Questions on ATC directed parking

atc_parking_types=GATE, RAMP, CARGO

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.

Does this only work for AI aircraft or is this also used for the users aircraft?

How do I check if a airport has correct ICAO airline designations for this to work?

Any tips to make this work more effectively?

It works fine for user aircraft. For normal airline aircraft such as a Southwest 737, I will change the

atc_parking_types=GATE and leave off Ramp, Cargo. I would guess for checking that the airport has correct ICAO airline designations you could check the real world airport and verify that your airline flies into it and has a proper terminal. I sometimes check the airports using the WOAI site, also.

As a quick example, this is what I use for my Southwest 737:

atc_id=N925WN

atc_airline=Southwest

atc_flight_number=(left this blank because I have super secret flight numbers;););))

atc_heavy=0

atc_parking_types=GATE

atc_parking_codes=SWA

When landing at KSFO, I always get sent to Terminal 1 (Proper Southwest terminal) and park with my fellow Southwest aircraft. Same at KSAN.

...super secret flight numbers

:) You must have celebrities on board every flight and protecting their identities from the crazy fans!

:) You must have celebrities on board every flight and protecting their identities from the crazy fans!

Naw! He's a sleeper for NSA. :p:p

Naw! He's a sleeper for NSA. :p:p

Nah! Just a sleeper!

atc_id=N925WN

atc_airline=Southwest

atc_flight_number=(left this blank because ...)

Just for info, don't get ideas.

If you actually DO leave it blank (or omit the atc_flight_number line), ATC won't pronounce the callsign, but say "Boeing N926WN".

Wim

Just for info, don't get ideas.

If you actually DO leave it blank (or omit the atc_flight_number line), ATC won't pronounce the callsign, but say "Boeing N926WN".

 

Wim

No problem there, Wim! I tend to use Alpha instead of Numeric. I'm sending code to my home planet!;)

Flew from McCarren to LAX in a QW B787-9 American Airlines.

After landing, ATC sent me all the way from runway 6L to the southeast parking (Past all the gated American Airlines) and had to squeeze between the tails of 2 A380's to get to my parking spot :mad: SCRAPE! SCRAPE!

The airport was packed at 75% AI traffic (Ultimate Traffic Live) so I turned it down to 60% and will try again.

The two livery tags are...

atc_parking_types=GATE, RAMP

atc_parking_codes=AAL

So I used notepad 'replace' and removed all the , RAMP from my Aircraft.cfg

Flew from McCarren to LAX in a QW B787-9 American Airlines.

 

After landing, ATC sent me all the way from runway 6L to the southeast parking (Past all the gated American Airlines) and had to squeeze between the tails of 2 A380's to get to my parking spot :mad: SCRAPE! SCRAPE!

 

The airport was packed at 75% AI traffic (Ultimate Traffic Live) so I turned it down to 60% and will try again.

 

The two livery tags are...

 

atc_parking_types=GATE, RAMP

atc_parking_codes=AAL

 

So I used notepad 'replace' and removed all the , RAMP from my Aircraft.cfg

That should help, somewhat. Don't forget that ATC can only park you where there is room for your aircraft.

That should help, somewhat. Don't forget that ATC can only park you where there is room for your aircraft.

You also mentioned you were in a 737, I marked the 787 as a atc_heavy=1, probably lessens the chance of being parked at a gate. Maybe need a smaller aircraft?

Either that or ATC hates me and sends me to the cornfields ;)

One thing about parking codes is that there is like a list that the Sim will go through before it uses that parking code. Like,

1) parking spot size.

2) Parking spot type.

3) Parking spot code.

I don't even know if that's the correct order or not. I just flew into Fresno Yosemite KFAT which apparently has military A/C there when I upgraded the AFCAD. Well, I can see on my second monitor running LittleNavMap that there were F16's parked there with more mil_combat parking left. But I flew my F22 there with a mil_combat code in the aircraft.cfg file and I was told to park at GA. So I don't really know why that happened. I'm pretty damn sure mil_combat is in my aircraft.cfg.

 

Either that or ATC hates me and sends me to the cornfields ;)

Are you wearing a pointy hat and is your neck actually a giant spring? Anthony (Billy Mumy) strikes again!;)

Are you wearing a pointy hat and is your neck actually a giant spring? Anthony (Billy Mumy) strikes again!;)

So one of these two tower one controllers is the culprit...

:rolleyes:

So one of these two tower one controllers is the culprit...

 

 

 

:rolleyes:

Right on!:eek:

Made a little discovery at LAX that probably explains why I'm not being directed to a gate.

If the 737 is sitting in general parking, there is a option to "Taxi to the gates"

Switching to the 787, the option disappears.

Switch to the 737 again, the option reappears.

Either FSX won't recognize a 787 model, or the atc_heavy=1 option prevents it.

Either FSX won't recognize a 787 model, or the atc_heavy=1 option prevents it.

Changing the value to atc_heavy=0 won't make your computer explode, so please do so to rule out that option. You can revert it afterwards.

But I'm pretty sure that's not the cause. IMHO that value is only used for ATC lingo.

One other thing to check is the wing_span = xxx value under [airplane_geometry] in aircraft.cfg.

See if it's realistic for a 787, because that's the value FSX uses for assigning parking spots. Should be around 190 feet?

You may also be interested in reading this article: https://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.php?title=Parking_assignment

Wim

Thanks Wim, great find!

Temporally changed the atc_heavy=0 on one livery and your right, it did not make a difference to allow parking at a LAX gate.

I checked the Aircraft.cfg wing_span=197.78 for both the -8 and -9

For this testing, the AI had not kicked in yet and used up all the gate parking. So ATC allowed me to taxi to gate 105 with a 787-8 American Airlines livery (real life is now apparently closed).

So it seems that when I got to LAX last couple times, the AI probably had used up all the available gate parking and redirected me to parking instead. Too bad it doesn't kick somebody out :p

Good.

As you’ve probably already figured out, AI planes (certainly those from WoAI) also use the line atc_parking_codes=AAL. To be sure of your parking spot, you may need to lower the AI percentages, or create more AAL parkings with ADE.

Wim

Had a bad experience with the Virtuali Add on Manager with the QW 757 that also would be required...

Really like the products they offer though (KLAX, KLAS, and all the Hawaiian airports,) however I'm a little hesitant to go with FSDreamTeam products because of above issue. Also how are they with ORBX Global/Open LC North America and/or NA Southern California?

That problem should be resolved by using their updater.

I use ORBX global and have had no issues.

I do hate the fact they have that asinine module as part of their airports.

I do hate the fact they have that asinine module as part of their airports.

I too was very annoyed by it intrusively lurking above in the module bar, so I uninstalled the QW757 which worked OK, but that add-on manager was the only thing in my FSX that crashed.

Also FlightBeam has rewritten all their scenery to eliminate it and QualityWings has promised to re-release their 757 without it also. So I saved all my liveries.

I just visited the FSDreamteam forum and there were a couple of guys insisting the latest module was causing a frame rate loss and the owner was insisting there was no problem. So I'll have to pass.

Wish there were more alternatives for KLAX and KLAS with a Las Vegas Strip update.

 

Wish there were more alternatives for KLAX and KLAS with a Las Vegas Strip update.

Me too! And I'd like to edit the AFCAD of Vegas to assign JAN to the parking at the Janet terminal. None of my Janet planes go to the terminal. They did in FS2004 and it was cool. I had an issue trying to get that popular AFCAD program to run BGLComp. (Can't remember its name atm). ADE?