A mod that let you play ground services and drive the tug in MSFS. When someone called ground services, you would answer , go to the gate and push the aircraft back. I know it's silly. and probably have very little people interested in doing that but hey. That's why it's silly. 

A mod where you refill the vending machines inside the terminals.

If a developer could produce a high-fidelity add-on which replicated that realistically, they could potentially have a big money-maker. This is because for real-world operations there are one or two companies which make such simulators, and they are quite pricey, some are sold with with replica pushback tug controls so that ground service companies can use them to train personnel on.

The requirement for such a thing is because it's not that easy to train personnel on doing pushbacks on the real things; it takes quite a while to do so because, more often than not, aeroplanes are required to be pushed out pretty quickly, so there isn't always the opportunity to teach people; it's the same with headsetting to control the push and supervise starting the engines, that can take a while to accomplish too for the same reason; you need a training supervisor on a headset with a trainee on a splitter box to the headset connection, and a flight deck crew willing to be a bit forgiving/tolerant with the trainee, but it's the only way to do it.

Lorby was in the process of making such an add-on for P3D, and did get it out in an early incarnation, but it sort of got surpassed by events when MSFS was released, but you can find it on his products website if you are curious and it works fairly well.

It wouldn't be so difficult to extend GSX to do that, and we thought so many times about that.

But of course, MSFS came out, and everybody had to start working on that, because sales on P3D plummeted, but it's surely something we'll keep in mind for the future, possibly if MSFS would ever got something like a proper "avatar" mode. Probably not before some kind of VR support for the Xbox will arrive.

There are professional trainers though, like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3_Z6e-ePaA

However, I think for something like this to make sense on consumer Flight simulators, it MUST be networked, but the main issue is, if the user flying has a 3rd party airplane the user doing ground services doesn't, it would be a problem making it work accurately enough.

Edited May 12, 20215 yr by virtuali

21 minutes ago, Chock said:

If a developer could produce a high-fidelity add-on which replicated that realistically, they could potentially have a big money-maker. This is because for real-world operations there are one or two companies which make such simulators, and they are quite pricey, some are sold with with replica pushback tug controls so that ground service companies can use them to train personnel on.

The requirement for such a thing is because it's not that easy to train personnel on doing pushbacks on the real things; it takes quite a while to do so because, more often than not, aeroplanes are required to be pushed out pretty quickly, so there isn't always the opportunity to teach people; it's the same with headsetting to control the push and supervise starting the engines, that can take a while to accomplish too for the same reason; you need a training supervisor on a headset with a trainee on a splitter box to the headset connection, and a flight deck crew willing to be a bit forgiving/tolerant with the trainee, but it's the only way to do it.

Lorby was in the process of making such an add-on for P3D, and did get it out in an early incarnation, but it sort of got surpassed by events when MSFS was released, but you can find it on his products website if you are curious and it works fairly well.

so I wasn't that silly after all ? that's a first

Nothing involving a flight sim’s depth and playability is ever “too silly”.

Total immersion and freedom is key...no matter how the “serious study level simmer Avsim purist fun police feel”

Just like there's VATSIM, IVAO, and Pilot Edge, this would be a great start for "airport ops" teams. Tugs and fuel trucks wouldn't be hard to do. Would add another layer of realism with the big "cross the pond" type events etc. 

Another (if far fetched) idea would be to tie in Euro/American Truck Sim with virtual freight operators in the flight sim world. 

1 hour ago, Chock said:

If a developer could produce a high-fidelity add-on which replicated that realistically, they could potentially have a big money-maker. This is because for real-world operations there are one or two companies which make such simulators, and they are quite pricey, some are sold with with replica pushback tug controls so that ground service companies can use them to train personnel on.

The requirement for such a thing is because it's not that easy to train personnel on doing pushbacks on the real things; it takes quite a while to do so because, more often than not, aeroplanes are required to be pushed out pretty quickly, so there isn't always the opportunity to teach people; it's the same with headsetting to control the push and supervise starting the engines, that can take a while to accomplish too for the same reason; you need a training supervisor on a headset with a trainee on a splitter box to the headset connection, and a flight deck crew willing to be a bit forgiving/tolerant with the trainee, but it's the only way to do it.

Lorby was in the process of making such an add-on for P3D, and did get it out in an early incarnation, but it sort of got surpassed by events when MSFS was released, but you can find it on his products website if you are curious and it works fairly well.

