help with AI flightplanning

[DaleRFU]

Hi guys, i need some help and was woundering if you clever guys could help?

My problem is that i want an aircraft to fly to a waypoint and then fly back without landing, so it is like it is on a bomb run.
I decided to make a tester to see if i could get it to work. I am testing around Diego Garcia ( where i test all my things)

So i made a waypoint on the other side of the island. i made a runway there that was water and 3ft wide and 33ft long. and the altitude at first (this is of the AFCAD) was 4ft which is the height of the land. so i made the Flightplan for a A-10 to go and do a bombing run and then come back. The plan was IFR and the time between arriving at the waypoint was at 10:04 GMT and the departure from the waypoint back to Diego was at 10:06 GMT. Now the first time the aircraft actually landed on the ground and then took off and just kept climbing and never got back to the departure freq to say missed approach.

Then i raised the hieght of the runway to be 100ft above the sea level and tried it again this time the aircraft seemed to land in the air and take-off again and the wheels started spinning as if it had landed on the tarmac. anyway, when i took off again this time it went to the departure freq to tell them that they have a missed approach, and the controlers just directed them back to the waypoint for another bombing run. But i dont want that i want them to return to Diego Garcia.

the distance for the airfield to the waypoint is only 4miles. is this to short of a distance?

Also which programme is best for creating military flightplans?

Thanks

[kungfuman]

Well, I'm definitely no expert.

It could be that the waypoint is too close to the airfield, and this is somehow disrupting the behaviour.

Another thing: Did you set the first leg (inbound to the waypoint) as a touch and go? I think this is how MAIW do their flightplans. I know it works for me, although I haven't tested very extensively.

HTH,

Dan

[DaleRFU]

yes i set the first leg to the waypoint as a TNG. i will try it further away

Thanks

[DaleRFU]

ok i tried it and it worked, i didn't put a time down in the overrun time bit . i checked with the MAIW plans and they have the overrun time. now my aircraft fly to the waypoints and then fly back. But now i have sent to to the waypoints and only one of them returns and the other one stays doing touch and go's at the waypoint

Any help please?

Thanks

Dale

[Firebird]

There is a limit between legs for the TNG to work well. It must be under 5 minutes between the end of the TNG leg and the start of the leg to RTB. Over that time the AI engine seems to forget about the next leg and continues forever doing TNGs. You must still avoid the situation that where the times are the same or that the RTB leg is earlier than the end of the TNGs

This bit is crucial. It is easy to do this with the written legs, but when you compile TTools alters the times slightly by up to a minute each one. So the MAIW standard is to have a 2-3 minute gap between the legs. This seems to avoid the issue and produce what you want to happen.

[DaleRFU]

i did make the time of arriving to the time of the return leg is only 3mins

thanks

[Firebird]

I would double check it then, as the only reason I have seen for the behaviour you describe is the next leg starting greater than 5 mins. I suppose it may be that it can't find find the next waypoint but I would have thought that the aircraft would disappear in that case.

Have you run the plans through a checking tool, like AIFP?

[DaleRFU]

ah its ok now i have solved it now, thanks anyway.

Just one last question. once the aircraft has gone to the first waypoint, instead of it going back to base can it go to another waypoint?

thanks

[Firebird]

On this one, I am not quite sure so I would be quite happy if somebody who is sure responds here.

I believe, that if you go more than two legs before a full stop then what the aircraft does becomes unpredictable. Whether it is on the third leg or later still, I am not sure. We have to remember that MS did not build the FS series for the benefit of AI so sometimes it falls down on what we would like to happen.
Therefore at MAIW we try to always ensure that a flight has a full stop after a TNG leg.

[DaleRFU]

rite ok, i will try it anyway

Thanks

[DaleRFU]

ok i tried it with two waypoints and then returning to base and it works fine. Does two bombing runs at each waypoint (TNG) and then returns

Thanks for the help

[kungfuman]

Just one last question. once the aircraft has gone to the first waypoint, instead of it going back to base can it go to another waypoint?

I have made this happen in my sim, but I can't guarantee that it will always work, as I don't have that sort of in depth knowledge. But I've never noticed a problem. Perhaps someone who has tested this sort of thing extensively may chime in with better info...

[DaleRFU]

well so far so good. i will keep testing

[steve63]

Could you please post what your flight plan looks like with the waypoint
as I have yet to make this work.

Thanx Steve

[DaleRFU]

which flightplans did you want?

[steve63]

Anything would be great as long as it has at least 1 way point int before the aircraft returns to base

[DaleRFU]

if u just download one of my packages from flightsim, the flightplans are in them. serach for Dale Ashcroft

[steve63]

Thank yuo for your help.