I have been a long time MSFS user having occasionally looked at FlightGear. Recently I have managed to load FG in boredom, and managed to get it working and come to realise that FG has so much more potential than MSFS. The problem with MSFS is that it third party add-on makers are extremely limited in what they can do. Despite this there is enormous diversity in the MSFS community.FlightGear could be so much better than what it is, but it isn

Any suggestion?

Hmmmm The thing is that we can't tell people what to do. But I guess I can make, as you said, suggestions.People who have projects should have websites to increase the presence of Flightgear on the web.There needs to be an effort into making FlightGear a lot more transparent. At the moment a lot of the documentation is a bit ambiguous.The program needs to be well supported if not more stable. If people download Flightgear and it does not work they will just uninstall it. Likewise if they read this forum with a majority of the questions being on troubleshooting they will not even consider installing it.Flight gear needs some innovative features to attract people. e.g-Fire bombing-Carrier operations (with catapults, arrester hooks etc.)-Aerial refuelling-Aero towing of gliders (perhaps car and winch launches as well)-Multiple crewed aircraft (people can be pilots co-pilots flight engineers etc)-Complex aircraft systems/cockpits-Rescue operations-Crop dusting-Service vehicles-Aerial Launches (from dropships, e.g. X1, x15 etc)-Slung loads

>Flight gear needs some innovative features to attract people.>e.gSome of the features that you have listed are implemented:>-Carrier operations (with catapults, arrester hooks etc.)>-Aerial refuelling>-Aerial Launches (from dropships, e.g. X1, x15 etc)>-Complex aircraft systems/cockpitsThis is up to individual aircraft creators. I belong to this group.What will be most welcoming is if someone with a talent for scripting can work on the systems for us, so the modellers can concentrate on doing the modellings. :)In my opinion, the thing that we desperately needs and very few people are working on is the scenery. I'm not talking about the scenery for the entire city. I'm talking about the scenery of the airports. As far as I know, San Fransico International Airport is the only airport that has buildings in FlightGear. All the other airports are just empty fields. It will be nice to see people who have experience creating scenery in MSFS putting their skills in this area. :)

The attachment may interest you.

Yes it is very interesting. VERY interesting. Could it actually refuel or is it just a dummy refuelling aircraft?But the problem is that there is no way of finding out about it. I have spent a few hours surfing for flightgear and come up with very little. People need to see this. If they do they will come over.Cheers

From what I know, the tanker does perform refuelling, although the process lacks visual realisim if you know what I mean.I have no idea how to get it up and running. May be someone here can shed some light.

> From what I know, the tanker does perform refuelling,> although the process lacks visual realisim if you know what I> mean.Indeed. The tanker flies in circles controled by AI (artificial (un)intelligence). And if you come close to the outlet, it refuels you. :-)> I have no idea how to get it up and running. May be someone> here can shed some light.I don't think it's documented anywhere, except maybe in the list archives (http://baron.flightgear.org/pipermail/flightgear-cvslogs/2004-June/007987.html)I had it running at some time, but now I couldn't make it work. It should go something like this:(1) download and install the tanker from here (last entry): http://home.comcast.net/~davidculp2/hangar/hangar.html(2) then open $FG_ROOT/preferences.xml and add the "refueling_demo" to the section in an extra line after the "nimitz_demo". Turn on , , and all that.(3) then start fgfs: $ fgfs --aircraft=T38 and find the 737 on the radar screen. Fly to refueling position.BTW: We have a harrier with working VTOL capabilities. Just yesterday I landed it vertically (more or less) on the aircraft carrier. Use the mixture axis to control the thrust vector.m.

Ah, thanks for that. I'll have a play around with it at some time. Do you have any other FG sites that I can add to my links page?As far as I can tell the harrier does not have a visual model. I would like to build a new model and vc to compliment the flight model.

Yeah it would be nice to have to actually fly the plane onto the nozzle with some accuracy. I'll have a bit more of a look at it sometime. With booms however, I understand that the plane flies in formation with the tanker and the boom is steered into the refuelling port.

Yeah, you're absolutely right about the scenery.

You are planning on working on the Airbus A300?

Yeah, I think I'll probalbly do a simple first version and then try to do a version with complex aircraft systems modeled.

I am planning to work on the exact same aircraft, althought I still have quite a lot to finish before I can move onto it. May be we can cooperate then.:-)

That sounds like a plan. :D