Santa Rosa

[Christopher Low 5,332]

I have just modified the northern section of Santa Rosa airport (where the two runways intersect). I was originally intending to simply stretch the small piece of taxiway centreline between the two runways (taxiway alpha), but FLED revealed a rather untidy area of taxigraphs and missing centrelines, including the following:-1. The taxigraph part of runway 1/19 was skewed off to the right of centreline.2. There was a section of taxiway (and taxiway lighting) at the end of runway 1/19.3. There was a section of taxiway (and taxiway lighting) at the end of runway 14/32.4. The AI pathway at this location approached runway 1/19 along taxiway Alpha, then turned left along this runway until it joined the end of runway 14/32, and then exited this runway along taxiway Yankee.5. Taxiway Alpha had a section of taxiway centreline missing to the right of runway 14/32.This may seem very fussy to some of you, but it is a classic example of why I still make so many tweaks and upgrades to the airports in FU3. It was just untidy, and I you all know how I like to get my taxiways and AI pathways nice and tidy :-)Anyway, I decided to pull the runway 1/19 taxigraph to the centreline, delete the two sections of runway taxiway (and the relevant taxiway lighting), and add the missing taxiway centreline. This relatively simple modification now means that the AI planes will use taxiway Alpha to cross these two runways, rather than take a weird detour. It looks smoother, it is smoother, and it's a damn sight better ! It just goes to show how little I fly around in FU3 compared to the rest of you, otherwise I would have discovered this a long time ago.Oh, and there's a bonus here. THERE ARE NO TAXIGRAPH ERRORS.I amaze myself sometimes............ :-lolChris Low,ENGLAND.

[Hans_Petter 1]

Sounds great! Are you going to upload it soon?Hans Petter

[Guest jonpoint]

Thanks for that, Chris!I'm glad there's someone concerned enough to do it. I am looking forward to trying it. BTW, send me an email - I have something for you to play with!Jon Point*************************(effyouthree@hotmail.com)*************************

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Hans,It isn't really that much of an upgrade. I was just trying to make myself look impressive :-lolI have made lots of little tweaks at numerous airports since I released Seattle 2002 and SanFran 2002, but I didn't really think that they would be enough to warrant an upload. I could easily combine everything together again, and release Seattle 2003 and SanFran 2003. However, just like BT require enough signatures to upgrade particular telephone exchanges to broadband capability, I also need to know that there is enough interest to make this worthwhile :-)Maybe you could all let me know if this would be welcome......and worth the effort ?Bear in mind that these packs would also include all of the airports that I have upgraded from UNICOM status to tower control, which would enable me to remove ALL of my previous packages from the FU3 file library. Now that I think about it, that makes a great deal of sense.Best Wishes,Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest juvat2]

Hi Chris,Your Seattle and Sanfran 2003 is a fantastic idea. I definitely would like to get them.Thanks, Jim B.

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Jim,Bear in mind that these "tweaks" often involve little more than taxigraph alignments and one or two AI plane changes. Of course, some airports have had slightly more done to them, like a few more trees added :-) I have also added another scenery package in the San Francisco Bay region (Alameda), and the AIPLAN.txt file for the Seattle region has been modified to include more accurate information (although whether this has made a difference is anyone's guess).Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[adams 1]

I modified the AIPLAN for Seattle maybe a year ago. I changed almost all zero's for more real values, but I didn't find any significant change. The planes still fly under ground. Maybe a little less.B.Adamski

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Bogdan,Yes, I had noticed one or two anomalies since I modified the file. I am not sure if it is possible to stop this altogether, but my main aim would be to stop those strange approaches to airports that AI planes sometimes perform. These are the ones where the plane descends towards the ground at an angle to the active runway, then seems to slow down as it approaches the terrain........and then vanishes.Have you seen this happen ?Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[adams 1]

Yes, I saw it. FU isn't perfect and we can do nothing, I think.Bogdan