Quick Squawkbox question r.e Plane Selection after loading fms flight plan

[Guest Woodman]

Hi,Just curious, when I load my FMS Flightplan in Squawkbox, the popup window comes up asking me to confirm my callsign, flight path, people on board blah blah.At the top under the drop down menu I'm supposed to select my aircraft. What is this for? The only reason I'm asking is becuase the plane I usually fly isn't listed anywhere on there (Cessna Citation X). They have other Citation's but not the 'x'. How important is it to select something similar here? I have just been using the Citation V the past few times.Cheers,Jeremy

[Guest Thames_virtual]

I'll be interested in this one too. I fly a Citation Bravo, which also isn't on the list.RuthThames Radar/NJE733

[Guest ielchitz]

Two reasons for the Type of aircaft:1) It supplies information to ATC in your flight strip regarding your aircraft type. This helps them understand your flight capabilities as well as to cross reference things like wake turbulence and same runway separation categories.2) This is the CSL (Common Shapes Library) that other players on the network see you as. You might be sitting in a C172 but if you selected a B744 that is what everyone else will see you as. If the list does not provide you with the specific type that you are (or your airline) just file as something CLOSE to that aircraft and in your flightplan comments put your actual type. This will be less of an issue once SB3 is released as I understand it.Hope that helps.

[Guest Woodman]

Great and thanks for the response....Citation V I guess it is for now....hehJeremy

[Guest Thames_virtual]

Thanks Iannow all I've got to do is learn to fly the thing!Ruth

[Guest ielchitz]

Ruth and Jeremy,Just revisiting posts here to make sure everyone was covered. There *IS* one change you could make to your setup that would allow you to notify ATC of the exact type you are flying. HOWEVER - this can cause other issues to your setup and is only recommended for advanced users. Messing this stuff up and can also affect OTHER user's experience.**********************Start of Advanced Area**********************In your Squawkbox directory you should have a file named "CSL_ICAO.csv". This comma separated file can easily be viewed using a spreadsheet such as Excel. This file serves THREE purposes:1) Defines the type of aircraft you are flying for ATC.2) Defines the weight classification of your aircraft for ATC.3) Defines the type and/or livery of aircraft you are flying that OTHER SB USERS SEE YOU AS.Each record on the spreadsheet consists of 7 cells of information. Here's an example and a breakdown of each fieldCanadian : B767-300B767~CDN7674JH30003000IIIa1 - Livery & Aircraft Type NameThis defines how the record looks in your dropdown list on the SB FlightPlan Aircraft menu. Call it whatever you want.2 - Aircraft Type CodeThis is the information that is sent to ATC which defines the type of aircraft you are flying. In this example the aircraft type is identified as "B767". If you wanted to specifically specify that you were a Boeing 767-400 you would probably want to enter something like "764". This is where if you were making an entry for the citation you would put "C750". For an excellent list of aircraft codes I suggest the FAA list at http://www1.faa.gov/ATPubs/ATC/Appendices/atcapda.html3 - Model CodeThis is an identifier that MSFS will use to tell other users what CSL model you should look like. Often times VA's on VATSIM will modify this file and add some textures so that they can see company traffic in the correct colors. Unfortunately this causes serious problems for anyone who does NOT have those textures - as they end up seeing those VA's as themselves, often drawn as a full GMAX model (quite annoying and frame rate killing). If you are going to add lines to this file, I'd suggest using one of the codes that comes with the default CSL download. Does it really matter if people see you as a Lear Jet when you are flying a Citation X?4 - # of EnginesPretty Standard. It's funny how the example I show you has the B767 listed with 4 engines. 5 - Engine TypeJ- Jet, T - Turboprop, P - Piston.6 - Weight ClassificationATC needs this information for a variety of reasons. Select one of the following letter codes (L, H, S) (FAA Definitions Below)H - Heavy. Aircraft capable of takeoff weights of more than 255,000 pounds whether or not they are operating at this weight during a particular phase of flight. L - Large. Aircraft of more than 41,000 pounds, maximum certificated takeoff weight, up to 255,000 pounds. S - Small. Aircraft of 41,000 pounds or less maximum certificated takeoff weight. 7 - Climb Rate in FPM8 - Descent Rate in FPM9 - Same Runway Separation Classification10 - I have no idea what this field is for!So - if you were going to add a CITATION X to your list of aircraft - perhaps the following would work:Cessna : Citation 10C750~LJ452JS35003500IIIf********************END OF ADVANCED AREA********************If none of this makes sense and you don't want to mess with the csl_icao.csv file - then you could always just look under the CESSNA section and select "Cessna: Citation 10" . Yes, the "Citation X" is included as the "Citation 10"Hope that helps the two of you. I think that with the release of SB3 all of this is going to a lot easier.