Number of Baggage Carts

[simmerluke]

Despite my Simbrief flightplans often filling the aeroplane to capacity, I've noticed that I never have more than three baggage carts per train in each hold with the PMDG 777 and in the TFDi MD-11.

I'm sure that with P3d I typically used to see up to five.

Is there a setting to increase this?

[Captain Kevin]

Luke, this was an explanation that Umberto provided in another post that asked a similar question. Basically, one of the updates changed the way the carts are displayed.

https://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,31563.msg200828.html#msg200828

I can't speak for the MD-11 since I don't have it, but as far as the PMDG airplanes go, I discovered that what GSX considers to be the maximum payload is not only grossly inaccurate, but inconsistent between payloads. I've outlined this in the following thread. As for being able to increase this, as far as I know, this isn't possible. However, I would be curious to know if there's a way to set the maximum payload the aircraft can carry since that would certainly solve the discrepancy regarding inaccurate payload calculations.

https://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,31827.0.html

[simmerluke]

Thanks Kevin

I'm still a bit confused though having read through the thread you linked (and assuming that the information there relates to MSFS as well as P3d).

As I read it, the number of carts is now based on the planned Simbrief payload, so surely the maximum number of carts (which I understand to be five) should be used if the Simbrief flightplan calls for a near maximum payload for a given aircraft?

I have never seen this happening...

[Captain Kevin]

Luke, my question is, what does GSX consider to be the maximum payload for the 777 and the MD-11. In the case of the 747-400, for whatever reason, GSX is showing the maximum payload to be outrageously high numbers, and I've not figured out why that is. For the passenger variant, if I put 100% payload, the maximum should be 148,412 pounds, yet for some reason, GSX seems to think it's 443,489 pounds. For the freighter, if I put 100% payload, the maximum should be 248,600 pounds, yet for some reason, GSX seems to think it's 510,595 pounds. In your GSX settings, go to troubleshooting, then make sure you enable logging. When you start boarding, open up Couatl.log, which can be found at C:\Users\(Your User Name)\AppData\Roaming\Virtuali, and see what values it gives you for the payload, which should be at the bottom of the file. I'd be curious as to what GSX thinks the maximum should be.

[simmerluke]

Hi Kevin

Couatl log attached (converted to a text file) taken after boarding for a PMDG 777 Simbrief flightplan, departing RJTT with a 152,320lbs payload.

A lot of detail in there - what do you make of it? A couple of lines that stick out to me (not that I have any real clue) are:

Payload:153999/386899 lbs.
and
Set 3/3 wagons, according to loading ratio of 100.00%

[Captain Kevin]

Luke, the payload line is a little concerning because according to the Boeing ACAPS data, the maximum payload for the 777-300ER is 154,000 pounds, so I'm not entirely sure why GSX thinks 386,899 pounds is the maximum. That being said, since you are using a SimBrief flight plan, it's pulling the passenger number off of that, so the number of carts is based off of the passenger count rather than total payload weight. It is showing the maximum number of carts to be three, and I'm not sure why that is.

[simmerluke]

Perhaps now would be the perfect time for Umberto to chime in?

I would certainly appreciate a greater understanding...

[simmerluke]

Should this fix:

GSX Pro change: Maximum Payload calculation, which affects the Variable number of carts, is now based on Planned fuel (if there’s a Simbrief plan active) instead of actual fuel on board, so it will be more correct regardless of when fueling is called

from version 3.0.7 have anything to do with this problem?

From my further testing it didn't seem to make any difference. Again, would be good to have some further explanation from Umberto on this.

[mertayd1n]

I don't think it's accurate for an aircraft as massive as the 777 to have only three baggage carts, like with the Fenix A320. We should see at least five baggage carts.

[Captain Kevin]

Explanation here:

https://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,31958.msg202644.html#msg202644

[virtuali]

From my further testing it didn't seem to make any difference. Again, would be good to have some further explanation from Umberto on this.

I think the manual is clear enough.

The recent change would make so it won't matter *when* you call Boarding (before or after refueling) because, if you have a Simbrief flight plan, the weight ratio will be based on the planned fuel instead of the actual fuel, making the calculation different if you called Boarding before or after Refueling, now it won't matter anymore, so if you are not seeing any difference, it's because your workflow was already the one we expected in the previous version.

This, to reply to the question about the maximum payload giving wrong numbers. Since there's no such thing as "maximum payload" variable we can read from the sim, we must derive it from other values, the formula IS in the manual at Page 83 where this is explained in detail, and if look at it, it would be obvious how this would have been affected by the fuel amount, and how the change from "actual" to "planned" should help giving consistent results no matter when you refuel.

If your question, instead, was why you are not getting more than 3 carts, it has been replied to several times, in the thread linked by Captain Kevin.