NEW AFCAD already checked with AES

[harpsi]

Hi

Since there were a lot of afcad files in the previous thread, I decided to open this one. This is due to the compatibility of the afcad I have done with AES from aerosoft. There are some issues even with the original file from FSdreamteam. Some places where the cars and trucks stay are out of the yellow marks. Even with some more adjustments, the amount of gates available would be more or less the same, which means more 3 or 4 after the correction of these issues.

All the gates were redone in order that the aircrafts fit exactly in the yellow marks, no metres to the left or to the right. 

Here is the list of gates available for LSZH with AES:

AES - Working Gates at LSZH according to the present afcad:


Terminal A: A03, A04, A09, A11, A13, A17, A42, A44, A49, A57
Terminal B: B02, B03, B31, B33, B35, B37, B39
Terminal E: E19, E22, E23, E25, E26, E29, E34, E35, E42, E43, E45, E46, E49, E52, E53, E56, E57, E58,
                E62, E64, E67

Apron C: C02, C21, C22
Apron D: D01, D12
Apron F: F70, F71, F72, F72, F74, F75, F77, F79
Apron G: G01, G02, G04, G06
Apron H: H11, H12, H13
Apron I: I90, I91, I92, I93, I94, I95, I96, I97, I98
Apron T: T43, T55

Below, the new afcad as well as a read me with gates available.

Have fun. If you have comments, please feel free to do them.

harpsi

P.S.: I changed the file due to changes with the names of the comm frequencies. For those 5 persons who downloaded the file, you can download this new one

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[EDDT-Sebi]

Hello Harpsi,
Thanks for news AFCAD of Zurich! But, where is Parking for Cargo? I thing, that is F70 to F75 Parking? And where is B747 Cargo Parking?
As i ask, If Wind from North, can approach AI Traffic to RWY34?
Thanks..

Sebastian

[harpsi]

Hello Harpsi,
Thanks for news AFCAD of Zurich! But, where is Parking for Cargo? I thing, that is F70 to F75 Parking? And where is B747 Cargo Parking?
As i ask, If Wind from North, can approach AI Traffic to RWY34?
Thanks..

Sebastian

First question: that was my problem as well. Where to park the cargo planes? In fact there is not so much cargo traffic to zurich and as someone told me, cargo planes are parking at the south of the airport, near G apron or T, maybe near those buildings at the back... I never understood where exactly... but you have no FDX, no DHL, no UPS and no TNT. Maybe Empost (coded RUN) and UAE Cargo... F70 to F75 are too small spots. You should not park a B747 there...

Second question: the afcad is prepared to avoid as much as possible the winds from the North. If it happens, maybe in 1 or 2 % of the time, well, you have to live with that... then AI traffic will use 34, 28 and 32. You can use the DVD28/34 afcad file, a simple one which is ready for download in the other thread. I left this file out of question because it would be a file only used during 1 or 2 hours per day maximum... but you can use it and make it better or equal than this one as well. If it is really needed I can transform this new afcad into the DVO file in order to be used for those hours... but then be careful, because if the winds change, you have to use 10, 14 and 16 at the same time, which is not really real...

harpsi
 

[mozart]

Hi harpsi

Thanks for all your efforts and also your PM. I was on vacation until this morning and so didn't check out your work yet. So I just downloaded this version and will look at it.

I trust you have done a good work on the runways. I'll take a look at airline assignments and also the problem of cargo planes. For your reference: the cargo building is the one in front of stands F76-78. However, as you correctly pointed out, there hardly is any traffic from freight-only planes into Zurich. In case they come, they are typically parked at stands T50-T55.

I'll give you feedback as soon as I've installed and tested the scenery and AFCAD.

[harpsi]

I trust you have done a good work on the runways. I'll take a look at airline assignments and also the problem of cargo planes. For your reference: the cargo building is the one in front of stands F76-78. However, as you correctly pointed out, there hardly is any traffic from freight-only planes into Zurich. In case they come, they are typically parked at stands T50-T55.

That´s what I thought. At those stands it is impossible to park a B747 or even an airbus 300-B4... You have flight plans for Empost and Kuzu Airlines as well as for UAE Cargo... Not much more than these ones.

harpsi

[mozart]

Hi harpsi

I have spent the past couple of hours reviewing/correcting/testing your AFCAD. Your work was an excellent basis! It had already done the things that I usually find tedius to do (taxiways, alignment of gates, start locations, etc).

What I did do:

1) Displaced some gate locations at the Midfield Dock. Basically, the Midfield Dock needs to be laid out in a way that up to six heavy jets (up to A340 / B777 size) can park there. The way it was done this didn't work, wings collided. So I displaced one gate on the South side of the Midfield Dock. On the North side, I took out two stands and displaced two others. Now there's space for up to six heavies on both sides. This also resolves the problem one user mentioned in the previous thread of not all Swiss A330 and A340 finding a space to park at Midfield. Well, in my corrected AFCAD they don't ALL go there. Actually, what happens is that space is first taken by the other heavies (United, Delta, AA, AC, Singapore, Thai, etc), and the rest by Swiss. At some times of day this means that some Swiss heavies will then go to the maintenance area. At other times, one sees something like ten Swiss heavies at the Midfield. (Can I post pictures here?)

