EIA website

[Lairyliam]

Why are GSX using the EIA website?

What is the purpose of using a website that is not FS relevant (unlike say simbrief)
It then leads me to wonder what else is GSX doing that we do not know about?

Liam

[Tuskin38]

The EIA website is used to calculate the the fuel price that shows up on the side of GSX's fuel trucks.

It's nothing nefarious. It's mentioned in the manual that the prices come from the EIA

[Art69]

I don't really understand either why this is part of GSX. What , do I have a virtual airline and I must pay the invoice for the fuel? No. For me is only a part of the software which cause more problems then usefully, like yesterday when the site EIA.gov was down and cannot use GSX because return with error. Who cares at the end how much the fuel cost  in a simulator? Put a code line in the software with the price of 3.35$ and that's it. It's not like GSX next time when you select aa fly say: Hey , the price of the fuel is increase and you don't have enough money to perform your flight!

So really what is the purpose to have this? Because I don't see any.

[Captain Kevin]

I think that ultimately depends on what it is you're trying to do. With PFPX, you can set fuel prices for individual airports, so for all the airports I have add-on scenery for (I don't fly to default airports), I would call the fuel truck just to get the fuel price, then set that as the fuel price for that airport (yes, I know it won't stay constant). Once you do that, if you plan on flying multiple flights, you can figure out if you're just going to carry enough fuel to operate the first flight, then refuel once you land, or if it would be more cost effective to tanker fuel.

[Art69]

What I am trying to do is to perform a flight. I don't even look outside from the cockpit when GSX is boarding, because I have lot of things to do inside , like checklist, flight plan, weather briefing and so on. In other words, is not pilot job to see the fuel price. It is an airline manager to know this things. And MSFS is not an airline manager simulator, but a flight simulator, where you suppose to be a pilot. I don't think in the real world there is an airline pilot who know how much is the price of the fuel, unless is the owner of the company. Is not part of his job. His job as airline pilot is to take the passenger from point A to point B. Al the other things like cost, taxes and so on, is company problem.

Just to be clear: less junk, less problems ...

So I repeat the question: who cares as a pilot simulator to know how much fuel cost per gallon?

[virtuali]

Fact you  don't think a feature is useless for your, doesn't automatically makes the feature useless for everybody else. Everything in the simulator, of course, contributes to the immersion and everything, if you really think about it, is just pretending as well so, everybody might have his own idea of that is useless and what isn't.

If the EIA website didn't start to act strange two days ago, we wouldn't even be having this conversation (this feature has been there for years, even in P3D) and of course, the error has been dealt correctly now in the 3.0 update so yes, it will use a default price of 3.5, which it's what it always did when the site was unreachable, now it will do it even if the site it's alive, but returns strange errors, which I think are bugs in the API.

[Captain Kevin]

What I am trying to do is to perform a flight. I don't even look outside from the cockpit when GSX is boarding,

Okay, so in that case, why bother with GSX boarding at all.

because I have lot of things to do inside , like checklist, flight plan, weather briefing and so on.

Yes, I get that.

In other words, is not pilot job to see the fuel price. It is an airline manager to know this things. And MSFS is not an airline manager simulator, but a flight simulator, where you suppose to be a pilot. I don't think in the real world there is an airline pilot who know how much is the price of the fuel, unless is the owner of the company. Is not part of his job. His job as airline pilot is to take the passenger from point A to point B. Al the other things like cost, taxes and so on, is company problem.

The pilots are also responsible for verifying the flight plan and fuel load. If the flight needs to carry extra fuel for any reason, the pilots would need to know that. Additionally, they can order extra fuel if they think they need it for reasons such as weather or other reasons. Commercial pilots generally don't plan flights on their own, that's the dispatcher's job, but that doesn't stop you from planning the flight for simulator purposes since you don't have a dispatcher to do that for you.

[Art69]

In the good old days when I was using GSX in FSX none of this problems occurs.

[virtuali]

In the good old days when I was using GSX in FSX none of this problems occurs.

You just made my point, when I said "this feature has been there for years, even in P3D"

Yes, that includes FSX too, not sure exactly when it was added, but it was years ago. Again, the EIA website must have changed its behavior 2 days ago, hence the issue, which has already fixed, of course.

[AndyCYXU]

would it not make more sense to put gallons or liters pumped display on it as oppose to price? that would actually be more useful and more interesting to watch then price. never really knew what this display was showing pretty irrelevant as long as my end fuel was what it suppose to be

[virtuali]

would it not make more sense to put gallons or liters pumped display on it as oppose to price?

They surely are, while pumping. The bill is displayed only at the end TOGETHER with the final quantity, as a scrolling banner.

[Art69]

would it not make more sense to put gallons or liters

Maybe kilograms and pounds, because this are the measurements of weights in aviation.

[AndyCYXU]

would it not make more sense to put gallons or liters pumped display on it as oppose to price?

They surely are, while pumping. The bill is displayed only at the end TOGETHER with the final quantity, as a scrolling banner.

oh ok , cool i never did pay much attention to these numbers

[AndyCYXU]

would it not make more sense to put gallons or liters

Maybe kilograms and pounds, because this are the measurements of weights in aviation.

good point, apparently they do show it, i never really paid attention to it.

[Captain Kevin]

Maybe kilograms and pounds, because this are the measurements of weights in aviation.

The flight crew uses pounds and kilograms, yes, but the fuelers use gallons and liters. Have a look at Air Canada 143 and see what happens when that gets messed up.