AKarhu

Yes, never questioned that, or anything else. My addition was purely to emphasize that in some stations, may one say, "unnecessary" use of beacons may be annoying as it is visually somewhat involving to discern an airplane just taxied in or being ready for push, from an airplane being just towed in as an example. The last one being different in that it can be safely passed by from behind. Very often it is also necessary to approach an aircraft with beacons on - a common example is a case of removing the chocks in case they are firmly stuck under the tire. Another case would be if it is needed to chock an airplane with running engines, or do some checks under one. Again, not questioning anything, but just throwing in some thoughts. The beacon light is actually maybe the most complicated one in that sense the subtle 'habits' and expectations on its usage vary greatly - of course, if one is not familiar with the local customary ways, the company standard should be followed, and eventual friendly feedback expected. -- Arto Karhu

To add just a bit to the comprehensive answer above, the details of lighting usage requirements and 'pracices' vary in between the countries and even stations. Especially: On certain stations, the beacon is used as much as anything as a signal to ground traffic to warn about airplane having engines running and/or about impending movement. On those airports, it may be generally appreciated that the beacon normally comes on as a last thing just before push or engine start, and off as the first thing after the cutoffs have been verified. -- Arto Karhu

It is actually quite a bit more common, typically when left unattended for any extended period of time they should be mostly powered down so that loss of ground power won't cause any horrible things to happen.... GPUs are notoriously unreliable and plugs can be loose too. Can be an issue with 737 which doesn't allow for strain relief strap to be attached - at least officially! -- Arto Karhu

I'm probably getting X-Plane specifically for this. I find these more hands-on birds way more interesting playgrounds than watching a tubeliner going around on its own for hours could provide (could as well just watch youtube ), I think it is really nice to have an occasional product targeted to folks like me. Perhaps being in smaller group, it doesn't mean it won't be appreciated. -- Arto Karhu

Thank you for your tips; I almost disregarded your guide as no practical improvement was done by any of the settings, and I get reasonable frames with all the other products, but this one: FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION=0.01 made the whole difference with the Triple! (P3Dv2.5 Pro) Frames up from 15-20 to 25-30 with limit of 31. This should be official tip for mediumish systems (i5 2500K, moderately overclocked; GTX770 2Gb). -- Arto Karhu

That 4 tons is quite much, I'd say above anything usual I've been noting. Just roughly averaging certain carriers, on an 738 you might end up with something like 2 tonnes or so worth of bags downstairs, and a couple of hundred of kgs of cargo above that, maybe up to half a tonne. And that would be quite full flight, though of course it would vary between stations and carriers. Regular 738 doesn't make that good of a carrier for combined cargo and passengers (with checked-in bags of course). Obviously nothing prevents one from trying to fill one up if cargo handler can't find better solution for the route and airline plays along. -- Arto Karhu

Just adding to reason my earlier question. The actual seating of the passengers versus the planned one is not that relevant for the pilot that often in anything bigger than the aircraft you've stated, that's of course true. But the cargo distribution easily is a bit relevant. Not (at least usually) in a life-or-dead way, but way the ULDs or pallets end up being loaded could cause some minute adjustments to your predicted balance, and stuff derived from that (TO trim etc.). Usually (=almost never) the pilot will not need to order a redistribution of the cargo. The final loading would already be checked to be within limits and any of specific notes (i.e. tail heavy aircraft etc.) - if the pilot did, that would probably cause some very major delays - not only for the flight in question, but also to many other flights as well dependent of the same ground crew. I would like to know the actual precision of the loading interface, not that would matter the purchase decision made already. -- Arto Karhu

A question regarding the 777F: how's setting of the cargo load handled? Is it more like the loading of the NGX, that is, setting up the total load, or is it closer to adjusting the use of actual pallet positions? Sometimes the actual loading sequence needs to be altered for practical or scheduling reasons, and that might cause some W&B variations from the 'optimal' and/or planned load distribution. -- Arto Karhu

:good: Now, just model a random, though surprisingly large, chance of having a passenger too drunk to be let onboard (or something similar) and having the ground crew to dig the bag (always the one in the bottom rear row in the container, in the container one not usually at the door). Seriously, way to go! - Arto Karhu