The Commuter Terminal Parking at PHOG

[ddo2]

Hey all, I use the PMDG J41 a lot in and out of PHOG, and I usually park it around the "back" of the terminal where the commuter parking is.  I've never really tried to figure out if it has a gate or something, but I'm wondering if it does so I can use GSX back there.  The PHOG manual doesn't give out numbers there, and there's too many "parking" spots to try them all, so I'm wondering if someone knows if they can be activated as spots under GSX?

Thanks. 

(For those who don't know where I'm referring to, it's on the road side of the terminal near gate 39, off of Taxiway F.)  Thanks. 

[hermit53]

You're right in that the commuter gates are at the back of the terminal.
FSDT put some cargo gates there, which is wrong.
Give it a couple of days, I'm working on new AFCAD's for PHNL, PHOG and PHKO. They'll be GSX style, they should work a lot better than the defaults.
Hans Wilms

[ddo2]

Thanks, so you're saying they are the cargo gates on the current AFCAD?  I never even thought of trying those....

[hermit53]

Yep, that's exactly what I'm saying. FSDT put some cargo docs there where the commuters should park. The cargo docks should be all the way at the end of the terminal building to the left when facing it from air-side and across the field on the other side of the runway next to the helicopter terminal.
Mind you, it's not easy to get hold of good parking information of US airports, so in many cases the AFCADS feature a lot of 'artistic liberty'. I buy/download airport info for all the airports I have for FSX to fine-tune the AFCADs, but whatever is out there for the US is mostly without detailed parking/gate info. I'm certainly not going to get a Jeppesen subscription to get a hold of them, so I base myself in those cases on whatever is on the web (many airports have their own sites with terminal maps/gate locations, etc.), Google Earth and airlinepictures.net. By looking, comparing and looking again and comparing again something reasonable comes out, at least in many cases much better than default. It's extremely time consuming and often frustrating, but... if there's one thing that really bugs the hell out of me, it's a highly detailed airport with a crappy AFCAD. Aircraft going to gates where they shouldn't be going, vehicles running right though them, other planes crashing into things, planes pushing back out of drive-through parkings, we've all seen them....
Mind you, I actually still have to see one single freeware/payware FSX/FS9 airport with a good AFCAD (there may be, I just don't have anything like it on my PC). Since the AFCAD is one of the last things you do before releasing an airport, I can imagine that the designers are so fed up with it that the AFCAD gets treated like a necessary evil, 'just get it done and over with'. I have been working on a very detailed scenery of Tahiti airport (I got lucky in receiving some 200 pictures of a ground crew member there), it's about 2 years now! Sometimes I get so tired of it, that I go train simming for a few weeks
Anyways, for PHNL, PHOG and PHKO I will have to fabricate the parking charts to go with it before I release, it's no good for anyone to not know where on earth that gate is ATC referred you to and you start taxiing around all over the place like a 3-year old on his tricycle..
You'll know when they're out when they're out  , no deadline, I've got a family to feed. Before these AFCADs go public, I'd like to run them by FSDT, so they at least work with GSX as they should.

Hans

[virtuali]

Mind you, I actually still have to see one single freeware/payware FSX/FS9 airport with a good AFCAD (there may be, I just don't have anything like it on my PC). Since the AFCAD is one of the last things you do before releasing an airport, I can imagine that the designers are so fed up with it that the AFCAD gets treated like a necessary evil, 'just get it done and over with'.

I'd say GSX have changed all of this, since the AFCAD is its primary source of data, it will force us to design AFCADs more accurately in the future, we can only hope it will force other scenery developers to do the same.

It's already happening: I've got several enquirers from scenery developers, asking both how to do GSX-friendly AFCADs, but also adding new custom vehicles that can be used by GSX on their airport, and even some discussing how the GSX availability has changed even the way they are designing their upcoming airports.

[hermit53]

Good to hear that Umberto, it was about time!

