Nov 2nd Update - (No) stairs at the aircraft

[disco79stu]

Okay, so something else changed:

I always wanted a way to get the stairs to dock at the aircraft without having to call for ANY service (just like it's possible to only dock jetways).

Until yesterday, I kinda worked around that missing option by calling for catering trucks and just let them do their thing (it has no effect on loading etc. of the plane). Stairs are moved to the plane, after the trucks leave, the stairs stay docked to the plane. I could live with that.

Now, after the update, calling the catering trucks won't attatch the stairs to the plane anymore.

It feels so unrealistic and wierd to see the aircraft beeing loaded with food and fuel without having ANY stairs docked. That's not what such a situation looks like in real life. There is always a way for ground- or flight-crew to get on board long before the passengers arrive.... (when I call for boarding, the stairs move into position as they suppose to)

Please add a "dock stairs only" option!!!

Thanks & Regards,
Stu

(FSLabs + EDDM T2G)

[virtuali]

That's not obviously a bug, but a side effect of being able to call catering at any time, even while boarding, which wasn't possible before. We'll see about adding an option to call stairs separately.

[disco79stu]

Thanks for the consideration.
I know it‘s not a bug but if I want the not too uncommon order of

- crew boarding plane
- cleaning crew (not yet simulated)
- preparation/checks/walkaround
- catering
- refueling

all of this is done without stairs at the plane until pax arrive. Given the fact that you guys really have an eye for lots of little details (wipers etc) and beautiful looks, I‘m surprised that this basic feature is such a hassle. The old AES always moved the stairs or jetways to the plane as soon as you load a situation. I‘m kinda baffled that I seem to be the only one who thinks there should be a „base status“ with stairs attached but no other service in progress. It just looks strange...

[virtuali]

I know it‘s not a bug but if I want the not too uncommon order of

- crew boarding plane

Stairs should already arrive at this point, since the crew is part of the boarding process, and stairs will move to the airplane as soon as you select boarding, not after passengers arrive.

[disco79stu]

You are correct, this is the case. I made confusing statements.

By „crew boarding the plane“ I meant an „imaginary“ crew, not the simulated 3D fellas
Cause when you select „boarding“ to get crew and stairs on the plane, then passengers WILL board after crew without a selectable time in between. I just want „crew“ to ve on the plane and have as much time as I want/need until pax arrive.

[virtuali]

I just want „crew“ to ve on the plane and have as much time as I want/need until pax arrive.

That's an entirely different issue and, in fact, is the ability to allow the crew to board independently from passengers, which has been discussed so many times on the forum and we confirmed multiple times it is under consideration.

[DMdoc]

Let me put my "two cents" in.
(1) I too, would appreciate having the ability to have the crew arrive separately from the passengers.
(2) I wish we could specify the number of crew -- I'm flying smaller aircraft and there's really no need for multiple flight attendants. (I realize this may be part of the forthcoming GA simulation.)
Thanks for the sim; despite a few niggly flaws, it's great to have!

[sanookbkk]

I know it‘s not a bug but if I want the not too uncommon order of

- crew boarding plane

Stairs should already arrive at this point, since the crew is part of the boarding process, and stairs will move to the airplane as soon as you select boarding, not after passengers arrive.

Stairs should be there well before crew boarding, as in most airlines there is some airport crews, engineers who prepare the plane before flying crew boarding.
Also the sequence with pilots and cabin crew boarding just 2 minutes before pax is unrealistic as these crew board 30 mn to 1 hour before pax.....
Would be nice to be able to board/unboard crew separatly from pax

[virtuali]

Stairs should be there well before crew boarding, as in most airlines there is some airport crews, engineers who prepare the plane before flying crew boarding.

They will, since stairs will move first, before the crew vehicle departs from whichever remote location it's spawned from.

Also the sequence with pilots and cabin crew boarding just 2 minutes before pax is unrealistic as these crew board 30 mn to 1 hour before pax.....

This will of course taken care when you'll have the ability to board crew separately.

[Wolf0]

Hello Umberto.

First of all thank you for this update. GSX is moving to an ever more realistic representation of ground operations.

Regarding this issue I'd like to add my voice to the OP's request.

It makes no sense to see catering and fuel without stairs connected to the left side. It seems that no one has entered the aircraft and despiste that ground services carry on serving a ghost aircraft.

The option to control the stair independently (call passenger stairs/bridge) would solve that. Give more control to the user regarding how one believes the ground sequence should happen.

Let me just add a tiny additional request. Give the user the option to move the stairs away from the aircraft also! That would implemente my suggestion for a "nightstop status". After deboarding we could call off the stairs (and the loaders also if possible).

Please, please, please, please......

[rcoultas62]

This reminds me of the old adage..."Be careful what you ask for....You might just get it!", and before you know it, we have a GSX menu with 50 items on it. You can't please 100% of the people 100% of the time.  What one individual would like in order to make the software "perfect" (in his own mind anyway), might not be what another person really wants. 

While I certainly agree with most, on the order of the way GSX should handle events. And I also think some of the requests are great and valid.  Where does it end?  If Umberto keeps adding new features as he indicates he would like, It could start to potentially detract (IMHO) from my personal immersion if I have to spend so much time micro-managing the whole ramp operation.  This could also be argued as " less than realistic". 

How about automating the whole process, similar to the way PMDG gives you the option of selecting a turn-around time and all of the services just simply happen in a real-world (commonly agreed upon) order?  For example...I select a turn around time...the crew boards, and then I as a captain (simmer) go about my daily routine of preparing the aircraft for the leg segment.  It's up to me as the captain to have the aircraft ready for push by the time the turn around time is up.  A sort of set it and forget it mentality.

Ultimately of course, this is all up to Umberto the developer.  And, the above suggestion is really only just another example of the the different roads that GSX "could possibly" evolve into.  My point is - I hope, and am sure that Umberto will very carefully weigh all of the suggestions and requests so as not to end up with that 50 item GSX menu.

disclaimer:  the above post is merely a humble opinion of a very happy GSX customer.  Happy flying!

[emanIA]

It seems to me you could solve this by using the existing jetway call in the menu.  At stands or gates where there is no jetway, it calls the stairs instead. Or am I oversimplifying it?

Eric