Automatic Aircraft Too Large Message

I gathered an idea today based on the airport size restrictions. The idea is basically if an aircraft has its destination airport set as an airport that is too big for the aircraft, a message is prompted that says that the aircraft is too large for the destination airport (no gates at the airport are large enough for the aircraft), and the aircraft cannot fly there, and the destination airport is taken off the flight plan. If the aircraft continues inbound, another warning is issued. If the aircraft lands, a system ghost or a violation is reported. This would only be for the Training and Expert servers.


This feature request may be subject to change in the ghost/violation section of it.

Sorry if this is a duplicate topic, I don’t know what to search for in the search bar if it is.

I like the idea, but I think it should only be on ES. Mainly because I like trying to land A380s at Telluride. 😉 😂

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Here’s my thought, if the airport your flying to can’t handle a large plane, why would you fly there in the first place?

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@Speedyyy maybe an inexperienced pilot or unrealistic one? I don’t know though. Good question.

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Some people might not know that the airport doesn’t have spawns big enough, or that the aircraft can’t go there.

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Won’t this create a lot of work for the IF airport editing team that could be spent elsewhere?

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Yeah, but if the route you’re flying doesn’t use a large plane, then why would you use an unrealistic plane for that route?

@patrick maybe like an algorithm could determine what it does…

I don’t know.

The algorithm would only work at previously edited airports, surely. I’m a charlatan but would say most of the already-edited airports are ones that don’t leave much confusion.

This feature would really be solving the cases for medium-and-smaller-sized airports where the line between acceptable and unacceptable (in terms of aircraft restrictions) is blurred. It is my belief that these are some of the lesser edited airports in the database. It’ll be useless for the more common Charlie-class airports (eg. one knows not to fly an A380 into Dublin Intl.).

As the IFAET continues to do great work, I do see this as a hindrance to such progress just to relieve pilots of the use of common sense.

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I see where your coming from. It’s actually not a bad idea but would take a while to get airport information for certain airports with how big the largest aircraft is that can fit there.

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It wouldn’t exactly be based on the largest aircraft that can go there, it would be based on the only aircraft that can go there. It would start with the airports that are currently updated, as there are current size restrictions in game. You take those, and have it so that the size restrictions are also in the actual sim, and not just the spawn choose.

The code in IF would have to recognize your aircraft, examine it with your destination airport and your destination airport’s spawn sizes compared to your aircraft. If there is a spawn at the airport big enough for your aircraft, no message is given. If there is no spawn big enough for your aircraft, you get a message, and the rest of this is said in the main post in this thread.

Also though, it’s pilots responsibility to make sure that the aircraft is suitable for the airport of choice since they are the pilot in command although there’s always gonna be that one person. Seems possible and I like it but we can live without it.

What if I like landing my 747’s at Dubbo? You don’t own me

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Wherever that is, do it in Casual or solo. It’s basically the same thing, just not on a server called Expert Server.

This is good in theory, but there are cases where an airport may have not been updated correctly (yet).

For example a month ago I tried to fly out of MMSD in a TUI 787-8, which is a real route, but there was no starting position for a widebody in IF at MMSD airport. After I posted about it here on the forum, I’m happy to report the widebody gate has now been added in yesterday’s update.

But I suspect this would also be the case in many other airports, as it’s kind of impossible to have every single airport in the world be perfect/mirrored exactly in IF

And lastly this would also leave room for users to come in and say “I got ghosted/a violation for landing in X but in real life I’ve seen the plane there so…?” And then it would cause a whole other issue.

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I do somewhat like the request, but with the current size restrictions not (always) reflecting the handling capacities of the airports I wouldn’t like to have this request in the moment. For example my home airport is able to handle B747/A380 for training or special flights, but has no fitting stands in IF and that would then mean I would get a violation for realistic special flights.

Edit: @AliAlex wrote a similar point now, but I just saw it after posting, sorry!

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You could also select your destination airport and the aircraft you want to fly and see if it fits and where before you select your departing airport on the menu.

You could do that, but I’m sure there is a great number of people who do not.

Very good idea, but if I remember correctly, there is already a part of your idea on the old versions of IF before the global, which put ghosts for those who dared to land in small airport with a large plane.

I think IFATC does a pretty good job enforcing Aircraft size restrictions for smaller airports. We can check the max aircraft size on our website