Author Topic: Jetways drives me crazy  (Read 1232 times)

FerrevmVnion

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Jetways drives me crazy
« on: November 29, 2022, 12:50:46 am »
Hi Virtuali,

i try it again ... honestly i dont get the way how jetways are working ....

Problem:
- Jetways just move a bit and wont connect when asking for deboarding or boarding.
- When asking for Jetway Connection (from GSX MENU) before boarding or deboarding the jetway connects without any issue
- When boarding or deboarding begins: Jetway disconnects and is not moveable anymore (point 1)

Why the hell are they working when not boarding/deboarding and not workiung when boarding. It makes no sense.....

Please take a look ... its just a standard airport, no super special jetways nothing ... honestly i know: Sometings 3rd party airports with custom jetways have to be excluded, sometimes included .... it doesnt make sense and i read the manual several times... i tend to give up to understand it.

https://youtu.be/7Jh-qhF9Gkc
« Last Edit: November 29, 2022, 10:17:26 am by virtuali »

Johan217

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Re: Jetways drives me crazy
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2022, 10:11:05 am »
It seems that you are actually turning GSX off and on when asking for deboarding. You should not click the icon in the menu bar, use the keyboard shortcut instead to open the menu. Even so, the jetway stays connected when I do the same. Might have something to do with the aircraft you are using (I tried with the A310 and JF146).

virtuali

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Re: Jetways drives me crazy
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2022, 10:41:57 am »
i try it again ... honestly i dont get the way how jetways are working ....

First, I suggest reading this post VERY carefully, to understand how jetway work ( or rather, how many issues there are with them ):

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,28527.msg186293.html#msg186293

From your video, I can see the first problem is you are using the Fenix so, the FIRST thing you need to do, is to DISABLE the option to control the jetway automatically in the Fenix EFB, this way there will be no risk of both GSX and the Fenix try to operate the jetway at the same time.

This should answer to the "why the jetway disconnects" question: the Fenix was trying to *connect* a jetway that was already connected by GSX and, since the command to control jetways is a "toggle", if you send it to a jetway that is already connected, it will disconnect.

As explained in above linked post, since the SDK doesn't offer a reliable way to know if a jetway is connected, GSX checks if the jetway is not moving and its hood is extended, but maybe the Fenix is not doing the same check and assume you always start with a disconnected jetway, that's why it's best if you disable the automatic Jetway connection in the Fenix, at least until the airplane will integrate GSX.

Now the 2nd problem, which is obviously completely unrelated to GSX, and it was the jetway "twitching". You caused it entirely yourself because, you haven't realized there's a DELAY from the moment you send a Toggle Jetway command, to the movement the jetway will really start to move but, instead, you clicked again too quickly, so you sent another command while the Jetway was still starting to process the first.

Now the last "problem", which again is not a GSX problem: you already started Boarding, and tried to operate the jetway. GSX correctly prevents you from doing that, and if you looked carefully, it ALSO printed a message saying that the Jetway operation would start after Boarding.

The reason why GSX won't let you operate a jetway after Boarding/Deboarding started, is to prevent ending up with "passengers in the air", in case you disconnected the jetway before the operation completed.

And, if you start Boarding with the jetway already disconnected, passengers will not even be created (for the same reason of not having them walking in the air) but will be only simulated, but also you won't be allowed to operate a Jetway after Boarding/Deboarding started, since by that time, GSX already decided that, if the jetway wasn't already connected, no passengers will be shown anyway.

Quote
Sometings 3rd party airports with custom jetways have to be excluded, sometimes included

The manual never say anything about 3rd party airport possibly being not excluded "sometimes". There's no question about that 3rd party airports should ALWAYS be Excluded from jetway replacement.

The only case in which you MIGHT keep the 3rd party airport Enabled for Jetway replacement it's a very rare situation, in which the add-on scenery has EXACTLY the same parking spots, in the same position and named the same, as the default scenery it replaces. That's the only case where you could safely use the GSX Jetway replacement files, because those files are made to match 1:1 default airports, and if the add-on scenery you use doesn't match the default airport, jetways won't work and/or you'll get double parking spots. Small difference in the jetway position might not be a problem, but parking with different names will surely be.

In most of the cases, if you don't Disable the GSX Replacement file for an airport for which you have an add-on, you'll be introducing a conflict, so they should be Disabled in 99% of the situations ( I don't think I ever saw a 3rd party scenery that matches 100% all parking spots of the default scenery ).

Last comment about you always using the mouse is also correct: as the manual says at Page 72, you are supposed to use the menu this way:

Quote
This is now your normal workflow should be:

- Open the GSX menu from the Toolbar icon when first starting Ground services
- Don’t close it from the Toolbar while Ground services are performed, always use the Hot-key or the X icon to close the menu.
- Close the menu using the Toolbar icon when you are done with Ground services, usually before take-off.

In brief, the Toolbar Icon should always be left Active while Ground services are required.

If you don't use it this way, you'll have the following problems:

- Any message or pop-up menu GSX needs to show you, will be lost if the Toolbar icon is Inactive ( dark )

- You are making unnecessarily hard to use the menu, because you'll need to click twice, once to close the toolbar icon, another time to re-open it. Other than being more awkward to use, each time you reopen the menu, it will go through a more lengthy initialization phase, making it less responsive in general.
« Last Edit: November 29, 2022, 10:48:48 am by virtuali »