I have just posted AIFP Version 2.1.25(g). It is available as the AIFP Development Release from
http://stuff4fs.com and contains another new feature worthy of announcement - significantly enhanced airport update capability
This feature was a tough one to craft. There is no single source of complete airport update information (that I was able to find). And, I am not prepared to take on the task of creating/maintaining one.
AIG maintains an airport database that is updated periodically and which you may download. (I've suggested the link be made more prominent.) However, that database does not contain any name information; consequently, local time (and several other AIFP features) will not work with its airports. Others have indicated they maintain other sorts of airport information, but again, with deficiencies that would affect AIFP performance. So, I opted to include in AIFP a general purpose update routine that "knows about" three formats for update data, but will import data from any tabular text file:
- the AIG format
- the Ttools airports.txt format (AIFP has always been able to update from this format), and
- AIFP's AirportList.dat format.
If the file is not in one of these three formats, you are able to manually specify field offsets and separation character.
Just download the update file and point the Airport Editor to it. You may select as few or as many of the updates as you wish, or you can tell AIFP to accept them all. But, a note of caution. As mentioned above, the absence of name data, while not inhibiting the creation of flight plans, defeats AIFP's local time and airport look-up functions. So, I encourage you to complete the name information as updates are installed or as soon as possible afterwards.
Now, I know you are wondering about the last of the three. While developing this feature, I realized every AIFP user is a potential source of updates. AIFP saves all airport edits/update in a file named AirportList_Updates.dat. With this new feature, users can share their updates by making their AirportList_Updates.dat file available to others. A quick airport bulk update is all that's necessary for the others to permanently install those updates (which, in turn, will appear in their AirportList_Updates.dat files). So, with a little organization, it should be possible to build a comprehensive airport update file that everyone can use.
Please give the new features a try. But, remember, this is a development release and has not been fully tested. So, keep your current AIFP2.exe file handy.
Don