BAGGAGELOADER DEFINITION

A Baggage Loader vehicle has the same parameters as other Ground Vehicles, with some additional properties. It can connect to a cargo door of an aircraft, by inclining its conveyor belt ramp.

 

 

Specific Animation

A Baggage Loader vehicle should have an animation that inclines its conveyor belt ramp. This animation should start with the ramp at its lowest point, and end at its highest angle. It should also be linear in terms of angle, meaning that the difference of angle of the ramp between two consecutive frames should always be the same throughout the animation. Also, since this animation should be an inclination, this means there should be a "pivot" point on the ramp, that does not move during the animation.

 

 

Sim.cfg

The sim.cfg file of a Baggage Loader must contain the following section:

 

[BaggageLoader]

This section has the following two parameters:

 

Parameter	Description	Type	Required
ramp_pivot_position_YZ	This parameter takes two values corresponding to the coordinates, in meters, of the pivot point in the ramp (i.e: the point of the ramp that does not move throughout the inclination animation). Those coordinates are along the Y and Z axes for Microsoft Flight Simulator, in other words the vertical axis and the back-to-front axis.	1D table of 2 Floats (see Data Types for more information)	Yes
ramp_end_position_YZ	This parameter takes two values corresponding to the coordinates, in meters, of a point at the end of the ramp. This point will aim to end up about 10cm above the interior edge of the cargo compartment of the aircraft. This point is not necessarily on the conveyor belt, and can be located in some form of cushion below the ramp for example. The coordinates should be expressed with the default ramp inclination (i.e. the first frame of the inclination animation).

 

 

Model Behavior Helper

A Baggage Loader should use the helper ASOBO_BaggageLoader_Inclination_Template, by including "Asobo.xml". This template use the animation specified to incline the ramp to the correct height of the aircraft cargo door. Here is an example:

<UseTemplate Name="ASOBO_BaggageLoader_Inclination_Template">
    <ANIM_NAME>Tilt</ANIM_NAME>
    <BASE_ANGLE>0</BASE_ANGLE> <!-- Angle of the ramp (in degrees) at start of animation -->
    <MAX_ANGLE>30</MAX_ANGLE> <!-- Angle of the ramp (in degrees) at end of animation -->
    <DEGREES_PER_SECOND>5</DEGREES_PER_SECOND> <!-- Speed of the animation -->
</UseTemplate>

Both parameters BASE_ANGLE and MAX_ANGLE are expressed in degrees, and designate the angle of the ramp, relative to the ground (0 for horizontal). Parameter DEGREES_PER_SECOND determines the speed at which the animation is played, inclining the ramp.

 

We recommend using the ASOBO_BaggageLoader_Inclination_Template for every Baggage Loader vehicle, because the AI will use it in order to know when the ramp has reached the correct height.

 

For more information please see: Ground Vehicle ModelBehavior Helpers

 

Note on Simvars

The individual values for the assignations of the parameters in the [BaggageLoader] section are reflected in the following simvars:

• BAGGAGELOADER PIVOT Y
• BAGGAGELOADER PIVOT Z
• BAGGAGELOADER END RAMP Y
• BAGGAGELOADER END RAMP Z