Aircraft.cfg modifications for Air Hauler

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

You can also find in FSX options under controllers/buttons you can assign a hot key to the Toggle NAV/GPS function...I do this because I switch around aircraft so much I sometimes can't find the damn switch in the panels...so I made an easy to remember shortcut.

 

Also you can also use a similar cut and paste to add a better/prefered GPS unit to any aircraft as a popup window in your panel.cfg. I have Carenado's GNS530 unit window info pre-cut and saved to a notebook file so I can easily add it to any aircraft. I like this one because it is pretty basic, and has a CDI button that funtions as the GPS/NAV toggle....easy peasy.

[Quickmarch 488]

I really do like the way this sim can be modded to suit individual tastes. I could never afford most of the avionics I'm messing with these days. I can remember when a second VOR was a huge decision. Now I can add sophisticated panels to any airplane (or at least, I can try). It's like being let loose in a candy store with the keys.

[allardjd 1,853]

+1 - amen, brother.

 

John

[DublinPilatus 5]

Thanks guys! This will give me something to do today (damn rainy Irish weather haha). Thanks again mr Marchant! Really appreciate the help and the patience you lot have with me

[Quickmarch 488]

Who is this "Mr. Marchant" that Matt (DublinPilatus) keeps referring to?

 

Cheers,

March

[allardjd 1,853]

He's just calling you that because you're old.  

 

John

[Quickmarch 488]

I should never have admitted to owning (and knowing how to use) a slide rule. And, yes, I have flown a RW J3.

 

Getting old is Pigeon Poop!

 

PS: my phone doesn't get data, either.

[allardjd 1,853]

I should never have admitted to owning (and knowing how to use) a slide rule.

 

 

Yeah, me too.

 

And, yes, I have flown a RW J3.

 

 

Have never flown one but rode in one once, on floats.  Also a Tri-Pacer.

 

John

[Quickmarch 488]

Ditto for the Tri-Pacer. Ugly little rascals, but flew pretty well.

[DublinPilatus 5]

Hey I'm just being polite

[Quickmarch 488]

Hey I'm just being polite

 

I know that! I'm not offended at all.

 

I'm just having a bit of fun with you. And JA is just having a bit of fun with me.

 

[allardjd 1,853]

I'm just having a bit of fun with you. And JA is just having a bit of fun with me.

 

 

Yeah that's pretty much what we do here.

 

John

[DublinPilatus 5]

I know you's are haha Haven't gotten around to sorting out the autopilot yet. Dublin was hit with some bad weather yesterday and most of the internet services were hit so I haven't been able to download the Curtiss C-46. But thanks a million for the DC-3 autopilot. I've just went and bought another one

[DublinPilatus 5]

can someone help me out please? I've spent the best part of 4 hours messing around with the cfg for the Aerosim 787 Rolls Royce version but I cant get the capacity to a realistic level . This is the plane I want to lease to begin Intercontinental flights.    Stock capacity is 4440! Here is the weight and balance stats

 

 

[WEIGHT_AND_BALANCE]
max_gross_weight = 503500.000
empty_weight = 245800.000

reference_datum_position     =  0.0, 0.0, 0.0
empty_weight_CG_position     =  0, 0, 0
max_number_of_stations = 50

station_load.0=170.000000, 79.800000, -2.000000, 3.500000,      
station_load.1=170.000000, 79.800000, 2.000000, 3.500000,      
station_load.2=1040.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 3.500000,       
station_load.3=2500.000000, 60.000000, 0.000000, 3.500000,
station_load.4=10000.000000, 33.600000, 0.000000, 3.500000,
station_load.5=30000.000000, -18.800000, 0.000000, 3.500000,
station_load.6=2860.000000, 45.800000, 0.000000, -1.700000,   
station_load.7=2060.000000, -27.000000, 0.000000, -1.700000,  
station_name.0 = "Pilot"            
station_name.1 = "Co-Pilot"         
station_name.2 = "Crew"             
station_name.3 = "Super Seat 1-2"      
station_name.4 = "Economy 6-22"       
station_name.5 = "Economy 23-47"      
station_name.6 = "Forward Cargo"      
station_name.7 = "Aft Cargo "

 

 

 

Regards

Matt

 

 

 

 

[Quickmarch 488]

We'll need a bit more info, Matt.

 

The loading you quote, above, adds up to 48,800 Lbs. The missing info is the fuel capacity.

 

According to your numbers there's 208,900 lbs unaccounted for.

 

Jet fuel is roughly 6.6 to 6.8 Lbs/USG. Does the aircraft carry ~31,000 USG of fuel?

