Credible specs for aircraft:

The following scenario has been replied to in several posts by others and myself. I thought it might be beneficial to somebody as a separate post as they may not have read whatever was referenced in the past. I am not sure there is an original post regarding the issue, only replies to other posts. (I may have overlooked them, if so I apologize)Many aircraft in FS are beautiful pieces of work by those with far more knowledge and talent that I have as I am no developer. This in no way is meant as a slam against their fine work and I sincerely thank all of you that make such contributions.However, many have weight, fuel capacity, power, and range specs that are far from the real thing.Therefore, one of the first things I do with a new aircraft download is to check the specs included in the aircraft.cfg file with the real thing. Yes, I realize individual aircraft all have different specs within a certain range in the log book, but there is a factory specified starting place which is a good reference for FS purposes. If the config file is way out of range from the factory specs I edit them accordingly. A good starting place is to do a google search for the aircraft in question with the manufacturer's name: (i.e. Boeing 727, Airbus 320, Gulfstream V, Piper PA24 etc.etc.) In addition to this there are a number of sites that generically give aircraft specs. Three are listed as follow:http://flyaow.com/planes.htmhttp://www.bh.com/companions/034074152X/ap...a-a/default.htmhttp://www.airliners.net/info/There may be others, but in the aircraft.cfg file for the aircraft in question, critical areas which I try to be sure are somewhat accurate are as follow:"max_gross_weight" under weight and balance"empty_weight" under weight and balanceFuel capacities under fuel.Depending on the format one may want to edit the seat loading to personal preferences. I usually have a fully loaded plane to start but this is not critical unless one over does it.WORST CASE, you may want to edit the "thrust_scaler=x.xxx" line entry to a little higher number for aircraft that are underpowered (or lower if you have a Cub that thinks it is a Concord - too much power). If that line item does not show up, you can add it by copying from another aircraft that does, or simply add it as "jet engine" in brackets - (this forum will not let me show the brackets). Under that add the "thrust_scaler=x.xxx" with whatever number meets your needs. Note that this may be a tradeoff between finding a setting that gives you enough takeoff power without seeming to be like a rocket on climbout and/or cruise power. Note: for conventional prop aircraft the entry will be "power_scalar=x.xxx under "piston engine" Another entry you may want to edit if you want reality is to edit "fuel_flow_scalar=x.xxx" under General Engine Data. This will be a longer process to have an aircraft with a range that meets aircraft specs and may require a few flights. There are several gauges you can install (and I highly recommend them)that will show your fuel burn in flight, but somehow, I have never been able to get them to quite agree with what turned out to be the actual range before I ran out of fuel. I guess it is just too hard to estimate climbout and descent time/burn figures. May take a few flights and tweaks to get the setting to come pretty close to the spec. I can certainly understand any developer only making a rough estimate with this entry as fiddling with it would be all that they do if they have numerous contributions. As always, backup everything before you start so that you can get back to go if you need to start over or something smells bad.Good luck and I hope this is of some use to somebody:RTH