawn at the origin airport. As soon as I change the aircraft to something else, the other aircraft spawns and takes off correctly.

Things that I have checked:

1) The A-330 MRTT works fine in FSX, both in single and multiplayer
2) Un-installed, deleted everything in the folder, installed AI Flight planner several times thinking to a glitch in the aircraft list
3) Used the "Check if Aircraft used in Flight Planner" option, the flight plan with the A330-MRTT is correctly identified
4) Checked the aircraft for "missing texture/duplications/.." everything is fine


Any idea why this is not working? I have added an example of flight plan with an A-330 MRTT here.

Thanks in advance for any hint!

Paolo

[Golf-HotelDelta]

Have you checked the half wingspan (converted to metres) against the radius of the available parking spots? If the half wingspan is greater than the maximum radius parking spot, the aircraft will not appear.

[bobbyjack]

I see that LIMJ has only one spot big enough for that plane. If there is a 747 already at LIMJ when you start, your plane may not show. You might try adding bigger parking and see what happens.

Also, user planes just don't always make good AI.

Bob

[Anubis]

Thanks. I forgot to mention it is airport independent. I tried in several places, including big intercontinental hubs and with different % of airliners traffic. No changes at all.

I also modified manually the wingspan with the aircraft editor, but no joy.

Any idea why it shouldn't work? I would like to understand the reason why...

Paolo

[robystar]

Hi,

Lower the cruise speed in AIFP to 350 kts or less and see what happens.
I think a cruise speed of 482 kts as per the aircraft.cfg is too much especially when flying at 10,000ft. Set alt to 18000 or higher.
You also override ETA with 2 hours!

[Anubis]

I have seen your answer, but I do not understand the logic of it.

1) Why modify the cruise speed should in any way make the aircraft appear?

2) I overrode the ETA on purpose since I wanted the plane to go slower for air-to-air refuel operations, I do that routinely in flight plans to fine tune the speed

Paolo

[robystar]

Hi Paolo,

I wanted to show you how to remedy it and to prove my point.
However, upon downloading the aircraft you use in order to be able to change the cruise speed in AIFP I get "unhandled exceptions" and fatal FSX errors.
So I had to delete the traffic file and the aircraft and start again and it will take a while before I can give you an answer.
Fact is that either there is something wrong in the latest AIFP or something in the aircraft and also that the flightplan is not realistic.
As usual and as my friend would say: stai calmo.

[Anubis]

No problem, just curious.

BTW - tried to lower the cruise speed, nothing changed.

I will try to contact the author.

Paolo

[robystar]

Hi,

Update!
Loaded A330 RAAF and added aircraft.cfg title to new flightplan.
Changed cruise speed in AIFP to 282 kts and alt to 180. No override ETA.
Made sure LIMJ and LIEE had parking spots of at least 31 meters.
Your aircraft shows up and does fly rather well as AI but landing occurs at 107 kts and FSX crashes.
So I guess it does in fact prove of what Bob said: user planes just don't always make good AI.
There is an AI A333 Belgian Airforce to be found on MAIW.
So I changed the air file and the cfg and there is your plane landing and parking.
I am now going to try your flightplan with the new AI aircraft to see what that gives.

[robystar]

Hi,

Loaded your flightplan but with real AI adapted cfg and air file.
Aircraft shows up after arrival but not before.
With my flightplan without overriding ETA and at alt 180, it does.
Logic behind my previous answer: as the plan is unrealistic in real life, it is probably unrealistic for the FS AI engine as well. Perhaps Jim Vile has a better explanation.

[robystar]

Hi,

Further to the aforegoing I remembered there was a comment from JVile some time ago that might give some explanation.
I quote what he replied when I had some difficulty understanding things (and I still do sometimes):
Any Jet FP set below 10,000 ft and airports are further apart then 125 Miles (max value) will cause the AI Plane to be late. Based on how late can cause the plane not to fly the approach but pop up at the parking spot.

You have 2 airspeeds (TAS at 538 Kts vs IAS at 250 kts) fighting each other. Set you FP at or above 10,000 ft for any Jet type airplane.

FP times are TAS and distance between airport ARP's. The actual FP is from the parking spot of the departure airport to the closest Start Location of a runway at the arrival airport. FS allows a difference in time which has nothing to do with the 37 minute issue but if the time difference is too much then the plane pops up at the parking spot.

FAA rule and what FS uses, below 10,000 ft and a jet flys at 250 KIAS when flying on the aircraft.cfg value (in your visual zone regardless of what sector).

Hope it helps.

[Anubis]

I took some time to digest all the information... Thanks a lot, I took inspiration from what you said and here's what I did:

1) created an A-330 MRTT variant only for AI purposes
2) swapped the .air file and the aircraft.cfg file of that AI variant with an FSX KC-135R Tanker (which I use since a long time, it works 100% fine).
3) created a new flight plan with that AI variant...It works fine!!!

Again, thanks a lot for the insights. I understand that is either the .air and/or the aircraft.cfg file that make a plane not really suitable for AI operations, correct?

Paolo

[robystar]

Hi Paolo,

Correct. Both are important.
But also the flightplan and the "AFCAD".
But to have a real AI it should also have as little as possible impact on the fps. And although your model does have a special multiplayer model, the textures are not optimized for AI.
Still it is a nice plane which relatively works fine as AI, once .cfg and .air file have been substituted.
I am still fretting about this flightplan of yours. It should not work but it does more or less.
So I profited from the occasion to read up once more on the intricacies of AI and that helped me too.
So: thank you also.

Roby