B747s/A380s almost always sent to GA Parking. Any 'fix'?

[martinlest2 58]

I have been monitoring hundreds of flights now over the past year (if not for the 15 years I have had FS98/2000/2004/X) and I can say that, upon arrival at an airport (in a large jet), ATC seems to choose a GA parking or a cargo spot (usually as far away as possible form the main passenger terminals!) in preference to a passenger gate when instructing taxi to terminal. This is at any of the thousands (probably) of airports I fly into. I have on many occasions checked the gates at the airport (mostly empty) and the AFCAD (no isolated taxiways or other reason for FS not to use) with no problems showing.

 

So why I are 747s/A330s so consistently sent to remote GA parking when so many passenger gates, with or without jetways, are empty? As the parking spots are usually way too small for these large planes I am not sure why I am being sent there in the first place...

 

Is there any way to tweak this, other than spend hours adjusting every airport individually? I'd be quite happy to disable all GA parking if it were easy (I already have GA traffic turned off in FS9 options, but that doesn't affect ATC's parking instructions of course), so long as I could turn them back on for my occasional VFR trips in a Cessna! (95% of my flying in FS9 is in jets and turboprops between city airports -  I tend to use FSX for scenic, VFR flights).

 

I usually just ignore the instruction, but as I use a 3rd. party ATC programme (PF3) you get nagged if you go the 'wrong' way!

 

I expect there is no way to fix this, but worth asking anyway!

 

Thanks

[A32xx 129]

Search for vip_park.zip in the library here:

 

File Description:
Creating VIP Parking for Commercial Airliners - an Illustrated Guide. After landing a Commercial Airliner, are you frustrated by ATC directing you to a gate which is nowhere near a logical spot? This guide shows how to create a reserved parking gate at any airport and have ATC direct you properly to that gate. This concept will work for a specific aircraft of your choice. The technique is based upon investigations and information developed by Jim Vile and Reggie Fields. Tested in FS2004 only. Please unzip to a temporary folder and read the directions carefully. Compiled in Doc and PDF formats for your flying enjoyment by David "Opa" Marshall.

 

 

Filename: vip_park.zip License: Freeware Added: 25th July 2008, 17:00:30 Downloads: 2077 Author: David "Opa" Marshall Size: 709kb

[martinlest2 58]

Thanks very much for the link. The problem is that that operates on a plane-by-plane/airport-by-airport basis: it would take SO much time to set this up across the board, airport-wise, as it were.

 

To be honest, PF3 (the ATC software I use, and which I highly recommend to everyone) has a feature that will set this up automatically, again on an airport by airport basis, but with just a couple of mouse clicks. I think that that is my best bet, at least for the airports I visit most often.

 

Otherwise there is a feature in PF3 to disable all a/c being sent to GA parking. The only problem is that you are just told to 'taxi to terminal' with no gate ascribed. At AES airports that's not ideal, but is probably the best all-round option..

[Dave_YVR 968]

 Maybe an obvious question but does your aircraft.cfg have the proper atc_parking_codes= airline code in it? Another thing to look at is the wingspan in your aircraft.cfg. If it's too big to fit in any of the available gates then you will be sent to a spot that does fit your aircraft.

[martinlest2 58]

Some have a parking code, some don't. Many repainters leave that blank (or get it wrong). I am not sure how effective that is, but I could have a 'blitz' on my aircraft.cfg files in that respect, AFCAD2 has a database of parking codes...

 

Yes, I can spot check wing span against gates, but I am usually flying something relatively modest, like an a320 - I am not expecting most airports automatically to accommodate an a380! :smile:

 

Thanks.

[Dave_YVR 968]

Also with the gate codes, your afcads/ade files would need to have codes as well. I just tried it with a couple different aircraft and airlines at YVR and each was assigned a gate that they actually use in the real world. Now that was using the default ATC, and if the default can get it right I would surely hope that the payware stuff can too.

[martinlest2 58]

 

your afcads/ade files would need to have codes as well

Yes, thanks for the reminder. I know that, but would probably have forgotten!! :-)

 

It's a hell of a lot of work if you want to 'doctor' all the airports you regularly fly to though... Oncourse (who produced PF3) are very open to incorporating user requests into their software updates (I must say that the customer service for Oncourse is probably the best I have experienced - for just about anything!!!), if there's a demand for it - and it's 'do-able' of course. They already, as I say, provide the facility to choose a parking place/gate for any airport you choose, and ATC will always send you there.  I have asked if they would be able to provide three (for small, medium and large planes): if they do that, then all you have to do is specify a gate for each a/c type at each airport and it's remembered for all future flights. That would be pretty neat!

[Dave_YVR 968]

 Also a good idea to check your most commonly flown aircraft. I just checked my PMDG NGX's and only a couple of my collection of 50-70 liveries even had a atc_parking_codes= entry.

[pschlute 37]

Folks , the parking code entry in the aircraft.cfg file is only there for AI aircraft. It has no affect on user aircraft gate selection by atc

[martinlest2 58]

Peter, I am obviously over-tired! Thanks, I actually knew that (believe it or not!). Oh dear, oh dear, what was I thinking???.

[Dave_YVR 968]

Folks , the parking code entry in the aircraft.cfg file is only there for AI aircraft. It has no affect on user aircraft gate selection by atc

 

 I've just  tried it with 4 different airlines that each use a narrow range of gates and it's gotten them all correct each time. The chances of it being that lucky with over 200 possible parking spots is pretty doubtful.

[martinlest2 58]

Dave, I used to think that they worked in user a/c, and AircraftContainerSDKFS2004.doc does say:

 

atc_parking_codes= Specifies an ICAO airline designation so that ATC can direct the aircraft to a gate that has also been designated specifically for that same airline (e.g. AAL for American Airlines).  Documentation on specifying parking spaces can be found in the Scenery Facilities Database document.

In practice though I never really found that the codes worked, even with the corresponding gates marked in AFCAD2. Other people had said (in other threads) that it only works (if at all) with AI traffic and my experience kind of bore that out..

 

But if you have got them to work with your user aircraft, I don't know what to think any more! In any event, I think the parking code route is too laborious to use on anything other than a small number of 'favourite' airports.

[Dave_YVR 968]

 It works rather well, but it's more than just having the right codes. Your aircraft has to be able to fit into the spot available otherwise you will be assigned something else. In FSX/P3d this is from the wing_span entry in the aircraft.cfg and in FS9 was from within the model itself.

[martinlest2 58]

Ok, so much the better, but for me, as I say, I can't see me putting in all those hours to change so many airports (I rarely fly to the same one twice these days!).

[Dave_YVR 968]

 Fair enough, I've been editing them for years or using ADE files that have them already done.

 It makes a big difference in the immersion not only having the AI parked in some sort of order as well as being assigned a spot that coincides with the other traffic of your current livery instead of randomly all over the place. If you do start just do a few here and there, your most common pairings for instance. You also don't have have codes in for every airport you go to, it starts with the type of spot be it a gate, cargo, ramp, then size of the spot available for your aircraft. If there's an airline code then it will narrow it further.