[ddo2]

Umberto, that's great.  But, back to my original question, what are the gates back there?  I tried the dock ones and even in the 172 it said the docks were too small.  I tried a couple of the GA cargo gates as suggested above, and still no joy.  Any suggestions? 

Thanks. 

[hermit53]

Hi,
Too small for what? If it says too small for pushback it may be that under a certain parking radius GSX does not provide pushback, I haven't tested. If so, it would not be far from reality, since commuters, especially on spots like the ones you refer to, would break away under own power. I do not have the AFCAD on my laptop, but if memory doesn't fail me all those specific parking spots at PHOG are drive-through anyway.
I have the JS41 myself and fly it a lot. If you look at the tutorial, you will note that Robert Randazzo, a RW pilot who sort of started his career flying the JS41 for United Express and wrote the tutorial, states that most of the time they would taxi out of the stand under own power whenever possible, even if it meant making a sharp 180. Same holds true for the other commuters you will see at PHOG like Go!, Mukelele, Island Air, etc., that operate C208B, CRJ200 and Dash8-100. Given the size of these planes, you shouldn't expect stairs, big catering trucks and baggage loaders either. On these short flights checked-in bags are just tossed in and you shouldn't be looking for more than some pretzels and glass of orange juice....., if any

[virtuali]

The commuter terminal are parking 35-41

[ddo2]

Umberto, thanks.  I'll try that tonight. 

Hans, well, you called them "docks" so I tried to pull them up using the GSX "dock" sub-menu, and they were too small, so I couldn't select them for use at all.  Where they are, why they are too small, I have no idea, but it appears they aren't the ones we are talking about.  But, yes, they are drive throughs.  That's what I like about them.   But a marshallman should be able to guide to the stop, it isn't like you stop and everyone jumps out.   

[hermit53]

I stand corrected! I just opened the latest AFX_PHOG.bgl and in effect, the commuter gates are 35-41. They used to be cargo docks in an older version, sorry about that!
I checked the wing span of the PMDG JS41, it's 9.15 meters so that's well within the parking radii of gates 36 thru 40, only 41 would be too small for the JS41. I don't know if I get a chance tonight to actually check these gates in action, if I do I'll see what happens. I don't immediately see a reason why GSX doesn't work for you there, other than that you would probably only see a marsheller there in real life and I doubt if there would even be a bus to take passengers from and to the terminal. You might only see baggage carts and tractor and a fuel truck.
Could you be more specific about what you actually see and do not see happening! It would help.
As to their position, I checked them on Google Earth and apart from the angle at which the planes are parked (you can make out 3 C208Bs and 1 DH8-Q100) the gates seem to be in the correct position.
The cargo docks are RAMPS 2, 4 and 6 in the FSDT AFCAD.

Hans

[hermit53]

Hi ddo2
Just gave it a quick check with the Carenado C208B, works for me!
So again, what exactly doesn't work on your side?

Hans

[Lawgiver]

Hans,


Where can I find your custom AFCADS??  AVSIM, Simviation, Flightsim??  Also what to search for to find you on those websites.  I would like to see what you have.

Regards,
Rob

[hermit53]

Hi Rob,
AVSIM, search for Hans Wilms and whatever is there will pop up. Some might have gone lost when the site was hacked. Since most of that was FS9 I didn't bother to re-upload..., I'm 100% FSX now, in spite off. Overall I think it's much better than FS9, especially with all the tweaks and utilities (check fsdeveloper on what you can do to make it much, much better compared to how it come out off the box!!)
I think the only AFCAD that's left is the one for FS9 LIMC....., apart from some repaints. Guess I'll have to upload some more stuff shortly. Point is that I use FSX to actually fly and enjoy myself, not just to develop/modify as some, especially repainters, seem to do.

[Lawgiver]

Hi Hans,

Still haven't had that drink yet  .  Will keep an eye on AVSIM.  You're right, mostly FS9 stuff on there right now with a few FSX repaints.  Thanks for the heads up on FSDeveloper.  Didn't know about that one.  Looks like I will be spending some time on there.

Regards,
Rob