Stairs for Cold and Dark Plane

[draci]

Hi to all,

I really enjoy the new Fuel Truck of the latest GSX version, well done! But in older versions when calling the fuel truck, the stairs moved to the airplane doors. This doesn't happen anymore in my PMDG 747-800. Imagine that you start in a cold and dark situation from a gate without jetways. SOMEHOW the crew needs to get onboard and probably they need to climb up some stairs to reach the door, isn't it? So here's my question. Is there a way to trigger the front stairs to move to the front door when starting up the flight without requesting boarding immediately? Or at least assign a button such that this happens? Can I tweak the .ini-file? It's fine for me if the other stairs move to aircraft some 20 minutes into the flight when I call for boarding start, but I really need a stair to board the crew right from the beginning. Any help appreciated.

draci
 

[virtuali]

This has been explained in several other threads, and of course it has been done intentionally, to prevent the new (large) fuel truck to clash into the other vehicles.

Depending on which side you place the refueling point, left-side or right-side vehicles will be recalled when refueling. So, in your case, if you want to have the stairs attached, simply reverse the X coordinate of the refueling point to have it on the right wing, so the loaders will be recalled to make space for the fuel truck, rather than the stairs.

[draci]

Thank you for the quick answer. Knowing the excellent support and the high degree of GSX configurability there must have been a simple and logical solution. Great add-on and even more valuable with the SODE integration! A pity that only so few developers use SODE to animate their jetways and that to create one's one jetways in SODE is just too cumbersome.

draci

[virtuali]

A pity that only so few developers use SODE to animate their jetways and that to create one's one jetways in SODE is just too cumbersome.

If a developer complained about making jetways for SODE, it's no mystery that not many supported the default FSX system either. THAT's really cumbersome, the SODE method, by comparison, it's trivial...

[draci]

Hi Umberto,

Sorry to bother you again, but I finally did have time to try your suggestion and let the fuel truck go to the other wing. However, now the fuel truck crashes into the baggage loader on the way (although - if I understand your post correctly the idea behind not moving GSX vehicles to the aircraft was exactly to prevent this from happening) and still the stairs on the other side do not move to the aircraft. What do I do wrong? And furthermore: Usually the fuel truck approaches the aircraft from behind and stops at the wing, so why should it crash into the front stairs? 

draci

[virtuali]

However, now the fuel truck crashes into the baggage loader on the way

You should have seen a prompt to close the cargo doors then, and have the baggage loader move out to it starting position. If the fuel truck is crashing in the baggage loader even in its starting position, then the parking size is too small, so you must edit the starting position of the vehicles or the parking radius.

(although - if I understand your post correctly the idea behind not moving GSX vehicles to the aircraft was exactly to prevent this from happening) and still the stairs on the other side do not move to the aircraft. What do I do wrong?

They don't always move to the aircraft, only if you already asked for Deboarding or Boarding, they will be momentarily recalled in their starting position. If they are already there, maybe because you started with refueling, there's nothing to do.

And furthermore: Usually the fuel truck approaches the aircraft from behind and stops at the wing, so why should it crash into the front stairs?

The front stairs are never a problem, the ones on the back might be.

[draci]

Thanks Umberto for your reply. So this means that there is no way anymore to have stairs attached to the aircraft before boarding is requested? Very disappointing and quite unrealistic at a gate without jetways, isn't it? The front stairs are a must for the crew to board the aircraft. In former versions  the stairs could be triggered by requesting refuelling at the beginning of the flight. Requesting boarding immediately after starting the flight is very unrealistic, too. Cockpit preparations usually require at least 15-20 minutes.

draci

[virtuali]

Thanks Umberto for your reply. So this means that there is no way anymore to have stairs attached to the aircraft before boarding is requested?

You must have missed my earlier message:

Depending on which side you place the refueling point, left-side or right-side vehicles will be recalled when refueling. So, in your case, if you want to have the stairs attached, simply reverse the X coordinate of the refueling point to have it on the right wing, so the loaders will be recalled to make space for the fuel truck, rather than the stairs.

The pre-made configuration included with the current GSX Live Update, already have ALL refuel points for supported planes on the right but, if you already customized them, since your own customization will take precedence, you will have to Reset or edit the coordinate manually to move the refueler point to the right, and of course if you are editing a plane from scratch, you should take this into account.