2) I added gate A48 on the South side of the A Pier. ALthough the APSI that I have only shows six gates, I know that there are up to seven narrowbody jets parked on the South side of the A Pier at rush hours.

3) I completely changed airline assignments. I am a perfectionist when it comes to airline assignments. Just can't stand it when airlines park at gates which are not in line with the real world.

4) I tested all of this extensively: I basically load the Cessna, set the time at 5AM, put it in slew mode, slew over the airport to check all planes are parked where they should. Then I change time to 5.30AM and do the same. Then for 6AM, and so on, for the whole day. Like this I can be sure that all airlines that visit the airport that particular day park where they should. Also I can be sure that rush hours can be handled.

After these extensive tests I can vouch that gate assignments are 99% in line with reality. I know the real ZRH very well as I fly in or out of there between three and six times per week.

I will now take a look at runways. I am not a specialist on the runway assignment method, but I want to do some observations.

Thanks!

[cyrildel]

Hello harpsi,

thank you for your work.

I may be a good swiss pilot but unfortunatly i really don't understand how to download your AFCAD. Could you help me ?

Thank you.

Cyril

[harpsi]

1) Displaced some gate locations at the Midfield Dock. Basically, the Midfield Dock needs to be laid out in a way that up to six heavy jets (up to A340 / B777 size) can park there. The way it was done this didn't work, wings collided. So I displaced one gate on the South side of the Midfield Dock. On the North side, I took out two stands and displaced two others. Now there's space for up to six heavies on both sides. This also resolves the problem one user mentioned in the previous thread of not all Swiss A330 and A340 finding a space to park at Midfield. Well, in my corrected AFCAD they don't ALL go there. Actually, what happens is that space is first taken by the other heavies (United, Delta, AA, AC, Singapore, Thai, etc), and the rest by Swiss. At some times of day this means that some Swiss heavies will then go to the maintenance area. At other times, one sees something like ten Swiss heavies at the Midfield. (Can I post pictures here?)

Sorry. Are you talking about Midfield A, B or E? If you talk about A and B, aircrafts have a lot of space. For terminal E, with the aircrafts I use, I don´t have any colisions. For example, if you go to aircraft editor inside the afcad tool, you have boeing 737 with different parking radius, which can go from 19 to 25. It depends on what you use as AIs maybe... I have a full airport and wings are not having colisions.

About Swiss, it depends also on the schedules you have. There are a lot of flight plans, ones more completed that the others. Anyway, at terminal E, Swiss has the last priority at heavy gates in my afcad because they can park in other places as well. Some of my swiss airplanes are going to maintenance area as well. I never had more than 10 swiss A340+A330 at the airport. Maybe 5 or 7 and the others are arriving from long distances. But when one is arriving maybe two are departing.

2) I added gate A48 on the South side of the A Pier. Although the APSI that I have only shows six gates, I know that there are up to seven narrowbody jets parked on the South side of the A Pier at rush hours.

The problem is: you cannot switch between 6 or 7 gates, unless you change it between 2 afcad files

3) I completely changed airline assignments. I am a perfectionist when it comes to airline assignments. Just can't stand it when airlines park at gates which are not in line with the real world.

OK. You can tell and send me what you did, but as I said it depends a lot on the flight plans you have. There are no schedules from every airline with the same year or even the same weather station of the year. I have flight plans from 2005 mixed with flight plans of 2008, summer FP, fall FP or winter FP.

harpsi

[cyrildel]

OK I just found it ...
sorry

[cyrildel]

Thx ! I m using nothing particular
just the Flight One Ultimate traffic as I still use FS9 is there a better one I could buy ?

Cyril

[harpsi]

Thx ! I m using nothing particular
just the Flight One Ultimate traffic as I still use FS9 is there a better one I could buy ?

Cyril

It is good what you are using at the moment

harpsi

[harpsi]

Mozart,

OK. I checked now every gate in terminal E and there is just a place where 2 airbuses 340 are really really closed to eachother but wings don´t touch. It is the last east and south gate and the next one to the left: E22 and E26. Outside of this which is not even a colision, nothing happens. As you can see the 2 biggest aircrafts, B747 and A340 don´t touch each other. Very closed but no contact. In the other picture you have two winglets of swiis A330 and A340 at E22 and E26.

I was trying a lot of times all kinds of hours and I found 6 or 7 swiss heavies maximum at the whole airport. I never got 10 or so. I tried from 5.00 a.m. until 21.00 pm. on a weekday and in the weekend.

harpsi

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[mozart]

Hi Harpsi

I took some snapshots so we can better communicate.

Regarding Pier A: of course I did not mean that AFCAD can switch between six and seven gates at Pier A. I simply said that all the six gates you had put were correct, but that one was missing. And there was the space for the missing one. So what I did:

• I left all your gates and their numbers untouched
• I added gate A48

The result is that now seven narrowbody planes of Star Alliance companies can park at Pier A (see picture below). To show that there was enough space I also attached a picture from above showing that there are no wing collisions.