 

Ignoring balance concerns, here's the math for AI:

 

MTOW (Max T.O. Weight - could also be gross weight)

minus

EW (Empty Weight)

minus

FOB (Fuel on Board)

equals

Capacity

 

AI ALWAYS fly with full tanks. So, one way to add AI capacity is to reduce range. If you're doing the flying, you can load whatever fuel you need, leaving the rest for cargo.

[DublinPilatus 5]

I'll check when I get home sorry about that

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

I'm not sure it matters...but as a matter of course I tend to set all the stock station load amounts to "0.00" except the Pilot's position.

 

And ya, what QM said. That plane must carry a CarpTon of fuel if there is only 4000 lbs left with the loads as set.

 

There are 3 strategies to employ, or a combination of them....

1.

IF you plan on flying the plane yourself ONLY...leave the fuel alone...cept see the caveat in plan #3.

2.

IF you plan on ONNY the AI's flying the plane...Decimate the fuel load...leave like 10% of stock. (The AI's will manage just fine on even 20 gallons of gas...somehow...but leave a bit more ) and you will be able to pack a CarpTon of cargo in instead of fuel.

3.

IF you plan on Both you and the AI's flying the plane, then import the airplane TWICE...the first time, pick one of the Liveries YOU want to fly for your personal plane...import ONLY that livery in STOCK config...you can manage the fuel loads yourself.  Then, modify the aircraft.cfg with the fuel capacity diminished to your preferred level, and import a different  livery/s for your AI's to use in this modified configuration.  AH will remember the way you Imported each livery and allow cargo/fuel as per the way they were installed. Also, you will get jobs that your Stock configued aircraft can profitably fly if you import a modified version regardless if the AI's will be flying it or not...AH assigns jobs based on what your fleet's "imported cargo capacity" is listed as. *Caveat* AH will still assign 4000lb loads for your Stock plane, but you can leave those, or give em to your Caravan pilots...which is why it is a good idea to import a modified "AI" .cfg even if you ONLY plan on flying the plane yourself.

 

Hope that was clearer than mud.

 

Coff.

[DublinPilatus 5]

I kinda understand what you mean Matt. Cheers for that!

 

And heres some more info John. Hope it helps!

 

 

[General]
atc_type=BOEING
atc_model=B788
editable=0
performance=Length:56.7m\nWing span:60.2m\nWeight:227.930Kg(Max TAKE OFF)\nPower:69,400 lbs RR Trent1000  x2\nDetails:Boeing 787-8\n
Category = airplane

 

 

 

 

[fuel]
Center1= 3.000, 0.000, -4.000, 10800.000, 4.600
LeftMain= -7.000, -30.000, 0.000, 13500.000, 4.400
RightMain= -7.000, 30.000, 0.000, 13500.000, 4.400
fuel_type=2.000000
number_of_tank_selectors=1
electric_pump=1
fuel_dump_rate = 0.0167                        //Percent of max quantity per second, i.e. about 1 minute for full fuel
 

 

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

Holy crap makeral.

That IS Indeed a CarpTon of fuel.

In this case I would cut that fuel load by half for MY personal flyer.

All that fuel and it has 4 gallons of unused fuel per tank.

So ya:..the largest number in each of those Tank lines is the fuel capacity for that tank. If you don't already know how much fuel it burns...take it for a 15 minute flight at a fast cruise and monitor your fuel use x 4 = a good rough estimate...and adjust those tanks to suit.

Cheers.

[DublinPilatus 5]

Cheers Matt! I appreciate the help!

[Quickmarch 488]

This one will definitely need mods before sending it out in the hands of an AI pilot.

 

The RW specs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner) for the 787-8 show a minuscule 16K lbs left over once you subtract the EW and full fuel load from the MTOW.  

[DublinPilatus 5]

I subtracted 3000 from the highest number on each line and got the capacity up to 64740. Pretty happy with that Thanks again lads! I love the help!

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

Awesome...ya...that is a much more realistic cargo for that bird.  323 passengers x 200lb Americans including luggage = damned close to that figure.

 

Interesting that they made it capable of such a huge Ferry Range...did they anticiptate that it might need to circumnavigate twice? Thats a hellava landing pattern.

Tower: "Flt # FU2....Go around"  Flight Crew: "Oh noooooooooooooo".

[DublinPilatus 5]

Brilliant haha! Think it's about time to start flying (watching Manchester United tonight is painful) a bit of flying should relieve my pain

[Destin65 1]

Hi, stumbled across this topic earlier while playing around with Air Hauler and trying to import and fix some planes that I have recently bought and thought maybe I could get some more expert opinions since some of you are pretty knowledgeable it seems.

