Posts by Armitage

    The online Missionsgerät does not have Expert Mode (I would say).

    Sorry for the bad user interface - the "Expert Mode" is hidden under the ⚙️ (settings dialogue) in the upper right corner. This makes new export buttons as well as more setting buttons visible in the Missionsgerät.


    A PDF export would be a nice addition for this tool - but currently I do not have so much time to work on the Missionsgerät anymore. :/ But as it is open-source… ;)

    My aim was to extract the flight plan as a texte or a PDF file. Then delete the flight plan to start the plane empty. And configure the MCDU from zero.

    But, my best wish is airways and being able to enter them in the MCDU.

    Being hoping for features, an integrated route finder would be gorgeous (from SID to STAR, using the internal Aerofly current database)

    With https://www.simbrief.com/home/ you'd be able to build flight plans completely outside of Aerofly FS4 - but for the outdated nav data in Aerofly FS4, which makes some routes unusable, as some fix names are missing.


    The Missionsgerät does not know about airways. :| But at least it keeps the waypoint names, so you be able to export at least a textual representation of your route. You might have to activate the "exert mode" in the Missionsgerät to get a download option for Markdown files, which are nothing more than fancy text files. ;)


    Since you can review flights under "career" it would also be extremely useful to reload those flight plans.

    I had a look at the recorded missions. They seem to contain the flight plan, but as it is a binary file I found no way to extract the flight plan.

    Jet-Pack (IPACS) However, I'd like a button to export the fight plan (from de navigation menu). Thousand thanks

    You might want to take a look at https://github.com/fboes/aerofly-missions - this tool not only converts flight plans but also exports text files. It reads the main.mcf or the custom mission file.


    It also exports JSON flight plans, which can be posted by almost any programming language without effort.


    Otherwise it is a source of inspiration for building your own export format.

    It is done, the new page

    is in operation. 8)

    We salute all the authors of these airports - and hope, that these marvels will find their way into Aerofly Core for all platforms. Until then: thank you for making these airports publicly available.


    Given that the main simulator is so big, some more megabytes for some hundred airports is a very small price to pay.

    ...and the airport editor seems like a great new feature. This will open the gates for thousands of new airports we are yet missing.

    A historical flight (route) awaits at https://flight-sim.org/filebas…irmail-14-san-francisco/:


    Quote

    Starting at Reno you follow the old Transcontinental Airway System of 1924 to San Francisco. Your waypoints are placed on historical U.S. Airmail Beacons. Some of these are still visible today, consisting of a tower and a giant concrete arrow.


    See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_Airway_System and http://www.dreamsmithphotos.co…am_18sf_sl.html#oakairbcn


    The beacons are mostly gone, but in some places you will see radio antennas which will guide you along. As usual you may want to change the plane before departing.

    You know, it would be great if IPACS setup a system like Laminar Research has (The X-Plane Scenery Gateway) where users can create and upload airports onto an official IPACS server which serves two purposes: a) allows the general public to locate and download and immediately use those airports and b) eventually IPACS can incorporate those airports (automatic license agreement as part of upload account registration for the server) into the official Aerofly FS 4 product's airport simulation database for the next software update release.


    IPACS - Check it out for yourself and hopefully do something like it:


    https://gateway.x-plane.com

    Actually I like the idea of donating our airport creations to the official core of Aerofly. Like Wikipedia we could collaborate and create as well as fix content. IPacs would curate our changes and transfer these to the main simulator or appropriate DLCs. (As I understand the actual disk size of an airport is negligible compared to ortho images.)


    Ah, and think of gamification: what about becoming editor of the month or editor of the year? :D


    Ladies and gentlemen, world-wide airport coverage is in our reach!


    Next stop: placement of VORs and NDBs. :D

    The last time my F-15 would not go faster I noticed very late that my gear was still out. Mixed up my HOTAS bindings with another simulator. :/

    Saturday, you know the drill: A new mission is ready for you at https://flight-sim.org/filebas…332-mission-norway-rocks/

    Quote

    It is late in the afternoon, but the famous Preikestolen and Kjerag formations await. Keeping clear of the dangerous drafts around the mountain edges, you make your way through the fjords of Norway.

    Because there is no Stavanger Airport, I chose a different airport nearby. If you happen to have Stavanger Airport you may change your start destination by starting the mission and than changing the settings via main menu.


    Not to disappoint anybody, but the terrain mesh around these strange mountain formations has some difficulties; also the lack of water reflections make some terrain features hard to see. But nevertheless it is a beautiful flight.

