FSCaptain

[Peter Schindler]

Is it basically fspassengers + air hauler rolled into one? or completely different

It's basically FsP with a boring interface^^ but a more professional approach (having a flight schedule instead of coffee, for example

What is the limit of the demo version?

Flights limited to depart from KSEA, KOLM or KPDX. Not good for testing our schedule, as we have exactly one flight from KSEA and none from the other two

Does it have to be left running on screen during flight, or do you close it down after setup?
Is it all run within flightsim, or is there a standalone program?

Like FsP it runs as a gauge inside the sim (another fmc like thingy, as in FK's acars device). Gauge is installed to each aircraft with the FCOM installer. This and the admin tool are standalone and work without FS running.

 

[Zeljko Budovic]

I had a problem last few days, Internet was down. That's great news Peter, thank you :thx:
can not wait to try it!

 

[Cedric Bandelier]

Hi all....and Peter....

Are the schedule avaiable for FSCaptiain ? I would like to try the 738 airline schedule.....

And did you notice that FSCaptain timing is local.....and Air-Child is zulu ?!

Thanks a lot


Cedric

PS: I managed to use FSCaptain....but unable to load correctly the NGX....

 

[Zeljko Budovic]

Hi all....and Peter....

Are the schedule avaiable for FSCaptiain ? I would like to try the 738 airline schedule.....

And did you notice that FSCaptain timing is local.....and Air-Child is zulu ?!

Thanks a lot


Cedric

PS: I managed to use FSCaptain....but unable to load correctly the NGX....

Hi Cedric,
I can explain you better then last time how to use FSCaptain. I learned a couple of things in the meantime. You can do this in 2 ways:
1.Just run FSX and when you are on gate - run FCOM gauge and look for available flight, and you probably know how to do rest
2.This is how I do:
-start Administrator tool before you start fsx(in any case before you start FCOM gauge)
-go to "option for all airlines" tab and select "supress auto fuel load"(you can change some others parameters if you want - units of measurements etc)
-go to "airline definitions" and select your airline
-then go to "aircraft characteristics/select airplane" and select you airplane - 738 You are using NGX if I remember correctly (you can change some parameters here if you want and if you know them, i put service altitude restriction 10000ft for example)
-then go to "load maps" tab and click on "import" and select 738NGX WL from the list and click "ok"
-Now go to "flight dispatch" tab, tipe your departure airport there and select "aircraft tipe" from the list, then click "find flights"
-select one flight from the list(atention to the local times if not charter flight) - click on flight number above
-click on "select flight plan"(you must navigate to the folder where you have saved flightplans - save your flightplan before this), then click "get weather", and then press "commit"
-pres "apply" then "ok"
-now you can start fsx and NGX
-when you are on gate in your NGX, just be sure to load fuel manually through FMC, and unload passengers and cargo(set to zero through FMC too)
-when you start FCOM, flight will be there and ready for loading the aircraft, from this point use FSCaptain like before
amount of fuel will be just a litle higher from FSCaptain amount of fuel, but it's ok, after loading the airplane NGX FMC will calculate payload and v-speeds correctly
You can set local time from NGX clock if you need this
I hope this will help you, and about schedule for FSCaptain - I'm waiting for that too

 

[Cedric Bandelier]

Hi Zeljko,

Thanks a lot for helping me. I already managed to do it like you explained.....it works BUT:

- reading the manifest when dispatching the flight I choose.....weights are totally wrong, including ZFW, payload weight etc..... Even fuel calculation is totally wrong. I can understand that there are some slight differences between Air-Child 737 (seats, empty weight etc) and the original NGX values.....but such differences....
So the question is: when dispatching a flight via FSCaptain, do you have approximately the same value is in the AirChild loadsheet ???
Considering the weight question I noticed that passenger weight between AirChild and FSCaptain are quite different.....so is ther any way to modify this in FSCaptain ?

Thanks again for helping me....and maybe by the way helping other ;-)

Cheers

Cedric

 

[Zeljko Budovic]

Hi Zeljko,

Thanks a lot for helping me. I already managed to do it like you explained.....it works BUT:

- reading the manifest when dispatching the flight I choose.....weights are totally wrong, including ZFW, payload weight etc..... Even fuel calculation is totally wrong. I can understand that there are some slight differences between Air-Child 737 (seats, empty weight etc) and the original NGX values.....but such differences....
So the question is: when dispatching a flight via FSCaptain, do you have approximately the same value is in the AirChild loadsheet ???
Considering the weight question I noticed that passenger weight between AirChild and FSCaptain are quite different.....so is ther any way to modify this in FSCaptain ?

