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I'm suffering with the *realistic* tiller system of FSLabs. It's only because I'm a average mouse yoke user. It's unknown as to why FSLabs does not support autorudder. It's a burning issue for people out there, like me, who solely uses mouse yoke for flying for some reason. I know we can use the MCDU to activate sticky tiller disco button but then you have to steer using the keyboard, which is unbelievably difficult. Is there any other way to steer the aircraft on ground using mouse & keyboard? If so, that would be really helpful. Thanks!

I recently switched from Flight Gear to FSX. The Flight gear community is very passionate about the realism of their flight model, but because it is open source there are numerouse bugs and performance issues, many of which have to be fixed with coding that is tedious and I am not very good at it. Mostly I fly GA aircraft like the Cesna 172. In Flight Gear, if I land too hard the aircraft wil bounce off the runway and nose up making for a very uncontrolled landing, (generally ending up on the nose of the aircraft once I come to a complete stop--often NOT in front of the terminal building!) Therefore, the landing approach has to be nearly perfect to be successful in FG. The contrast in FSX is that even with the realism settings turned all the way up this does not happen. I can land a Cesna 172 a bit too hard and the aircraft just squats down on the runway. Also, taxiing in a crosswind is much easier in FSX than in Flight Gear. I have had the plane pushed around all over the place in a 10 kt crosswind running in Flight Gear, but hardly at all in a 16 kt cross wind running in the FSX environment. Overall, handling a Cesna 172 and landing successfully seems much easier in FSX than in Flight Gear. Can anyone tell me if this is a lack of realism in the FSX model, or is the Flight Gear model over sensitive in an attempt to "prove" their superiority (ie, if only the best can do it successfully then our program must be better than the mass-market program)? RDS