First, I have been buying some planes in recent months from Just Flight, sometimes after reading reviews done by Mutley's. As-is the planes are fine for the level of simulation we have with FSX. However, when it comes to importing them into Air Hualer they sometimes leave a bit to be desired. One I bought and seemed to be in the ballpark without editing was the L-049 Constellation. However, buying the two legends of flight planes DC-3 and DC-6B packages with add-ons for both to give some models with cargo doors, etc. for me to use in Air Hauler. Importing the DC-3 was disappointing to see just over 3k payload capacity when the stock FSX DC-3 has nearly double that. That led to more disappointment in digging around the cfg file. Seems the cfg they used was based off the MS/FSX version with only changes for models/paints and weights. One thing that is curious is that you get so many versions of the DC-3 in both the LOF package and add-on but looks like most of the cfg files are same for all planes. Hadn't checked the Wright models to see if they may have tweaks for different engine, etc. Anyhow, they used 18190 for empty weight and max weight of 26200 which is the reason it gives much less payload cap I suppose. In all of my researching on the internet I've pretty much settled on the fact that the actual max takeoff weight should be around 31,000 pounds as this is backed up by Boeing, military historical sites and Wikipedia. However, some don't list empty weight or show differing numbers for the empty weight.

That pretty much leads to this question, what is a good and free public reference to use as a standard? I see Captain Coffee uses Wikipedia alot and I do often too when information on planes is hard to come by. However, there is sometimes flaws with that, such as the DC-3 info being radically different from the C-47 info. Specifically the fact that the C-47 weighs some 2,000 pounds heavier than the specs for the DC-3A. Obviously, I have to remind myself that it is the DC-3A and most likely with the less powerful Wright engines and possibly the reason for lighter weight numbers compared to the C-47. I was glad to see that Wikipedia listed empty, loaded and max weights for the C-47 so that definitely helps narrow things down. Problem is, I have no idea what spec of C-47 they are using, I am hoping cargo but there were C-47s used for other purposes too which confuses things. And I've been pulling my hair out a lot lately, haha! So I suppose the reference information for the C-47 should be a good ballpark figure on getting close to how it weighs and stuff for the flight sim right? I put in the numbers and even went so far as to do the MOI calculations using the reference material on the Microsoft SDK website that lists everything for the cfg files. It seems to fly pretty well, however, loaded it's very hard work to get it to 20,000 feet and hold it. But then, the stock FSX DC-3 is the same way. Full fuel but no payload results in getting it up to 21,000 and close to 22,000 but no more really, this all sound pretty reasonable? I plan on mainly flying them 10,000 foot or so most of the time. However, I do have AH bases in Ireland and France that sometimes spawn an occasional flight to Italy and I wanna make sure I can get over those mountains! Haha.

Another problem, finding good DC-6 reference. I've pretty much narrowed down the fact that the freighter and military versions were the DC-6A model and managed to find two sites that listed some DC-6A specific info but with some minor differences. Course, Wikipedia is in the ballpark of the other two, then the Everts Air Cargo folks have their DC-6 freighter specs (some, not all) listed on their site, so that gives me a much narrower range within to work but still don't feel right about it. Everts don't list their empty weight, which was disappointing but they did list the fact they often fly with 28,000 pounds of cargo loaded. That backs up another reference that gives max payload of 28,188. But neither give an empty weight, or a reliable empty weight it seems uncomfortable to use.

I'm a former aircraft mechanic in both military and civil service with experience working on F-15s and C-130s mostly with some additional experience on C-141s and B-52s. So I'm familiar with some reference data and datums and much of the terminology. However, actually finding the numbers drives me crazy. I don't feel right doing it unless it's by the book, haha, guess that's just due to the way the military and civil service trains you. For example, downloaded a freeware L-188 Electra and proceeded to use real world datum to correct the config as much as I could, including station number weights, etc with correct payload capacities, fuel, etc. Now, I've never flown an L-188 before but after editing all of the real info in there the plane flies much better and I feel good about having it in Air Hualer now with the plane as correct as I can make it. I just wish I could fly it as good as the real pilots, or any plane for that matter, I just recently got my AH reputation back above 50%. Didn't know if you went too low you'd only get .25 reputation per job, ouch, took forever to recover from some bad landings, bad AI pilots and some late jobbers.

Anyways, any and all help would be greatly appreciated! lol Feel free to tell me if I am being too strict with the realism too. The stock DC-3 I can stuff in quite a lot of cargo removing fuel. The way MS did the plane seems reasonable. The JF version left a bit to be desired in the cfg department, otherwise the JF plane is outstanding for it's quality of construct. I'm loving it, just want it as close to real as I can get. Especially that Berlin Airlift model since that was my Air Hauler dream to find that in the package with full cargo doors, cargo crates inside and outside on ramp when you flip the one switch in cockpit. Drool!