Airplane walk around

[tdumontelle]

Just an idea and not sure if it's been posted before. FScaptain could simulate the aircraft walk around during preflight. To keep it simple, it would be an optional step before loading the passengers. Not an actual check list, just a menu item that you click on and it would have a timer (time based on aircraft size).  You could assign it to the co-pilot if you have one or do it yourself. Once the time finishes the walk around is complete and you can load your passengers.

You can skip the step, but then the penalty could be a slight increase in probability of airplane faults during the flight.

[Travis]

Excellent idea....

As a former PPL who only depended on the airframe / engine / fuel to get him down safely, I know the need to do a secure "walk around" but I don't know the "walk around" duties of an ATP crew.

So I think this is something to consider for future versions. I'm thinking of a deep consideration and I don't know all of the repercussions....

What if you agree to fly a 50-seat turbojet from AAAA to BBBB (in a CRJ700 for example) and then your FO reports a possible hydraulic leak before takeoff??

If you agree with your FO and have already committed to the flight and are then scheduled a random aircraft that can carry the same payload (an A318 for example, or a B727-100), what should you do???

The floor is open to everyone's suggestions....

Regards,

[peter]

Just some thoughts on this:

1) FS2Crew simulates a walk around. It essentially means that the co-pilot will be silent for a few minutes.

2) I would expect that high-end addon planes will include a walk-around in the future, or that it will be offered as an addon. The reason is that P3D v 3.0 has an avatar mode, so you can run around the plane with a human avatar. Currently you can't do anything but look at the pretty scenery around you, but things are developing. For instance, FSDreamteam's KMEM will enable you to take an elevator to the tower in avatar mode.

3) I agree with Travis that it would simply be annoying if you find out you cannot perform a flight because something is wrong. Maybe some smaller maintenance issues that will not delay the flight could be simulated, which you have to report to the company after the flight has been completed. I am thinking of something like this: news.nationalpost.com/news/we-know-about-this-alaska-airlines-apologizes-for-handwritten-note-on-damaged-wing-of-plane


Cheers,
Peter

[awralls]

If you ever get to watch the excellent 3-hour flight-deck video of Concorde by ITVV from a few years back, there's a good example of this which wouldn't compromise an FSCaptain flight. Roger, the FE on the crew ex-EGLL notes on his walk-around that one of the main gear tyres is scuffed and asks for the wheel to be changed. It takes some time, but the aircraft still manages to get away on time.

From an FSCaptain point of view, the walk-around could reveal a minor tech issue which requires attention. A random time (from within a reasonable max and min per the failure type) would then start counting down. The crew would be given an estimate of completion, but only notified when the job is done. This might end up slightly delaying the gate departure, which the crew either has to make up, or suck up. They could decide to call for pax boarding in the hope that the issue is resolved in time, but if they get it wrong, they'd get complaints for the pax having been boarded but then waiting as the aircraft goes nowhere. On the other hand, if they delay pax boarding they'd have to deal with the consequences for their ATD.

Andy

[tdumontelle]

I agree it would be frustrating to start a flight and then have it canceled. It wouldn't have to find faults and failures during the check. Let's say my normal faults are at 99.5%. If I complete my walk around, then it stays at 99.5% (assuming we find any problems and they are already fixed). Second example, I'm in a hurry in a 172 on my 3rd leg and I decide to skip the walk around, then my fault value goes from 99.5% to 95% or something like that.

The main issue is managing your ground time. You wouldn't have to have checklists for each aircraft, just time before you can load your passengers (I actually don't know if they load passengers while the plane is being checked to be honest). A tiny aircraft can be checked in lets say 5 minutes (?). A small one would be a little bit longer. A large aircraft is 10 minutes or whatever.

[Travis]

This is still very interesting, and is something that we would like to address!

Regards,

[smurphy]

would be great addon
a walk round is done twice the crew checks the aircraft is parked on the stand and pax off then the Ground Handling eg swissport before the aircraft ready to push back

[Travis]

I want to put a reminder here as one thing I want to better address in 1.8.2 or 1.8.3 is 'turnarounds'.

My only walk arounds were in a Cessna Skyhawk. LOL I've seen ATP flight videos where the FO or Captain looks at things before the flight, but I'm not certain how an ATP flight with a short turnaround works. Does the ground crew take full responsibility then? Etc.

This would also dovetail into the "Crew Boards nn minutes before departure" setting....

Best,

[Travis]

Contra, one might suggest "I did my walk around before I logged into Dispatch" and forgo an initial walk around.

Which still leaves "turnaround walk arounds" up in the air....

[tdumontelle]

Yeah, I almost wonder if it would be better for GSX to have that as an option. They have pilots that board now. They could have a pilot model walk around the plane. They already have several points around the airplane, so the model could just stop for a few seconds at like the engine and the fuel port, each cargo door or something. Like other services, FSC could recognize the GSX service and prevent you from taking off while your copilot is still on the ground. It would be funny to model him running to try and catch the plane.

I may bring this up on their forum. Also (for GSX), for small or mid-size cargo aircraft having a small forklift put pallets in the airplane. I'm thinking of the HS748 or my DC3 especially. I got the regular loader to put pallets into my Electra and it was nice to see.

[Travis]

T,

If GSX could manage that, it would be great! (Plus, Umberto would undoubtedly use LVARs to let everyone know what is happening, so we would know what was going on and could react to it.)

During development of their Level 2 Expansion, I asked Umberto if he would consider a mechanism whereby we could specify the PAX number, the Cockpit Crew number, and the Cabin Crew number via LVARs. He came through with that, and FSCaptain has been performing perfectly with GSX for nearly a year now! (Some of that was beta-testing use.)

He even created a mechanism so we could specify if the Crew did not need to board / de-board so as to help simulate a 'quick turnaround'.

FSCaptain 1.8.2 even has a new option whereby you can specify that "the crew is already aboard" for the initial boarding process. That saves me lots of time when I'm relying on buses to move souls around.
-------

I've often thought to ask Umberto about the possibility of having a walker with a manual tow-bar for piston aircraft. It's always fun to see a tug come out for my Cessnas.

BEst,

[alaskanflyboy]

FS2Crew already simulates the first officer going out for a walkaround during the preflight events. It doesn't find anything, however. From everything I've seen, one flight crew member does the walkaround while the other works on things such as programming the FMC for the next leg.

[Travis]

I've never received a helpful response from FS2Crew, so I can't offer any hope to work with them.

On one request about four years ago to establish an interface, I received a "let me think about it" response, and nothing else. A few years earlier, on another request to interact with each other I received a code for a 30% discount to purchase their products.

Based on both of his responses, my assumption is that they are not interested in working with FSCaptain.

They sell a lot of product, and have lots of fans, so I cannot speak badly about them. But we have no way to integrate with their products.

Sorry,