Here’s a quick guide explaining how to run GSX and PMDG’s ground vehicles side by side with all its glory, quirks and limitations. This will give you GSX’ fully animated ULD/pallet and catering loading, including realistic vehicle and container logos based on airline/airport, while retaining PMDG’s additional vehicles like cabin services, maintenance van and any extra cargo loaders which won’t be possible when running GSX exclusively as it still only supports a maximum of two catering trucks and two cargo loaders. This will see the Queen being surrounded by an appropriate number of servants, exactly how it should be ;) First things first: Update GSX to the most recent major version (1.9.9.11 or newer) as this will prevent GSX from removing any PMDG ground vehicles and it adds the PMDG 747v3 to its internal database to provide some basic compatibility. Put my customized GSX Aircraft files into the respective folder as per included readme.txt. More details at the bottom of this post. Although the most recent GSX update adds the PMDG 747 variants to its internal database, galley services (catering) are still being done through doors 1R and 5R, which isn’t very realistic on a B744 as there’s usually no galley in the tail section. I customized the GSX profile to ensure catering is being loaded through 1R and 2R. The AFT galleys will actually be supplied through door 4L on the opposite side. This door will still be serviced by a PMDG vehicle as GSX doesn’t allow more than two catering trucks. I also disabled door 5L to prevent GSX to place stairs at this door, as PMDG uses 5L for the cabin services truck (cleaners). Please note that this only hides the door for GSX, it will still be fully functional in the sim. I also disabled door checks for 1L in case of single jetway boarding. Also, please be aware that the aircraft diagram in the GSX -> Customize Aircraft menu won’t reflect the changes visually, its just a static image, so it will still show the 2nd catering door as being at the back. Just ignore this, the coordinates and open/close checks are set for Door 2R. Now we just need to hide some of the PDMG vehicles as they will be replaced by their GSX counterparts: Go to the FMC menu -> PMDG SETUP -> SIMULATION -> Page 10/10 and set the following: GROUND SERVICE OBJECTS = SHOW SELECTED GROUND SERVICE OBJECTS -> SELECT TO SHOW Then hide the following objects: FWD GALLEY MID GALLEY FWD CARGO AFT CARGO STAIRS 1L* STAIRS 2L* STAIRS 5L (* if parking stand has a jetway) Note: You could also hide the PMDG fuel truck and use the GSX truck instead. This will give you the choice between GSX traditional tanker-truck and PMDGs more modern, large airport hydrant-dispenser-truck. However, there’s a catch when using the GSX truck with AUTO GROUND OPS, which I will explain further below Now after everything is set up, let’s look into the actual turnaround process. You can either go for manual ground ops which gives you full manual control over timings for PMDG ground vehicles and door handling or you opt for AUTO GROUND OPS for realistic turnaround sequencing with little flexibility. In order to activate AUTO GROUND OPS just hit LSK3 on the GROUND OPERATIONS page to cycle through the available turnaround lengths (short, long and custom). For this guide I use the short turnaround time of 60 minutes. For a single leg flight or first flight of the day (no de-boarding): First check your fuel load. A 747 will usually have more than 30’000lbs (~16’000 kgs) remaining fuel, as landing with anything below can cause the fuel pumps to overheat. However, for most long haul flights, the airplane will be pre-fueled already before the turnaround starts, close to the actual plan fuel. Once dispatch has calculated the final fuel numbers, the refueler will just add the remaining amount to match the OFP numbers. As AUTO GROUND OPS uses realistic fuel flow values, it’s important to ensure that refueling doesn’t take too long (incl hook up time) as you might run out of time on a 1 hour turnaround, this will be indicated by a warning message on the FMC. If in doubt just make sure you add enough fuel before starting the turnaround timer. Now start AUTO GROUND OPS by selecting a turnaround time with LSK3 key, this should start the countdown timer. I won’t be going too much into detail about the timing, just play around and get a feeling for it. If you want more details about typical and realistic 747 turnaround timing, please refer to the official 747 Airport Planning document from Boeing. The timings PMDG used for auto ground services appear to be identical to the timeline diagram shown in this document. (Chapter 5.0 Terminal Servicing / PDF Page 120 or Document page 114) http://www.boeing.com/assets/pdf/commercial/airports/acaps/747_4.pdf BTW; the document mentions a boarding rate of 25 PAX per minute and 40 PAX per minute for de-boarding. Make sure you adjust your GSX settings accordingly After 4 minutes, Doors R1 and R2 will open which will start the catering resupply. Make sure you call GSX’ catering early enough to ensure that the trucks are in position when the doors are opening at T-4min. Note about GSX fueling: Should you opt to use GSX progressive, simulated fueling, you need to be aware that you won’t be able to start catering before fueling has been completed due to a GSX limitation. This could throw the entire timing off, that’s why I suggest to use PMDG refueling as this will allow you start boarding while refueling is still ongoing, just make sure you keep that fasten seatbelt sign off until refueling is completed to comply with real world procedures. The rest of the turnaround sequence is more or less self-explanatory. Keep in mind that you can override door control, so you can close certain doors earlier than AUTO GROUND OPS would normally do. For a multi-leg flight: I advise to complete GSX de-boarding phase before you start a new turnaround timer, otherwise AUTO GROUND OPS will start catering before de-boarding is completed. Not a big deal if you don’t mind open doors without anything attached to it ;) Once de-boarding is completed just follow the single leg procedure outlined above. Free tip of the day (especially interesting for the freight-dogs among us): By default, GSX will use the ground handlers logo for the cargo ULDs. On airports with dedicated (non-airline) ground handling this looks a bit strange as you might load Lufthansa ULD’s at departure and unload Menzies ULD’s at your destination. If you add the following line to the respective livery section of your aircraft.cfg, GSX will always use the airline logo for containers (or whatever valid 3 letter ICAO code you put in) atc_parkingcodes=XXX (replace XXX with the 3 letter ICAO code of your airline) So lets say you add ‘CPA’ as parkingcode for your Cathay Pacific livery and park your plane at VHHH, this would give you ground handling by ‘Hongkong Airport Services’ (HAS), catering by ‘Cathay Pacific Catering’ and the containers will bear the Cathay Pacific logo, just as in real life. I might be doing a quick time-lapse video showing a 60 min turnaround using both types of vehicles. Hope I’ll be able to complete it sometime this weekend. Note: I’ve attached two GSX aircraft config files, one for the 747-400 and one for the 747-400F. The PAX version will have the 2nd catering truck moved to door R2 (from R5) as described above and the freighter version will enable the main/side cargo door for GSX Hi-Loader including proper door checks for. This means that FWD cargo and Side/Main cargo will be served by GSX while AFT cargo is being done by PDMG vehicle. Make sure you change the show/hide config in your FMC accordingly. Download GSX configs I’ll add config files for all the other variants later.

What's the best ground handling add-on for P3Dv4? Is the one from FSDREAMTEAM the most popular, or are there any other newer options? Kind regards,