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How to get aircraft variant into flight plan?


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Today when I filed my VATSIM Flight Plan with vPilot, I was told by a controller that I was supposed to show aircraft type and variant (e.g. 737-800) on my FP.

When I export a VATSIM FP my aircraft type doesn't get sent to the sfp file. And I can't find any obvious place in vPilot to put aircraft variant on the FP.

The export function puts a lot of complex equipment information into the sfp file like:
PBN/A1B1C1D1L1O1S1 NAV/RNVD1E2A1 DOF/150726 REG/N303AW EET/EDGG0014 RVR/200 PER/C
but nowhere does it show 737-800.

How do I get the aircraft type into the sfp file?

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I just opened an old, random plan in PFPX. I asked it to export it to Vatsim, this made the internet pop up with all the information filled, as you can see on the red highlighted box (the aircraft type is a special template so don't get confused with the "L"). I only have to enter my ID and password.

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Also when you are connecting from vpilot, don't forget to fill in this blank;

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Hope this somehow helps :)

Best,

Omer

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The aircraft type on the vPilot connect dialog only tells vPilot what aircraft variant will be used for Aircraft Model matching when showing traffic.

For Vatsim  the Flight Plan shows the controller what aircraft type/variant and navigation equipment/transponder  suffix is being used. This tells ATC what the performance capabilities ( speed, climb performance) the aircraft is capable of. The Equipment suffix ( /A   /G  /L  etc)  tells what type of navigation capabilities the aircraft has. You can't file an RNAV SID or routing if you don't have RNAV capability.

In the PFPX  Aircraft editor,  (General tab) there is the equipment type ( eg Boeing 737-800 ).   PFPX converts this to the proper ATC code when it sends the flight plan ( B738 )   On the aircraft editor Equipment/Configuration Tab,  there is  a box for FAA Equip code.  This has the valid  equipment suffix codes that ATC requires ( A,  G,  L  )     So for the 737-800  with RSVM + GNSS and  altitude reporting  it would be a /L   so the Aircraft type/suffix  of  B738/L.   It is this  B738/L   that the Controller was asking for.

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...  so the Aircraft type/suffix  of  B738/L.   It is this  B738/L   that the Controller was asking for.

So where in PFPX or vPilot do I put B738/L?

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I'll try to explain again. Go to the Aircraft Database and select the plane you are flying. Right Click and select EDIT. This brings up the Aircraft Editor for the plane you selected for your flight:
In the General Tab(the 1st one)   there is a dropdown that has the Aircraft Type -- in this case  it is the Boeing 737-800 (see picture 1)
Next  select the Equipment/Configuration tag ( the middle tab   see picture 2)  You will see on the left that PFPX has chosen the proper equipment type B738 (highlighted)   At the far right is the FAA Equipment Code. This is a drop down selection list of the navigation equipment.  In this case I chose L .

The combination of the Airline,  the Aircraft Type(B738)  and the FAA Equipment code (L)  is what PFPX passes to the VATSIM flight plan form.    See the post #2 above as an example of the VATSIM form.  PFPX has substituted the proper  values.

On vPilot, when you connect / logon  you are selecting the aircraft type/model that vPilot will send for the purpose of generating the AI traffic.  Other pilots  will see your aircraft as the model and airline that you specify on this vPilot logon.  VATSIM will associate the FlightPlan with the Vatsim Userid and airline / flight  from the flight plan   and the vPilot userid  and Airline code/flight  that you logged on with.

 

 
 

 

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bcars, thanks for your help but what you are saying isn't correct for 2 reasons:

1. When the FAA equip code is set to "L" this is not passed by PFPX to the exported VATSIM flight plan. It doesn't matter what code is put into PFPX FAA equip code. Nothing gets exported to the VATSIM FP, and

2. What the controller wanted was the designation B738. This has been confirmed by several VATSIM controllers on the VATSIM forum.

I appreciate your help but I just wanted to make sure no incorrect information is passed along in this forum.

Omer's post here is the correct way to do it, i.e. in the vPilot connect dialog box not in anything that PFPX puts into the flight plan.

Thanks.

