AI Flight Planner...how to use it to create new flight plan?

[Navy Chief]

I have been meaning to ask this. AIFP can be used to create AI Flight Plans, right? But in the menu, when I select Flight Plans, the "Create a new file set" is grayed out. How is a new plan created with AIFP then? NC

 

[dhazelgrove]

You need to add the aircraft you want to use first, so look under the 'Aircraft' tab to 'Add Single Aircraft'.

Once you have a complete list of the aircraft you want to use, you'll then be able to create flightplans for them.

Dave

 

[Navy Chief]

You need to add the aircraft you want to use first, so look under the 'Aircraft' tab to 'Add Single Aircraft'.

Once you have a complete list of the aircraft you want to use, you'll then be able to create flightplans for them.

Dave

Thanks so much, Dave! Now perhaps I can make some progress NC

 

[gray eagle]

Thanks Dave for that nugget of info. I tried and successfully made a scratch flightplan containing one aircraft. Now, I have follow on questions:

Can the one flight plan be amended to add other aircraft if so how? I wanted to place the one or more aircraft AI's at specific ramps at the airport when using AIFP, how is that done?

You need to add the aircraft you want to use first, so look under the 'Aircraft' tab to 'Add Single Aircraft'.

Once you have a complete list of the aircraft you want to use, you'll then be able to create flightplans for them.

Dave

 

[dhazelgrove]

Thanks Dave for that nugget of info. I tried and successfully made a scratch flightplan containing one aircraft. Now, I have follow on questions:

Can the one flight plan be amended to add other aircraft if so how? I wanted to place the one or more aircraft AI's at specific ramps at the airport when using AIFP, how is that done?

To answer the second point first: AI aircraft aren't placed at specific places/parking spots using AIFP.
You do that by use of two lines attached to each of the [fltsim.x] entries for the aircraft type you want.
The lines and their values are (from the SDK):

• "atc_parking_types=" Specifies the preferred parking for this aircraft, used by ATC. If this line is omitted, ATC will determine parking according to the type of aircraft and parking available. If multiple values are listed, preference will be given in the order in which they are listed. The valid values may be one or more of the following: RAMP, CARGO, GATE, DOCK, MIL_CARGO, MIL_COMBAT.
• "atc_parking_codes=" Specifies one or more ICAO airline designations so that ATC can direct the aircraft to a gate that has also been designated specifically for that same airline, for example, "AAL" for American Airlines. If multiple parking codes are entered, separate them with commas. These codes can be any alphanumeric character string - up to four characters in length.

You specify the parking codes you want to use as above. These codes must then be assigned to specific parking slots.
If the parking types and parking codes match up, the required aircraft will appear where you want them.

How to assign the parking codes to specific parking slots?
Personally, I use ADEX. You edit the airfield (lists, parking) so that the codes are saved against the parking spots.
You then recompile the airfield. If it compiles cleanly (not always a given), you save the result where the original was.

Lastly, fire up FSX and (if your traffic file is active) you'll see your aircraft where you expect them to be.

To get back to your first question now:
To add more aircraft to a flight plan set, just open the flight plan set you created (you did save them, didn't you?), add more aircraft and create a flight plan for each one.
You can keep on doing this until you run out of fingers.....

Hope this helps.

Dave

 

[Daube]

There was this topic right here: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforu...twisted-SIMPLE-AI-Flight-Planner-STEP-by-STEP
But the pictures are not visible anymore

 

[gray eagle]

I opened link and requested that attachments be reactivated. Thanks for the link.

There was this topic right here: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforu...twisted-SIMPLE-AI-Flight-Planner-STEP-by-STEP
But the pictures are not visible anymore

 

[gray eagle]

Trying to create flight plan for a single aircraft. As you can see I chose KNQA although it's iata is nqa. Anyway as you can see in the compile
window on the bottom of this screenie there are xxx instade of KNQA...what did I do wrong. I had aifp add the KNQA and compile it and this
plane didn't show up in the scenery.

 

[gray eagle]

Compiling a BGL

This pic shows that the name of the traffic file will have a XXX in it.

I tried to recompile same file again, this time I manually entered KNQA where the XXX is (traffic File Name). I guess that is SOP right?
At any rate it worked this time. I thought one you put things together with AIFP, that it would compile with the IATA code as part of the file name.
So I guess you have to pull up the "compile parameters" and manually enter the airport Code where the XXX's are as part of the file name.

