AI Aircraft Disappearing at Departure time

[SeanG]

I am sure I read the cause of this somewhere, but I can't find it

My aircraft show up properly at their parking spots, but then at the scheduled departure time, they simply disappear.
AI aircraft successfully land, and taxi to park, but then disappear at their departure time.

I have re-built the taxi paths, checked for open links etc.
I have added extra taxi points, changed the lengths of the initial links, and moved the nodes...

I am missing something simple... I am sure I am.

SeanG

[col1948]

Sean, Ypu don't happen to have Ultimate Traffic 2 by any chance, I saw something a while ago and it was related to that, just a thought mate?

[clickclickdoh]

Do they disappear immediately when starting, or do they startup, sit on their parking spot for a while, then disappear. If they disappear immediately, the AI engine thinks that they can't reach a valid runway from their parking spot. If all your parking spots are properly connected to taxi nodes, the next thing I would look at are the hold shorts to make sure they are in the right direction, then double check the runway line to make sure it's correctly over the right runway object.

If they wait then disappear, that means they think there is an obstruction, usually another plane blocking their path. They wait for the obstruction to clear, but despawn once their flight plan time becomes impossible.

[JohnTenn]

Sean

Swap out the aircraft for another type and see if they still vanish.

If the aircraft disappear immediately it is more than likely a flightplan problem.

I have had aircraft disappear when the destination airport does not have parking spots large enough. FZAA to FZNA

Send me a copy of the flightplans and I will look at it for you, assuming that it might be the problem.

John

[SeanG]

Swap out the aircraft for another type and see if they still vanish.

If the aircraft disappear immediately it is more than likely a flightplan problem.

Done that, same result. Created an RPP "random" flightplan, same result. Created a simple 1 hour repeat out and back to a local airfield, same result....

If they disappear immediately, the AI engine thinks that they can't reach a valid runway from their parking spot. If all your parking spots are properly connected to taxi nodes, the next thing I would look at are the hold shorts to make sure they are in the right direction, then double check the runway line to make sure it's correctly over the right runway object.

That is exactly the scenario. I'll have a look at your suggestions and report back!

This is the first time I've had this problem... very strange!

Thanks for your help (again) guys!

SeanG

[col1948]

Hi Sean, Is this problem at just one airport or at others? I found a thread on another site where a guy was having the same problem and this was a reply, but he never came back to say if it was the answer, I'm guessing it might have been, this is the advice he got, not sure if it helps or not:

"I've had that experience too sometimes, I found out that it has something to do with the AFCAD of the Airport, if the Taxiways are not assigned correctly the AI can't find 'em and so instead of using the Taxiway, they just dissapear right after getting Taxi Clearance and also dissappear right after the Landing as they can't find a Taxiway to the Gate!"

[col1948]

Came back to add, another guy had this problem and it was a 'Re-Installed scenery not activated properly' again just another thought.

[Firebird]

A related but simpler cause could be that the default afcad is loaded later than the AI enabled afcad. I.E. the layer level of the afcad you want to use MUST be the highest number.

Tools like AFX or Afcad will show all the afcads for an ICAO whereas ADE will not be useful for this. I would check to see if your afcad is the active one. It will be a higher number plus be highlighted.

[regan123]

Great tool for checking for duplicate AFCAD/ADE/AFX files:

http://www.scruffyduck.org/simple-airpo ... 4584282795

Have a look through all the entries as sometimes you will get two valid files showing up and you need to keep them, sometimes it's clear that you have a duplicate that can be removed. As always, backup!

[JohnTenn]

Sean

Have you had a look at the thread "ADE9 Probs"

Hoping this might have the answer.

John

[SeanG]

Thanks everyone for suggestions and advice... I now have it fixed!
There was a combination of errors in play; and the worst part was that I probably fixed the fault in the scenery earlier on, but was testing it with a broken flightplan

Now to tidy up the mess I've made and add it to my RNZAF Hobsonville (sadly now retro... the base is now a trendy housing development for the latte drinking set)

SeanG

[pazzo]

I'm not sure how I missed this excellent thread and posted one of my own today.

I've noticed this disappearing act at LTBG and LCRA: at the end of the boarding period (I use AITT2FSX (Genix) for the timetable), "Last Call" is posted on the ARR/DEP board and nothing happens for at least 5 minutes, no response from the pilot requesting clearance; when finally cleared and instructed to call for taxi, the aircraft disappears. "Last Call" is rarely seen on AITT2FSX as aircraft usually call for clearance when the boarding period ends.

I use Flightsim Commander for planning and navigation (an excellent replacement for FSNav in FS9) and on the map I can see the taxiways. Parking spaces are blue circles with a white arrow in the center indicating the direction of parking. The taxiways are white and for LTBG, most of parking spaces are set back from the white taxiway line so there doesn't seem to be a link. I've checked other airports and the link to the taxiway extends to the blue circle.

I've also noticed that LTBG and other airports where I've experienced the disappearing aircraft use photorealistic ground texture with the taxiways visible on the ground texture serving the purpose. Like all of scenerytr.com designs, LTBG is beautiful with a fully developed port on the shores of the Dardanelles.

I appreciate the ideas found on this thread and will hope that I can populate the military airways of the eastern Mediterranean someday. It's frustrating to plan a flight and have it canceled: i don't believe an aircraft can complete the flight if it can't get off the ground and on the way to the next airport. I've gone to the next airport and waited to see if it would appear but to no avail.

I'm new to MIAW and think this website is super.

Thanks.

[pazzo]

Problem solved! I got ADE yesterday and was able to turn a stock airport into a military airport ... no goodies (buildings, etc.) but aircraft will be able to taxi, land, and takeoff without disappearing. My focus is on the military airports in Turkey. I've finished LTBG and will now redo LTBF.

[cufcskim]

This (the original post) problem is usually caused by the runway nodes/(black) paths not having a valid designator, 09L, 27R..etc.
Runways have hardcoded atributes AI will follow for landing/rollout regardless of airport(afcad/ade) design and thus able to land and taxi into parking. AI will disappear at pushback as no "valid" exists


Afcad has a bug which means it will drop those designations if you reorder the runways, intentionally or accidentally and cause the described problem.

Solution: Reassign runway designation to runway black runway paths/nodes.
The easiest and cleanest way is just to multi-select the runway nodes, delete, redraw and reconnect to taxiways. Or you can reassign each link individually.

[pazzo]

Great advice! Thanks! Being new to ADE, I need these insights into the function of AFCADs. I'm working with stock airports and have only added parking spaces and taxiways to the runways. I'll check them out.

Thanks, again!