ACARS in SU2?

[ahaka 0]

Hi!Is there any plans on making some of the ACARS functions availaible in SU2? Especially the weather forecast for the ARR airport would be great, since VNAV PTH descent requires the runway to be selected, and the T/D is normally beyond the FS9 ATIS range.Regards,

[Mats_J 2]

Hi,I can't imagine this is planned for SU2. But it's a good idea for the forthcoming releases!Now I only need that small cash register printer to get the ACARS messages out. ;-)Regards,

[Guest Ian_Riddell]

"Is there any plans on making some of the ACARS functions availaible in SU2?"You might have to install a Satcom antenna, also. "Normal" VHF ACARS probably has the same range as ATIS and will probably be of no help(unless you can relay your request via a groundstation somewhere between your departure airport and your destination airport).Cheers.Ian.P.S. BTW, are any real NG's fitted with Satcom Antennae?

[Mats_J 2]

Hi,Actually there are ACARS operators with ground relay stations all over. ARINC and SITE is the main ones in Europe at least. Apparently you only need SATCOM equipment flying over desolated areas like oceans and stuff.Check the www.sasflightops.com and follow the link Datalink to the left. Quite an extensive coverage of the current ACARS systems fitted on the Scandinavian fleet.Cheers,

[ahaka 0]

Interesting, I've always thought ACARS is a satellite based communications system. Thanks for clearing this up.

[Guest Ian_Riddell]

"Apparently you only need SATCOM equipment flying over desolated areas like oceans and stuff."Correct... and living in Australia, we are very familiar with "oceans and stuff" (aka large unpopulated areas, such as deserts) ;-) However, we get by with regular VHF ACARS on many of our aircraft. We have the option of making ATIS weather requests for our destination even before we leave the ground ;-) I'm sure there must be a workaround in FS2002/4 to enable this.On aircraft fitted with Satcom, ACARS normally uses the VHF first. If no contact with a VHF ground station is made, it transmits a signal via Satcom. If we get a report of an ACARS system not working when the aircraft is in a remote area, but ok near the airport, we pull the Circuit Breakers for the applicable VHF comm system before carrying out ground tests on the ACARS (to force it to use Satcom) Cheers.Ian.