formation flying

[Guest robystar]

hi,I tried to have two AI planes take off at the same time. I made two different AFCADs for the same airport. What happens is that the plane of the second airport does not want to take off from its own runway but tries to take the runway of the first airport.It taxis to its starting point, turns around and takes off from the other runway. I am still on FS2002, by the way. Any ideas?robystar

[Guest MikeS]

"I made two different AFCADs for the same airport." I can't speak to afcad for 2002, I don't know it, but that would be a no no in 2004. Maybe having 2 for the same a/p has something to do with it???Formation flying for AI. I've only heard of it being done once before, and it sounded like it was probably intense to set up. To be honest, I didn't check it out. Maybe someone else will have more on it.Mikewww.aimadeeasy.comwww.flightontario.comI'm confused. Wait...maybe I'm not!

[Guest robystar]

Hi,Thanks for replying. I managed to solve the problems.Formation flying is done a lot on the military forums (fora).It can even be done in FS2002.Problem is, I solved the problem without knowing how come the problem is solved. I know one thing, though, i.e. the runway is too narrow to have two jets take off at the same time. So they now stay the one a little bit behind the other.In fact, the idea of formation flying is very easy: just make a couple of new airports with AFCAD situated almost but not completely at the same spot. The difficult thing is to have the AI planes taxi the same distance from the parking spot to the start location.Roby

[tgibson 11]

Hi,I believe the plane will taxi to the airport with the closest airport reference point (the pink dot). Make sure that the reference point of the desired airport is closer to that parking spot.It's been a long time since using FS2002 and the airport reference point position also has an effect on landing aircraft, so I'm not sure there will be much you can do.Hope this helps,--Tom GibsonCal Classic Propliner Page: http://www.calclassic.comFreeflight Design Shop: http://www.freeflightdesign.comDrop by! ___x_x_(")_x_x___

[Guest robystar]

Hi,I now remember how I solved the problem. It seems you cannot give the runways the same name in both AFCADs. So I called the first one 27L/9R and the other one 27R/9L and it works.Roby

[Guest robystar]

Hi,Tgibson mentioned something about the airport reference point influen cing the aircraft's landing behavior. Can you explain in what way?Robystar

[tgibson 11]

As I remember, when the plane exits the runway and contacts Ground, it will contact the airport that has the closest airport reference point.Hope this helps,--Tom GibsonCal Classic Propliner Page: http://www.calclassic.comFreeflight Design Shop: http://www.freeflightdesign.comDrop by! ___x_x_(")_x_x___