For the past several generations of flight sim, we have had "real time weather". At least it is as real as the wx server can download it into the program.Has anyone thought about how "Real time air traffic" could be downloaded into the program? Since both real wx and the real time traffic you can watch on the net are aprox 15 minutes old, it seems to me that it would be possible to marry the two together for a more "Real World" simulation. You could still use the default aircraft and whenever say a real United, American or Delta jet was flying; you could tell the program that traffic was an Orbit or a Soar aircraft. I would think that someone could though add United and the rest of the real world aircraft without too much problem.I would like to hear what the rest of the sim drivers think about this downloading real traffic instead of the canned AI in the current program.Terry

There is one AI package, and I completely forget the name of it right now, that does download this information and creates your initial AI based on current (slightly delayed) real world traffic. Because of the data source (I believe) and the bandwidth, there is a recurring theme involved with this.Mostly, I think the trouble with this is just getting the data. There are some informational sites, but the data in a pure data format isn't readily available via the web, at least not for the US.

http://www.airnavsystems.com/ANFS/index.htmfor FS2004 is about as close as you are going to get.Chris

I imagine that a FSX version might be in the works if they have one for FS2004.ThanksTerry

There is an FSX version in the works. Lets hope they improve on the aircraft selection and airline/ga traffic. They have the basic premise down, and have figured out a way to have real time traffic into FS9. They have such GREAT POTENTIAL here, but they failed to harness it properly for FS9. If they really wanted to make this product great, and generate a large following, hence $$$ (its a montly subscription based program), they should:1)Make sure all the regional airlines are represented, not one paint for a regional carrier flying for several different airlines. 2)Verify they have all the aircraft that each airline operates, and a model for it.3)Add all the little carriers, cargo and business charters They would have something most products do not, realistic real time schedules for cargo and small carriers that dont publish timetables.4)Have a large variety of GA aircraft, both prop and jet, and let their program sit back and capture all the realistic, real time flights of IFR GA planes, again, something else no other program has captured. Imagine real time flights of all GA IFR aircraft at large and small airports around North America. Their software does have this capability, they just have to take the time to model the aircraft, hardcode the carrier or GA aircraft into the program, and have an built in way to update the aircraft and or paints as airlines change equipment. Their current program captures ALL of the aircraft (with the exception of some private aircraft that block tracking, military etc)that fly IFR in North America, including the Caribbean, Hawaii, Guam, plus aircraft flying into/out of North America from South and Central America, Asia, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, Russia, and Europe (did I forget anyone LOL). A downside is that it is North America only.IF Air Nav, and this is a big IF, did a thorough upgrade, I would imagine many AI enthusiests (sp?) such as myself would be willing to pay a reasonalbe montly subscription, especially if the price for the initial product is not too high. What's nice is in the FS9 version, I have switched out all of their poor models and paints with Aarvark, Evolve AI, Henry T etc aircraft and paints, so I am getting the best of both works, great real time AI and great models. Hope this helps,Brian S.

A functional realism (real traffic) would be as good or better than some of the fake auto gen scenerys in my opinion. I would rather be watching for traffic than scenery that does not really exist in the first place. (autogen).Terry