hi,can someone tell me how FS9 handles the arrival gates? my problem is that when i fly into KDFW atc mostly assigns me a gate at this DELTA hangar (located out east between rwy 35C and 35R, taxiway junction Bravo and Papa). this is not highly realistic when you

You didn't indicate whether you had updated AFCAD files for KDFW or were using the default gate assignments.W. Sieffert

The user aircraft's gate assignment is based on radius. You will be assigned a space the most closely matches the mdl radius of your aircraft. In order have your plane parked at a certain area, make sure that you have a space in the desired area that matches your airplane radius. You need to use programs like afcad to edit the airport parking spaces and aircraft mdl radius.

You might also want to put the codes nescessary inside the aircraft.cfg of the plane in question to make sure you get assigned to the right terminal, if you want that kind of realism.If you are using AFCAD2 program first assign the codes to each/some gate where you want aircraft to be parked. This works for both user aircraft and AI. More info about all of this in the help section of AFCAD2.For example for United Airlines, you would assign a gate the UAL ICAO code, and this is what to add into the (Fltsim.#) section of that aircraft/airline:atc_parking_codes=UALatc_parking_types=GATERadius comes into play if you want to make sure your B737 doesnt get assigned among the 747 heavy gates :)Also, the =GATE section should be =CARGO if you are using a cargo aircraft. =RAMP is only meant for GA Traffic ;-)

Unfortunately, the parking code has no effect for the player's aircraft.

I think it was in the PAI Afcad group that suggested assigning a unused radius (usually a small mumber) to your aircraft and the same number to a particular gate you would want to use at an airport. I had limited success using that method. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Using Afcad, what I do is to leave one parking spot unassigned at my favorite airports in the gate area of my favorite carriers. Sort of a reserved parking spot. You know exactly where the parking spot is without using that pink line and you are always parked where you should be. John

To go along with the suggestion above from John, if you are using Radar Contact updated to the latest version of 3.1, your preflight options allow you to specify a parking gate at destination. This at this version will allow the RC ATC controller announce your destination. It does not give you gate taxi directions. Version 4 will have better AI recognition and introduce AI control and perhaps while not providing directions, will help prevent ground collisions.I don't use this option but it is available. I just as John says use AFCAD2 to leave an unassigned gate. I do define the aircraft parking type as gate in aircraft.cfg.You can find out more if you are interested in the Radar Contact forum on AVSIM.

> I think it was in the PAI Afcad group that suggested>assigning a unused radius (usually a small mumber) to your>aircraft and the same number to a particular gate you would>want to use at an airport. I had limited success using that>method. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. > Using Afcad, what I do is to leave one parking spot>unassigned at my favorite airports in the gate area of my>favorite carriers. Sort of a reserved parking spot. You know>exactly where the parking spot is without using that pink line>and you are always parked where you should be.>> John The reason you may not be able to park at it sometimes is that if you've given a parking code to it, some other AI plane that got there before you with the right parking code, got the space. Yes, leaving the space code blank will prevent that from happening. However, if the parking radius of that space is smaller than your plane's radius, you will not get the space even if there is no AI parked there either. However, a blank space does not necessarily ensure that the AI will not park there either. If an AI plane is out of its own spaces, then it will start overflowing to other spaces big enough to handle it, starting with the blank spaces. The best thing to do is reserve your own personal radius and delete out any parking code from that space. This will make your own plane the most likely plane to be assigned the space, it will lock out larger radii aircraft, with smaller overflowing aircraft your only potential competition for the space, but since your radii would be an exact match, yours is preferred by the system.

Urgh!Really?I had noticed this but figured I had set it up wrong.So all the airline parking codes only apply to AI aircraft and not "our" aircraft.What a disappointment......

Yup...pretty annoying but like some mentioned there are some things you can do if you know where you want to park in advance.

I should have been clearer. At my "reserved gates", there is nothing there as far as Afcad is concerned. It's just whatever scenery, usually a jetway, that is in that spot. As far as AI aircraft are concerned, there is nothing there. John

Well...yeah. If you don't put a parking space there, then nobody, AI or user aircraft will be parked there. I had thought the point of what we've been talking about is how to be "assigned" a specific spot by the ATC ground controller after landing your plane at an airport. If you use the methods such as radius sizing, the ground controller will tell you to "Taxi to Gate XX" where Gate XX is the one you want to go to. Of course you can always stop the plane on any piece of open ground...

OK so I just landed my cargo b747 at an airport and switch to ground control to taxi. Now, since I want to park in a cargo area, do I say taxi to gates or taxi to parking? If I say gates will the ATC direct me to the passenger gates even though I put the cargo parking code in the aircraft cfg?Thanks!

Parking, since the cargo area is considered "GA Parking" by the ATC module. But always, for best results, make sure that your airplane radius and the desired parking space radius the same.