 

[Navy Chief]

I am not getting very far in my first attempt at a flight plan. I keep getting a "Unhandled Exception Error" msg. When I select Continue, it is not saving my flight plan, and changes the aircraft selected as well.... I can see this is going to be a STEEP learning curve for me....

 

[dhazelgrove]

This is going to seem awfully daft, but -- did you let AIFP know about all your airports?

If not, what you do is this:

• Under 'Airports', select 'Find/Collect Airports'. A window 'Collect Airport Data' appears.
• Select the Stock Airport Data and FSX radio buttons.
• Select the Addon Airport Data and FSX radio buttons. You'll be asked where the addon data is located (assume FSX\Addon Scenery and select). This will take a while.
• Select the 'Collect' button, which should now be ungreyed.
• On completion, select 'Save' at the bottom of the window.

This is all in the documentation, you know.

Dave

 

[Navy Chief]

This is going to seem awfully daft, but -- did you let AIFP know about all your airports?........This is all in the documentation, you know.
Dave

Thanks Dave, I will check that. I really am trying to learn how to do this, but missed that step. NC

 

[gray eagle]

If they made a quick start manual instead of a tome containing 70 + pages of minutia, that would be a Big help.

This is all in the documentation, you know.

Dave

 

[Navy Chief]

If they made a quick start manual instead of a tome containing 70 + pages of minutia, that would be a Big help.

Agree..... NC

 

[Navy Chief]

Was finally able to create a couple flight plans. Yay me! Just have to do this a lot to get used to it! NC

 

[gray eagle]

Wow, Congrats for making your own flight plans. Now, what kind of planes did you use and where were the flights to?
Was you able to make one flight plan with multiple planes and use some of them as TG?
My quest is to add more then one A/C and have one or more take off soon as I load the airport and FP.

Was finally able to create a couple flight plans. Yay me! Just have to do this a lot to get used to it! NC

 

[Navy Chief]

Wow, Congrats for making your own flight plans. Now, what kind of planes did you use and where were the flights to?
Was you able to make one flight plan with multiple planes and use some of them as TG?
My quest is to add more then one A/C and have one or more take off soon as I load the airport and FP.

So far all I have done is one aircraft per flight plan, doing ops every 24 hours. One is a Navy C9 flying from NAS Pensacola to NAS Jax and return. Then I made a flight plan, same locations, with a P-3. Was able to watch them fly in from the powered glider I was in, and monitoring them with the AI Map in TTtools. Pretty cool. Next step is to learn how to create plan with multiple aircraft, and make specific parking assignments? NC

 

[gray eagle]

Yeah, I would like to try to a FP with multi AC too. Somehow, I think making the specific parking spots will require some expertise with ADEX.

So far all I have done is one aircraft per flight plan, doing ops every 24 hours. One is a Navy C9 flying from NAS Pensacola to NAS Jax and return. Then I made a flight plan, same locations, with a P-3. Was able to watch them fly in from the powered glider I was in, and monitoring them with the AI Map in TTtools. Pretty cool. Next step is to learn how to create plan with multiple aircraft, and make specific parking assignments? NC

 

[Victory103]

Once you understand the basic FP structure, small changes can be made in notepad after I decompile the .bgl. The only issue with multiple aircraft is how tedious it is do with a whole squadron of AI models. There is an excel spreadsheet on MAIW will just make randomly generated plans. I tend to have mine as accurate as possible, correct altitudes etc. The limitation of a 7 day schedule doesn't help, but most MAIW flightplan builders search the web for pics of a particular aircraft visiting various airports. MAIW has several USN airliner packages and a good P-3 package, you could just add in our new airport.

 

[Victory103]

Once you understand the basic FP structure, small changes can be made in notepad after I decompile the .bgl. The only issue with multiple aircraft is how tedious it is do with a whole squadron of AI models. There is an excel spreadsheet on MAIW will just make randomly generated plans. I tend to have mine as accurate as possible, correct altitudes etc. The limitation of a 7 day schedule doesn't help, but most MAIW flightplan builders search the web for pics of a particular aircraft visiting various airports. MAIW has several USN airliner packages and a good P-3 package, you could just add in our new airport. For parking, either use AIEditor from the OwlsNest or just open the aircraft.cfg and enter your up to 4 character code: atc_parking_types=MIL_COMBAT atc_parking_codes=V106,F18 <--FSX allows up to 4 entries The AIEditor will automatically show the wingspan parking space size for a given model as this changed from FS9 to FSX. In ADEX, just make sure your parking space is the correct size and add your codes. If done probably, all jets of particular squadron will be on the flightline together as they should. If you need any help, post your flightplans here and I can look over them.