CAREER ACTIVITIES ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This page contains additional information related to career setup for different aircraft.

 

 

Note On Big Wheeled Aircraft

Some careers are restricted and will not permit aircraft that have a "big wheeled" classification. This classification is not set through any specific CFG parameter - although the contact points (as defined in the point.N parameter) must be of the type "Wheel" - but is instead calculated by the simulation based on the following formula:

$$\textrm{radius_to_height_ratio} = {max(wheel\_radius) \over [max(pos.y) - min(pos.y)]}$$

Where:

• \(radius\_to\_height\_ratio\) is the wheel radius to aircraft height ratio
• \(wheel\_radius\) is the radius of all wheels (so the formula uses the maximum size of all defined wheels)
• \(pos.y\) is the position on the Y axis of all contact points of the type wheel (so the formula uses the minimum and maximum Y position taken from all wheels)

This formula will be interpreted in two different ways depending on the engine count of the aircraft, where:

• If the engine count for the aircraft is 1 or less, and the \(radius\_to\_height\_ratio\) is greater than 0.15 then the aircraft is classified as having big wheels.
• If the engine count for the aircraft is greater than 1 and the \(radius\_to\_height\_ratio\) is greater than 0.084, then the aircraft is classified as having big wheels.

 

 

Note On TailWheels

For users to fly certain missions they must have the appropriate certification to fly aircraft with a tailwheel. This means that for them to fly your aircraft - if it has a tailwheel - this will need to be correctly set up. Note that this is not a package constraint, so isn't checked for by the Career Compatibility tool, and may only show up as an issue when a user goes to select an aircraft for an activity but can't select the aircraft that you've made. This issue may affect legacy aircraft that have been updated for MSFS 2024 in particular, aircraft where the wheel data has simply been copy-pasted without due consideration. For more information please see here:

• flight_model.cfg - Notes On Tailwheels

 

 

Note On Aircraft Complexity

Some careers will require (or omit) aircraft based on their complexity. This attribute is based on different parameters depending on whether the aircraft is a plane or an helicopter, and it can have three values: simple, complex, or very complex.

 

Plane Complexity

For planes, complexity is simply based on the max_gross_weight parameter, where:

• if the maximum gross weight is greater than or equal to 136000kg, the plane is considered as very complex.
• if the maximum gross weight is greater than or equal to 7000kg, the plane is considered as complex.
• if the maximum gross weight is less than 7000kg, the plane is considered as simple.

 

Helicopter Complexity

For helicopters, complexity can be decided using the following two methods:

• if max_gross_weight is defined then:
  • if the maximum gross weight is greater than or equal to 3180kg, the helicopter is considered as very complex.
  • if the maximum gross weight is greater than or equal to 1590kg, the helicopter is considered as complex.
  • if the maximum gross weight is less than 1590kg, the helicopter is considered as simple.

 

• if max_gross_weight is not defined then:
  • if the helicopter engine_type is HELO_TURBINE and has more than one engine, then it is considered as very complex.
  • if the helicopter engine_type is HELO_TURBINE and has one engine, then it is considered as complex.
  • all other helicopters are considered as simple.

 

 

Note On Payload Mass

Some activity specialisations will only accept aircraft which respect a payload mass constraint. This mass value is calculated in kilograms (kg) in one of two ways depending on how the aircraft flight_model.cfg is set up:

• If the max_zero_fuel_weight is defined then we use that along with the empty_weight like this:
  $$PayloadMass = \text{max_zero_fuel_weight} - EmptyWeight + MinimumFuel$$
• If there is no max_zero_fuel_weight definition then max_gross_weight is used instead along with the empty_weight:
  $$PayloadMass = \text{max_gross_weight} - EmptyWeight + MinimumFuel$$

 

In the above calculations \(MinimumFuel\) is the amount of fuel that is required by the aircraft to perform the activity, and this value is calculated automatically by the simulation based on aircraft type, mission duration, and other relevant data points.

 

 

Note On Fuselage Volume

Some activity specialisations will only accept aircraft which respect a volume constraint. This volume value is calculated in cubic meters (m³) in the following way:

$$FuselageVolume = \pi \times FuselageLength \times (\frac{FuselageDiameter}{2}) ^2 \times 0.3048^3$$

Where:

• \(FuselageLength\) is the fuselage_length in the flight_model.cfg.
• \(FuselageDiameter\) is the fuselage_diameter in the flight_model.cfg.
• \(0.3048\) is the value used to convert the ft values into a meter equivalent.

 

 

Note On Cabin Codes

Cabin codes are automatically generated codes used to identify the equipment available on an aircraft and career activity that it is suited for, based on the setup of the aircraft and the constraint requirements it fulfills. You can find the cabin code associated with any specific career activity on the page where the constraints are explained - for example AEA_Cabin or CHT_Cabin. Additionally the page may say that the aircraft cannot have a different cabin code to the one given, or can only have a selection of cabin codes. This is because it's possible to setup a preset in the Modular SimObject that can participate in multiple career activities, but in some cases this is not something that would be acceptable for the activity. Having a firefighting aircraft doing VIP transport is not a good idea! So the generated cabin codes for the aircraft will define what activities it can participate in or not. The table below shows these codes along with the activity they belong to:

 

 

The cabin code property is set using the presence of specific equipment in the aircraft, specific parameters and their values, and sometimes the contents of the model glTF files. These codes follow a priority system, where if a variation has equipment belonging to a specific category, it might be still be compatible with another category as well, or be overridden by a higher priority category. This priority queue is as follows:

 

1. Agricultural Aviation (AEA)
2. Aerial Firefighting (FIR)
3. Scientific Research (DIC)
4. Search & Rescue - Rotorcraft (SAR)
5. Skydive Aviation (SKP)
6. Aerial Advertising (AAD)
7. Cargo Transport - Rotorcraft (CHT)
8. Cargo Transport - Planes (CAR)
9. Medevac (MED)
10. Charter Service (PRC)
11. Passenger Transport, Search & Rescue - Planes (COF)
12. First Flight, Flightseeing (COF)
13. Default

 

To give an example of how this works, let's consider an aircraft that has been set up with FIR-INA, SKP-PLN, and MED-PLN. This means it has the FIR_Cabin, SKP_Cabin, and MED_Cabin categories, so, because FIR has a higher priority than SKP (and than MED), the cabin property will be set to FIR_Cabin.

 

Note that some activities can specify a list of multiple cabins that are compatible with them, while others may say that they cannot be performed if the aircraft has a specific cabin category.