Thanks again for helping me....and maybe by the way helping other ;-)

Cheers

Cedric

Weights and other calculations is for default 737-800, that's why it's important to import load maps.
Today I did exactly as I described in the previous post, and for the first time - fuel was same (NGX vs FSCaptain). I didn't checked payload becouse i don't know how is calculated. PMDG has option to load through FMC number of passengers, FW cargo and AFT cargo(only weights).
On the other hand, FSCaptain has passengers and payload. Payload means fuel, cargo, luggage, mail etc. I'll try to discover how is calculated by PMDG vs FSCaptain, and I'll try to compare them during the next flight.
Here's FAA official weights which someone already mentioned here on airchild forums:

Domestic Scheduled flight : Adult: 84 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 11kg
Domestic Non Scheduled flight: Adult: 76 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 11kg
Domestic General Aviation flight: Adult: 100 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 11kg
Domestic Military flight: Adult: 100 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 11kg
Domestic Other flight: Adult: 100 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 11kg

International Scheduled flight: Adult: 84 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 13kg
International Non Scheduled flight: Adult: 76 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 13kg
International General Aviation flight: Adult: 100 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 13kg
International Military flight: Adult: 100 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 13kg
International Other flight: Adult: 100 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 13kg

Long Range Scheduled flight: Adult: 84 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 15kg
Long Range Non Scheduled flight: Adult: 76 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 15kg
Long Range General Aviation flight: Adult: 100 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 15kg
Long Range Military flight: Adult: 100 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 15kg
Long Range Other flight: Adult: 100 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 13kg

Other Scheduled flight: Adult: 84 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 0kg
Other Non Scheduled flight: Adult: 76 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 0kg
Other General Aviation flight: Adult: 100 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 0kg
Other Military flight: Adult: 100 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 0kg
Other Other flight: Adult: 100 kg, Children 35 kg, Infant: 0 kg, Baggage: 0kg

FAA document: see : http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_an ... 20-27E.pdf

probably will take some time to clear that, but until then you can use FSCaptain like me. Even if weights do not match, load the plane through FSCaptain and after that FMC will calculate weights correctly, just click twice on ZFW on performance page(after aircraft is loaded).
I'm sure this will be fixed, FSCaptain is very flexible and adjustable, and developers of FSCaptain are very interested, I'll try to contact them and to obtain some informations about weights

Cheers

 

[Zeljko Budovic]

So the question is: when dispatching a flight via FSCaptain, do you have approximately the same value is in the AirChild loadsheet ???

I just noticed that I didn't answer to this question :lol:

equation becomes more complicated if we add the airchild loadsheet, but i'm sure we can get information about weights used per passenger etc. I think we need to have patience, everything will be fixed. I'll try to pay attention to weights on next flight and I'll tell you if I fix some things

 

[Peter Schindler]

Are the schedule avaiable for FSCaptiain ? I would like to try the 738 airline schedule.....

Cedric, I can only provide you with a very basic exporter, for now. You just enter the address and it gives you the plain schedule which you have to copy and save as text file for the fsc schedule.

complete Air-Child schedule:

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you can also select by aircraft type (ICAO code as used by ATC -- ex. B737 / B738 / AT72 etc.):
ex.

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or select by departure airport:
ex.

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or by arrival:
ex.

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This has not been tested in FSC yet! I only have the demo, for now, and I also had no time to test fly because I was writing this script. Try at your own risk and report back, please

 

[Zeljko Budovic]

Are the schedule avaiable for FSCaptiain ? I would like to try the 738 airline schedule.....

Cedric, I can only provide you with a very basic exporter, for now. You just enter the address and it gives you the plain schedule which you have to copy and save as text file for the fsc schedule.

complete Air-Child schedule:

You do not have permission to view link please Log in or Register

you can also select by aircraft type (ICAO code as used by ATC -- ex. B737 / B738 / AT72 etc.):
ex.

You do not have permission to view link please Log in or Register

or select by departure airport:
ex.

You do not have permission to view link please Log in or Register

or by arrival:
ex.

