SKYDIVING

An exciting activity in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 career mode is the ability to take a group of people on a skydiving flight. These flights will require you to fly from exotic locations like the Swiss Alps or Hawaii taking groups of skydivers up to the correct height and let them perform their skydives. If you wish your aircraft to be used on this kind of activity you will need a preset that has been appropriately set up as part of the Modular SimObject, as explained below.

 

For more information on the various other career activities and how to prepare your aircraft, please see here:

• Career Activities 

 

 

Skydiving Constraints

When setting up your aircraft for skydiving flights you will need to ensure that it fulfills the requirements for such an activity. To start with these activities will require a plane and currently do not support helicopters. The plane will need to meet the following specifications:

 

• The plane will need to have the navigation_graph_pilot.cfg (as explained here).
• The plane will need to have the ApronWithoutCovers.flt file (as explained below).
• The object_class must be "Airplane".
• The operating_status must be either "in_service" or "experimental".
• The plane cannot be flagged as military.
• The plane cannot be flagged as premium.
• The plane ui_max_range must be greater than 1.
• The payload mass must be greater than 1kg (see Note On Payload Mass for more information).
• The plane can have wheels or big wheels, for landing gear.
• The plane cannot have skis or floats for landing gear.
• There must be a navigation graph called navigation_graph_skydive.cfg with the following nodes: WAIT_NEXT_TO_PLANE, JUMPMASTER_WAIT_NEXT_TO_PLANE, PLANE_ENTRANCE, SIT, JUMPMASTER_SIT, and JUMP. This is explained in more detail below.

 

Following these constraints will give the aircraft the SKP_Cabin type. See here for more information:

• Note On Cabin Codes

 

 

Navigation Graph Setup

The basic navigation graph setup for a skydiving activity requires multiple tagged nodes, which we've separated into internal node and external nodes, since they are two disconnected groups, even though they are all created in the same file. The file should be called navigation_graph_skydive.cfg and it should be placed in either the common configs folder, or in the skydive preset.

 

To help you understand how the nodes mentioned below should be placed in the world, you can reference the image below, which illustrates an "ideal" placement for them:

 

When setting up the interior nodes, be sure to set up the appropriate station loads and mass stations, as explained here: Weight Distribution.

 

 

External Nodes

The following set of nodes should be placed outside the aircraft and will be used for the introduction to the skydiving activity to show the passengers and "jumpmaster" moving to and entering the aircraft in a short cut scene:

 

• WAIT_NEXT_TO_PLANE

  This node is the node where the skydiver passengers will spawn into the world at the start of the activity. For skydiving flights there is a short RTC animation that will play of the passengers moving from this point to the PLANE_ENTRANCE node, before entering and taking a seat. As such there should be one of these nodes for every passenger SIT node, and the nodes should be placed close together but not on top of each other, preferably in a grid-like pattern (they don't have to all be perfectly aligned).
  These nodes should be on the left side of the aircraft, approximately 7-10m away from the corresponding PLANE_ENTRANCE node, and they need to be connected to that node, and each other, with various edges.

 

• JUMPMASTER_WAIT_NEXT_TO_PLANE

  This node defines the position where the "jumpmaster" will spawn in to the world. This node should be closer to the aircraft than the WAIT_NEXT_TO_PLANE nodes, but still be beside them, such that they can lead the passengers onto the aircraft. This node will need an edge connecting it to the PLANE_ENTRANCE node.

 

• PLANE_ENTRANCE

  This node defines a point close to the aircraft entrance where the jumpmaster and passengers will move to and then board the aicraft. This node needs to be joined to all the WAIT_NEXT_TO_PLANE nodes, as well as the JUMPMASTER_WAIT_NEXT_TO_PLANE node, but should not be joined to any of the interior nodes.

 

 

Internal Nodes

• SIT

  This node defines where each of the skydiving passengers will sit except the "jumpmaster". There should be as many seat nodes as there are WAIT_NEXT_TO_PLANE nodes, and they would normally be placed on the floor of the aircraft just in front of the seat or bench where the passenger will sit. Each node should be connected with edges to other nodes (no tag needed) that run along the center of the cabin, before finally connecting to the JUMP node. The sit nodes will also need to reference some interaction files for them to properly animate and sit down. This is done by adding the following interactionFile.n parameters.

  interactionFile.0 = FilePath: InteractionsPreset\Asobo\Seat\Seat_with_seatbelt # Param: ANIMATION_SIT:IDLES_SIT_SKYDIVE
  interactionFile.1 = FilePath: InteractionsPreset\Asobo\Seat\Seatbelt # Param: SEATBELT_FASTEN:SEATBELT_C208B_PAX_1_Fasten , SEATBELT_UNFASTEN:SEATBELT_C208B_PAX_1_Unfasten

 

• JUMPMASTER_SIT

  This node is to specify where the "Jumpmaster" will sit, and it is setup exactly the same as the other SIT nodes. However it should always be positioned on the seat the nearest the door of the aircraft.

 

• JUMP

  This node defines the point where each of the passengers should move to from their seats before jumping out of the aircraft. This node does not require any additional setup other than to be connected to the other interior nodes via sub-nodes and edges.

 

 

FLT Files

When a user starts a skydiving activity they will not be going through the usual Preflight checks, and so they will need to have an ApronWithoutCovers.flt file in the aircraft preset for the activity instead of the Apron.flt. This file should be set up like a regular apron FLT file, however you should ensure that the following parameters and sections are setup correctly:

• Section [SimVars.0] must have the parameter SimOnGround set to true.
• All [Covers] needs to be set to false.
• Section [Controls.0] must have the parameter ParkingBrake set to 100.00 (if the aircraft has a parking brake).
• Aircraft electrics and engines must be turned off.