I was on a Southwest flight out of KSLC where the pushback operator pushed us the wrong way, and they had to tug the airplane back into the parking spot and do the pushback all over again.   When they finished the first (bad) push, we just sat there for about 10 minutes.  I wondered why neither engine had started, and wondered if there was a problem with the engines or starters/apu/bleeds.  Then the pilot came on the intercom and said it was the operator's first week operating the pushback truck, and that they pushed us to the wrong spot. 

The pilot went on to say (in a wistful voice) that "...well, nowwww they have to call it in to corporate.  Thennn they have get approval to re-push, and thennnnn we can push again, and thennnnn we can be on our way".    He was taking it in good humor (aka humour) but you could kinda tell he was a little peeved too.

It cost us about 45 minutes, but I didn't mind.  It was educational.

2 hours ago, virtuali said:

It wouldn't be so difficult to extend GSX to do that, and we thought so many times about that.

But of course, MSFS came out, and everybody had to start working on that, because sales on P3D plummeted, but it's surely something we'll keep in mind for the future, possibly if MSFS would ever got something like a proper "avatar" mode. Probably not before some kind of VR support for the Xbox will arrive.

There are professional trainers though, like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3_Z6e-ePaA

However, I think for something like this to make sense on consumer Flight simulators, it MUST be networked, but the main issue is, if the user flying has a 3rd party airplane the user doing ground services doesn't, it would be a problem making it work accurately enough.

that is really a cool video about what these guys do in real life.  for a profession it looks like nice clean work, with beautiful days and all goes smoothly, plus be extremely well paid.  Makes me think I am in the wrong kind of work. 

A mod where you get to be part of the airliner cabin post-flight cleaning crew and earn money to pay for flight lessons. 1 hour of flight time in the C152 for every 100 coach cabins cleaned.  Extra pay for dealing with "wet" surprises, of which different types featuring hand-crafted PBR textures for additional realism, are available as additional DLC to maintain engagement and interest by ensuring a unique player experience with every session. The sky is calling!!!!

 

Edited May 12, 20215 yr by Stoopy

5 hours ago, fogboundturtle said:

A mod that let you play ground services and drive the tug in MSFS. When someone called ground services, you would answer , go to the gate and push the aircraft back. I know it's silly. and probably have very little people interested in doing that but hey. That's why it's silly. 

Not silly at all.  Chock captured the response better than I could.  But as someone who has worked in Management of all aspects of an Airline and Aviation services, this type of simulation may have mitigated so many safety incidents and aid in training. 

A ground services mod/mode would be really fun IF it had real models and airline paints. 

3 hours ago, Stoopy said:

 

A mod where you get to be part of the airliner cabin post-flight cleaning crew and earn money to pay for flight lessons. 1 hour of flight time in the C152 for every 100 coach cabins cleaned.  Extra pay for dealing with "wet" surprises, of which different types featuring hand-crafted PBR textures for additional realism, are available as additional DLC to maintain engagement and interest by ensuring a unique player experience with every session. The sky is calling!!!!

 

In the late 1980s US Air operated Shorts 360s as a shuttle between our local airport and their (then) hub in Pittsburgh. The airplane is a turboprop with a square fuselage - it looks like a flying shoebox, and the ride under the best of circumstances was not very comfortable.

One night the flight arrived from PIT and had apparently encountered continual moderate to severe turbulence enroute. Of 19 passengers on board, all but one got violently airsick. No doubt when the first few lost digestive integrity, it set the  rest of them off...

The FBO night watchman was an older gentleman (retired Marine) who had the contract to do the cleaning on the shuttle flights that stayed overnight. When he saw what he had to deal with, he asked for (and received) $1,500 from US Air to clean the cabin. (That’s almost $3,600 in 2021 dollars). That would have purchased quite a few hours of flight instruction for one night’s work!

 

9 hours ago, fogboundturtle said:

A mod that let you play ground services and drive the tug in MSFS. When someone called ground services, you would answer , go to the gate and push the aircraft back. I know it's silly. and probably have very little people interested in doing that but hey. That's why it's silly. 

What about a marshaller mod? It would be a way to use the Reverb G2 controllers 🙂

2 hours ago, MrFuzzy said:

What about a marshaller mod? It would be a way to use the Reverb G2 controllers 🙂

Actually, that could be a very cool idea for VR and hypothetically even easier to implement than being a pushback tug operator. Imagine in multiplayer, you choose a role to guide planes to their parking spot and then eventually level up to pushback tug operator. Is it any different from those acting as ATC in Vatsim? They are all essential elements to an aircrafts operation.