You do not have permission to view link please Log in or Register

This has not been tested in FSC yet! I only have the demo, for now, and I also had no time to test fly because I was writing this script. Try at your own risk and report back, please

I have demo version too, but i see airline shedule, even if i can't fly all routes. It work's, you need only first script "complete Air-Child schedule", but when you put data in notepad(air-child shedule in FSCaptain) there is one continuous line, like this:
Flight=1000,EDDK,EDDT,3,0610,1256Flight=1001,EDDT,EDDK,3,1910,1256Flight=1002,EDDT,EHAM,3,0800,1256Flight=1003,EHAM,EDDT,3,1710,1256Flight=1004,EHAM,EGLL,3,1005,1256Flight=1005,EGLL,EHAM,3,1525,1256
So you must separate all the lines. I'll do this later. Important is that i tried, added 10 routes and they apears in administrator tool.
But I have another idea, can you list routes by HUBs? Becouse FSCaptain has option to add/delete hubs, so everyone can add only routes for his hub. It would be easier for editing too - add new routes etc.
This was just a suggestion, I'll do notepad format of all routes today and post the link here. I know there are pilots who don't want profesional career and they need all routes

 

[Peter Schindler]

when you put data in notepad(air-child shedule in FSCaptain) there is one continuous line, like this:
Flight=1000,EDDK,EDDT,3,0610,1256Flight=1001,EDDT,EDDK,3,1910,1256Flight=1002,EDDT,EHAM,3,0800,1256Flight=1003,EHAM,EDDT,3,1710,1256Flight=1004,EHAM,EGLL,3,1005,1256Flight=1005,EGLL,EHAM,3,1525,1256
So you must separate all the lines.

Zeljko, you only need to mark all the text on the page, then copy and paste to a notepad file. This way you should have separate lines.

 

[Zeljko Budovic]

when you put data in notepad(air-child shedule in FSCaptain) there is one continuous line, like this:
Flight=1000,EDDK,EDDT,3,0610,1256Flight=1001,EDDT,EDDK,3,1910,1256Flight=1002,EDDT,EHAM,3,0800,1256Flight=1003,EHAM,EDDT,3,1710,1256Flight=1004,EHAM,EGLL,3,1005,1256Flight=1005,EGLL,EHAM,3,1525,1256
So you must separate all the lines.

Zeljko, you only need to mark all the text on the page, then copy and paste to a notepad file. This way you should have separate lines.

Thanks Peter, i found that in the meantime :lol:
But becouse i promise, here is the air-child routes in notepad ready to put them in FSX/FSCaptain/airlines: http://www.filetransfer.ro/rzQ9UI

 

[Peter Schindler]

But I have another idea, can you list routes by HUBs? Becouse FSCaptain has option to add/delete hubs, so everyone can add only routes for his hub. It would be easier for editing too - add new routes etc.

Yes, that will be the next step. Should be easier than I first thought, because our flight numbers already reflect the hubs they belong to. There's a post about this somewhere in the forum. Have to find it ....

 

[Norbert Woeller]

There's a post about this somewhere in the forum. Have to find it ....

found... :lol:

http://www.air-child.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=644&p=3779#p3779

 

[Cedric Bandelier]

Thanks guys...i'll try it tomorrow....really busy at work those days !

another question or conclusion, Zeljko:

- considering that you use FSCaptain to load passengers...I can imagine that you don't use / follow the AirChild loadsheet, particularly the ZFW...right ? You trust FSCaptain for that point and also for the amount of fuel you need for your planned flight, right ?

- another point: am I wrong when I say that probably there is a value in the PMDG aicraft.cfg that can be modified to match the passenger weight and use the same value as AirChild ?? After thinking about that problem and knowing that FSCaptain is just taking the basics values for a specific aircraft scanning the aircraft.cfg file, and considering that PMDG use a different way to load the airplane (via FMC), there must be somewhere in the PMDG files a value relative to the payload/passenger weight, no ??

Thanks to all and as say the well known Mr Zeljko: clear skies

Cedric

 

[Peter Schindler]

...that probably there is a value in the PMDG aicraft.cfg that can be modified to match the passenger weight and use the same value as AirChild ??

Just for your info, Cedric: we currently use a fixed value of 80 kg for passenger weight and 25 kg (15 for ATR and Dash) for the baggage. We wanted to be on the safe side for potential add-on loaders that use relatively high values.
We had these values randomized, at first, but found that for performance tests it's easier to work with fixed weights. Today, we could randomize them again, if you all prefer.

