Question about AFCAD

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

I have been doing some scenery designing lately and ran into a problem with an AFCAD. Using Instant Scenery, I placed a few objects, one being a parking garage near a hospital. Then on top of the parking garage I placed a helicopter pad. The chopper pad is hard so that I can land on it without sinking through. After this I created an AFCAD for the hospital (University Medial Center in Tucson, AZ - 5AZ4) using the lat and long coordinates from a centered spot on top of the pad, also including the altitude. The problem is when I begin a flight and select 5AZ4, when the flight loads I begin on the ground under the parking garage and not on top of the helipad. I can't understand why this happens since the pad is landable. I don't sink through when I am on the pad, only when I start a flight from it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.Regards, Sean Campbell

[Guest wji]

The helipad will not support the rotocraft on startup. You know this.The work-around I use is to create another AF2 file at the same elevation as the helipad. Its runway only needbe 50feet or so but it will support the helo on startup.

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

>The helipad will not support the rotocraft on startup.>>You know this.>The work-around I use is to create another AF2 file at the>same elevation as the helipad. Its runway only needbe 50feet>or so but it will support the helo on startup.I didn't know that an afcad helipad won't support a helicopter on start up. I am going to bed, but tomorrom I will place an AFCAD runway under the pad thats on top of the building and see what happens. I hope it will support a new flight from start up. The AFCAD I made before was the same height as the helipad, but was as a helipad and not a runway. Didn't know there was a difference in how FS looks at this when starting a flight. Thanks for the help. I will report back tomorrow and let you know how it worked.Thanks,Sean

[Guest wji]

"I have been doing some scenery designing lately"I presumed from your statement that the helipad was a scenery object. The helipads added using AF2 are nothing more than colored objects at the level of the AF2 airport; unless a Start Location is added to them, they don't even show up in the airport's parking list.The method I described works best using helipad scenery objects (Len's et al). It's a little known fact AF2 runways can be placed anywhere in the sim and are useful for routing AI_traffic; i.e., place an AF2 airport/runway at FL210 at a distance of 100km from departure and assign it as T&G and the AI plane will fly this route before proceeding to DESTination airport. Cool. One can see adding an AF2 runway under a helipad scenery object is a relatively simple matter; add some threshold lights and it will even light up at night! :-)

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

Well, I tried adding a tiny runway under the helipad like you suggested, but still no luck. When I start a flight I am under the runway and under the helipad on the ground. The helipad I am using was an object I placed using Instant Scenery. It's a hard surface that I don't sink through when I land. I can save a flight from it and restart and I am still on the pad. But after putting an AFCAD helipad or runway under the pad and try to begin a new flight from that point I still end up on the ground. The pad is placed on top of a parking garage, about 100 feet above the ground. I slewed to the top of the pad and got the coordinates and used the lat, long, and altitude for tha AFCAD. I should have clarified when I said I was designing scenery. I am not designing the objects just placing them. Anyone have any other ideas? I can't believe this one little thing is so hard for me to fix, lol.

[Guest wji]

"I can't believe this one little thing is so hard for me to fix"Stick with it and you will succeed. I have made dozens of AF2 heliports and there's no way an aircraft can sink through an AF2 file.I always use the default FS9 Bell206 aircraft when building any new AF2 airport. This type is 4.2 feet ABOVE the actual airport level (eye level); thus, if my building were 100 feet ASL (this is the elevation shown in red at the top of the Slew Screen) I make my AF2 airport elevation 196 feet. (Actually, if the helo-skids are at 100 feet, the simulator elevation shows 104.2 feet) Anyway, you get the idea.Rarely, is everything perfect the first time. Simply adjust (edit) the height of the new airport so it perfectly matches the helipad -- whereever it is located.P.S. Wait until you try and get AI_traffic helicopters flying in and out of the new helipads -- what you're doing is a piece of cake :-)Here's a screenshot of one I made:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/177090.jpgThis is an FS9 Start Position and the helo DOES start on the helipad (as shown)

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

>"I can't believe this one little thing is so hard for me>to fix">>Stick with it and you will succeed. I have made dozens of AF2>heliports and there's no way an aircraft can sink through an>AF2 file.>>I always use the default FS9 Bell206 aircraft when building>any new AF2 airport. This type is 4.2 feet ABOVE the actual>airport level (eye level); thus, if my building were 100 feet>ASL (this is the elevation shown in red at the top of the Slew>Screen) I make my AF2 airport elevation 196 feet. (Actually,>if the helo-skids are at 100 feet, the simulator elevation>shows 104.2 feet) Anyway, you get the idea.>>Rarely, is everything perfect the first time. Simply adjust>(edit) the height of the new airport so it perfectly matches>the helipad -- whereever it is located.>>P.S. Wait until you try and get AI_traffic helicopters flying>in and out of the new helipads -- what you're doing is a piece>of cake :-)>>Here's a screenshot of one I made:>>http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/177090.jpg>>This is an FS9 Start Position and the helo DOES start on>the helipad (as shown)>Thanks for the help. I used the default Bell trick to get the proper elevation and I also noticed that your AFCAD was in a different folder. Mine was in the Addon Scenery/Scenery folder with all the other AFCAD. I moved it to the folder where my project resides with all it's other .bgl's and now it finally works. Thanks again, now I can move on to my next hosptial, lolRegards,Sean

[Guest wji]

Well, thank you for your persistence . . . Anything is easy when we know how."I also noticed that your AFCAD was in a different folder."When AF2 is opened and an airport is Opened, the one at the top of the stack is the active file. AF2 nor FS9 care where this file is located; the fact it shows up in the AF2 stack proves it was found :-)I keep most of my AF2_files in the default Addon Scenery/Scenery folder but when creating New Airports in AF2 I (often) make a separate folder where everything is kept together; i.e., scenery.bgl and af2_airport.bgl and maybe even new_traffic.bgl.I see I simply left this Iditarod Trail waypoint in the EZ-Scenery Library folder where most of the objects reside. I'm cool with that. Using AF2 File/Properties it's not difficult to locate any AF2 file's location.P.S. Having said all this about all that, I still run ScanAFD from time2time :-)My apologies for stating 100 minus 4=196 ! (100-4=96) -- I thinkHave fun . . . I am.