    With the images from the Norway project and without artificial runways, it looks even better: :)


    It works like a charm, thank you very much. Strange that the in-game airports are stored in a binary format, while the old text-file format still works.


    Maybe CloudPort can offer a "Download for Aerofly FS4" option in the future.


    Oh, and maybe IPACS makes all airports visible on the map, even though there is no way to start or land there. Helps with the navigation. For my Sweden trip this would really helped in building flight plans, and led me to build the Missionsgerät to import stuff from Skyvector.

    I will give that a try. For a shareable mission the installation needs to be easy - because without the airport the mission does not show up.


    Or I just build two missions, one for non-modded and one for modded AFS4? :/

    I am planning a sightseeing trip (as usual as a shareable mission) to visit the famous Preikestolen in Norway - and noticed that Stavanger airport (ENZV) is missing, which adds a rather uneventful 20 minutes from Haugesund/Karmoy Airport to the flight plan. The fact that way smaller airports nearby are included while bigger and more important airports are missing (try to land at Malmö in AFS4 ;) ) is somewhat curious.


    Is there any community effort (possible) to add more airports? I know the SDK for airport construction is still missing, but is there at least some sort of quick and dirty way to add runways to start from? The instructions to convert airports from Cloudport are rather daunting.


    The vicinity of Seattle-Tacoma Airport (KSEA) lacks a number of smaller airports that are general aviation. Altogether there are five in addition to others that I have not mentioned.

    The area of Washington state has many beautiful airports for island hopping and backcountry flying - and most of them are missing in AFS4. Renton Municipal (KRNT) was my favourite starting point to visit all the small airfields around the bay, and it just is not there.


    And lets not forget our helicopter friends: the number of helicopter pads at hospitals and other locations is rather small, so EMS flying is restricted to very few places with very few options locally. This would also be nice if the community could supply helipads - but how?

    It's saturday again, and Mount Teide awaits. Download the mission file at https://flight-sim.org/filebas…ssion-mount-teide-awaits/.


    Quote

    Make your way up to the top of the Mount Teide on the Canary island of Tenerife. Starting at the desert side of the island at sea level, you will climb up to meet the 12,000ft high mountain before climbing back down on the arid side. You will land at the famous Tenerife Norte airport.

    Sadly the northern part of the island has broken elevation data, and the ortho images are somewhat fuzzy, but it still is a sight to see.

    Maybe there are some surplus F18-MFDs? ^^


    But for me steam is king. A nice six pack is all I need, maybe a nice HSI like in the Baron. There is always the moving map tablet to summon if I get in dire straits.

    Building a complete G1000 would be beneficial for many GA planes in AFS4, but I have no clue what would be required to build one. My last expeditions into DLL country where rather sad affairs.


    (Too bad the navigational unit from Just Flight's Turbo Arrow cannot be salvaged. This alone would be very helpful.)

    Here we go again: A new custom mission file has surfaced. This time it is a list of story missions, taking a Pitts S-2 from Hamburg (Germany) to Åland (Finnland). Weather and flight conditions are the real deal from the days the missions were flown back in autumn 2022, and I tried to put up a flight plan which takes real restrictions and procedures into account. Well, mostly, but I had to do a sightseeing trip to Øresund Bridge and Karlsborg (Sweden). ;)


    The mission file tells the story of Carl, a former engineer with Saab & Airbus (which may be somewhat cheesy, and you can ignore completely). Your task is a ferry flight with multiple stops. And if you want to honour Carl's wishes you do not activate the moving map and try to fly your flight plan (e.g. from Hamburg to Ærø) with a paper map, a compass and a stop watch. I am sorry, but I love this "eyes out of the cockpit" flying (German article, but it has an English YouTube video embedded).


    Have fun with this one, I sure learned to fly the temperamental Pitts S-2 along the way.

    I would love to see this baby on Aerofly FS 4:

    OMG! The most beautiful livery on the most beautiful prop plane out there. The Piaggio Avanti sure is an iconic plane.


    Whenever I think of new planes I am more down the line of aircraft types yet underrepresented in AFS4. Light sport aircraft, bush planes, contemporary GA planes, cargo planes (civilian as well as military), coaxial or tandem helicopters, tilt-rotors, or STOVL jets.


    But all this wishful thinking aside: I am quite happy with the currently available aircraft. I have my Pitts, MB339, Learjet, the outstanding R22 and EC135. If a SR22 or Quickie comes my way I won't object, but for me there are more than enough toys to spend my time.