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Ned:
I realize what the controller was looking for. I,too, am a Vatsim controller.  I did some experimenting with vPilot, the vanilla Vatsim website for flight plan filing, and using the PFPX  Send to Vatsim and vPilot File Flight Plan.  PFPX does indeed fill in all the fields, assuming you had a valid aircraft definition.  vPilot will use the aircraft type you used when you connect to fill in the FlightPlan. It also has a check box to select the equipment suffix.
Vatsim uses the aircraft type from the Flight plan to display the aircraft callsign, and type, as in the real world.  This is how VRC, vatspy etc get the information to display on the target.  If you connect with vPilot and use an invalid aircraft type, and file the flight plan from vPilot,  you will have an invalid ATC aircraft type, and the controller will ask.
As in the real world, a flight plan can be filed with an aircraft type that is different from what the pilot is actually flying. The controller sees what the flight plan has.   You can try this by not filing a flight plan and connecting to VATSIM with vPilot. Put any aircraft type you want.  What vatsim uses is to associate the Callsign you signed in with , along with the callsign in the flightplan. You can connect  and specify an aircraft type of B717, but file a flightplan ( outside of vPilot) as a B738. Vatsim will use the B738 from the flight plan.  If you connect without a flightplan,  the controller will not see an aircraft type,  Use VatSpy to verify this.  However, all clients will use the aircraft type from the vPilot connect string if no flight plan was filed,  in order to be able to display that aircraft to other clients.  This is how the clients know what aircraft type and callsign to display as AI traffic, since a pilot can connect and fly without a flight plan. The clients will show the proper AI aircraft, but ATC clients will not show an aircraft type - only the callsign.

I sent off a request to Ross Carlson, the author of vPilot.  He confirmed this:
"This is all correct. The radar clients, and tools like VATSpy, take the aircraft type from the flight plan. That's how it's done real world as well. If a target is flying around without a flight plan, the data block will have no aircraft type indication until the controller manually sets it or creates a flight plan on behalf of the pilot.

All pilot clients send out information about the aircraft type when they connect to the VATSIM server. This information is independent of the flight plan. Pilot clients use that data in order to determine how to render aircraft in the sim. This is important because we need a way to know what type of aircraft to render even for pilots that do not file a flight plan, or simply haven't filed a flight plan yet. That's why vPilot requires that you enter an aircraft type when you connect, because otherwise it wouldn't know what aircraft type to use until you filed a flight plan, which may happen well after you connect, or not at all.

As you've discovered, this creates the possibility of connecting as one type, but filing a flight plan (through the prefile web site) as a totally different type. That's a case of pilot error that could also occur in the real world.  "

 

Bruce

 

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Ned:
...vPilot will use the aircraft type you used when you connect to fill in the FlightPlan.  It also has a check box to select the equipment suffix.

Bruce

 

Bruce, There is a lot of confusion on the Internet about what PFPX does when it exports a flight plan and even more confusion about what VATSIM controllers need, and differences between US and Europe, etc.

But to be clear here (after all this is a PFPX forum): PFPX does NOT export the FAA equip code to the VATSIM flight plan. And there is no check box in vPilot to select the equipment suffix. At least not in my version.

Ned

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Ned,

PFPX does not set the equipment code to vPilot, it will however send it to Vatsim pre-file.

You set the code when filing the flightplan:

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In my version of PFPX (1.22) it doesn't matter what I set in the PFPX FAA equip Code, when I export the sfp VATSIM file there is nothing in it showing the equipment suffix.

Here is the sfp file with FAA equip suffix set to "X"

[SBFlightPlan]
Type=0
Departure=EDDW
Arrival=EDDL
Alternate=EDDK
FlightHours=00
FlightMinutes=25
FuelHours=01
FuelMinutes=44
Airspeed=0494
Altitude=220
Route=N0494F220 BASUM M170 HMM T851 XAMOD
Remarks=PBN/A1B1C1D1L1O1S1 NAV/RNVD1E2A1 DOF/150726 REG/N303AW EET/EDGG0014 RVR/200 PER/C RMK/CALL CACTUS
Heavy=0

And here s the sfp file with equip suffix set to "L"

[SBFlightPlan]
Type=0
Departure=EDDW
Arrival=EDDL
Alternate=EDDK
FlightHours=00
FlightMinutes=25
FuelHours=01
FuelMinutes=44
Airspeed=0494
Altitude=220
Route=N0494F220 BASUM M170 HMM T851 XAMOD
Remarks=PBN/A1B1C1D1L1O1S1 NAV/RNVD1E2A1 DOF/150726 REG/N303AW EET/EDGG0014 RVR/200 PER/C RMK/CALL CACTUS
Heavy=0

They are exactly the same! 

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