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[harpsi]

Hi

OK. tell me more things. Gate A48 already added. There is some space indeed. :d

When I have all little details complete I can send the file for the next service pack if the team wants to.

So, please check every detail which you think that can be improved. I appreciate your colaboration We will have a great file.-

harpsi

[mozart]

Harpsi

We'll make this perfect... I know what ZRH looks like in reality (I fly to/from there 3-4 times a week on average), and you know how to work the runway star system.

First of all, I have attached my new AFCAD for you to look at.

THen, some explanations of the changes I have done to Midfield Dock (=E Gates):

What I wanted to achieve was a rendering as realistic as possible. Which means the following:

• All flights to North America leaving from gates E19-E35, E43
• Have all Swiss heavies use the gatesE 19-E53
• Have no Swiss narrowbodies use the E gates

Therefore:

• All flights to North America leaving from gates E19-E35, E43 -> in the morning, I need space for several 767s of the North American carriers (UA, DL, AA, AC, CO); for this, having "medium" gates at the Midfield Dock is OK, they are sufficient for the 767s; therefore, for this time of day, it is OK to have some medium gates at Midfield Dock as you did
• Have all Swiss heavies use the gatesE 19-E53 -> when the North American carriers are gone, it's no longer good enough to have "medium" gates, because the Swiss heavies require "heavy" gates; therefore, your solution of "medium" gates is not good, but all gates E19-E53 need to be "heavy"
• Have no Swiss narrowbodies use the E gates -> the priority of CRX needs to be lower on the A gates than at the A gates. Like that, the Swiss narrowbodies will first go to the A gates (where priority is higher), and only the heavy ones will go to the E gates, where they fit

Therefore what I did:

• 1. I changed your "medium" gates at Midfield Dock E into "heavy" gates. -> this led to the problem that some of the A340/A330/B777 wings collided, because the medium gates are too close together
• 2. I modified the AFCAD to represent a "heavy" layout: I looked up in the APSI plan the gates to be used for heavy usage. What I found was that I needed the following gates on the Northern side: E23, 27, 35, 43,47. On the Southern side I needed E20, 26, 34, 42, 46,52. If you look at the APSI plan that I enclosed, you can see these are the gate numbers in the bigger boxes. The FSDT scenery has these gates modelled, so it fits the scenery. Therefore I removed the "medium" gates E25 and E29 (replaced by "heavy" E27), I removed E45 and E49 (replaced by E47), I removed E22 and replaced it by E20. All these gates exist, you can find them on the map enclosed.

The result is the following:

1. in the morning the North American carriers use the right gates (look screenshot "morning" and "morning aerial"). Because I removed some medium gates and replaced them by heavy gates there is of course some wastage and lots of space between the 767s.
2. however, at midday, the North American carriers have gone. The Swiss heavies are more numerous and need "their" stands at the E gates. Now with all the gates E19-E53 turned into "heavy", there is enough space for them and no wing collision. Look at screenshots "midday" and "midday aerial" to see the planes and also how there is just enough spaces for the wings not to collide.

I have done a couple of other things. Most of all, Assigned all airlines to the gate area they use. These are some highlights:

• All airbridge stands are coded
• Put the Swiss Avros ("CRXX") with priority to the F gates
• Put Darwin and the Star Alliance commuter planes to the I gates
• Put some A gates for use only by Swiss narrowbody, others for both Star Alliance mainline jets and Swiss narrowbody
• Something that probably only works for me: assigned "MIL" code to some gates. That's where military and VIP jets go
• Coded some of the maintenance area stands to be used by Swiss, Edelweiss and Belair
• Assigned the B and C gates to the airlines using them

I have tested these gate assignments for hours today. I am an absolute perfectionist, so I have to be honest that they only represent reality by 98%. What is different to reality:

• For some reason, I can't get the Privatair B737W to park at the E gates. It always parks at the D area
• In relaity, Singapore and Thai are parked at B gates during their layover and only use the E gates to embark and disembark. In my AFCAD, they are at the E gates during their entire stay in Zurich
• In reality, Edelweiss use the E gates and sometimes also the A gates. In my AFCAD, they sometimes use the E gates (as in reality), but never the A gates. Instead, I have given them space in the C, D and G area
• In reality, in the morning there sometimes is a Swiss heavy parked at B, but rarely more than one. In my AFCAD, in the morning, there are sometimes two.

Quite frankly, to me these flaws are acceptable.

I have included my AFCAD and the APSI with the gate numbering at ZRH for your reference along with the screenshots.

On the runways: well, you may note that my specialty is to get gate assignments right. Runways is less my domain. Still, I think you have done a phantastic job. I have tested the runways at several times and indeed I got landings on 14, smaller landings and smaller departures on 28, and bigger departures on 16. Now the only thing that bothers me with this is that not only B737s but also A319/320/321 should take off from runway 28. If that could be done by tinkering around with the runway length, then things would be really perfect. I have tried tinkering around a bit, but still I have the A319/320/321s take off from 16. Anything you can do to fix that?

Let me know what you think.

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