Maybe PMDG use randomized values, as well. I also noticed that their pax are not as heavy as ours

Edit: Thanks for the link, Norbert!! Almost missed your post

 

[Zeljko Budovic]

- considering that you use FSCaptain to load passengers...I can imagine that you don't use / follow the AirChild loadsheet, particularly the ZFW...right ? You trust FSCaptain for that point and also for the amount of fuel you need for your planned flight, right ?

That's right, i add some random values in airchild loadsheet, for cargo. I "trust" to NGX FMC wich will calculate all weights and V-Speeds. You can see level of load in FMC as a percentage %, just to be sure that aircraft is not overloaded.
About amount of fuel, you can modify that in Administrator tool after selecting your flight. After you selected flightplan, try to set all that thing below, select plan, get weather, VA flight number, alternate airport, you can set estimate time enroute and Fuel required(I used Topkat for that, it's very accurate). All this before runing FSX. Everything you set through admin tool will waiting for you when you start FCOM gauge.

- another point: am I wrong when I say that probably there is a value in the PMDG aicraft.cfg that can be modified to match the passenger weight and use the same value as AirChild ?? After thinking about that problem and knowing that FSCaptain is just taking the basics values for a specific aircraft scanning the aircraft.cfg file, and considering that PMDG use a different way to load the airplane (via FMC), there must be somewhere in the PMDG files a value relative to the payload/passenger weight, no ??

There is certainly value in NGX aircraft.cfg or somewhere in PMDG files, and perhaps you're right, we could modify that value. But I would prefer to change values in FSCaptain or Airchild loadsheet, or just wait for someone to add in FSCaptain cfg file for NGX, I thing this will happen for sure - Tomas Molitor will include NGX in the next version of FS Flight Keeper, TOPKAT will add NGX profile too for example. I'll try to create FSCaptain profile for NGX which will match all weights. NGX is just too close to perfection, becouse of that I would not touch anything in PMDG files, we don't know how they did all fine tuning around it, would be a shame to broke flight dynamics or something like that

Cheers Cedric

 

[Cedric Bandelier]

Hi Zeljko,

I tried to adjust some weights: I cleared everything in the Aircraft folder in FSCaptain, then load the PMDG 738NGX; it create a new B738.cfg file (using values in the aircraft.cfg) that you can access through the Administrator tool. You can then see that some values are wrong....cruise speed, MLW..... concerning the fuel used during climbing-cruise-descent I don't know.

I tried to create a specific loadmap....without success up to now.

Will try some further tests.

Cheers


Cedric

 

[Peter Schindler]

can you list routes by HUBs? ...

Yes, that will be the next step ...

Could someone test this extended version, please? (still the same link):

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The schedule is now sorted by
aircraft size (volume) > hub > flight number
The better option would be
hub > volume > flight number
but not possible due to the data structure and the fact that some hubs have a range of 1000 flights, others only 500.

Output looks almost as the original FSC txt files, except flight direction. Direction data could be retrieved, technically - the problem is that the whole stuff would have to be grouped by
hub > volume > direction > flight nbr. Too much trouble and also slow. Hope it works the way it is

Filtering by aircraft type is still ok -

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,
the options for departure/arrival filters don't make that much sense, anymore (although they work).

Should this work ok with FSC, I would wrap it in some page layout & form with filter options and output text file as direct download.

 

[Zeljko Budovic]

I can't be sure becouse i have demo version only for now, but i think something it's not working. I tried to search flight from KSEA(airchild haves KSEA to KORD), but it generates only charters, not see this route. It's appears in shedule, but not when you search the flight.
But i can't be sure, I'll buy licence on 2 October - salary day. Until then, Cedric will have to be a test pilot, i can't op:

 

[Peter Schindler]

I tried to search flight from KSEA(airchild haves KSEA to KORD), but it generates only charters, not see this route. It's appears in shedule, but not when you search the flight.

I already went through this
- you have to select a 747 or MD11, as our KSEA flight in the schedule is FSC category "heavy"
- you have to pick a date that is a Wednesday or a Saturday
- you should clear the time limit of 120 minutes; our flight KSEA-KORD is more than 3 hrs

Easy, isn't it? :devil:
It would really be better to have a fully working demo, limited to 30 days (or even less) like FlightKeeper. Much better for testing. I will write this to the developer, along with other things.