I believe that is the way it works, yes.

The user group "veterans" is for members who used to members of staff here, but have stood down for whatever reason.

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I understand that cargo is a planned feature for future versions of the game.

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Subject to data availability, I will approve this as a low priority addition.

This is unusual. I am happy to approve, subject to the usual data requirements and on the understanding that its age make it a relatively low priority.

Noting the pre-war airline use, I will approve this one for now

At first, I thought this was a military-only aircraft, but I now see it had some airline service that I didn't know of. In light of that, I will approve this for now.

Something interesting and historical - I have added this to the approved list.

I shall take a look in more detail tomorrow.

 

Thanks.

I see no reason why this can't be added, subject to data availability.

Interesting, not something I'm familiar with, but it meets our criteria and is approved.

Is ZilAir a true scheduled airline? A quick glance suggests that they are more an executive charter, but I may be wrong.

I'm currently trying to find more information on these two and how they are used by airline operators, and struggling - can anybody jump in with a bit of their own research?

Topic cleaned and locked to prevent further inflammatory comments.

The main depot has not had a visit from any rolling stock for a while, and the trimming team hasn't had time to visit!

 

I'm particularly interested in how that looks overgrown - could be a useful means of judging how busy different parts of the network are (identifying routes for singling, doubling or quadrupling tracks)

This is rather shiny.

 

I can't think of a non-rude way to ask if the policy on cessnas/bizjets has been laxed to allow low priority approval of similar types. That's my asking, it's not intended rudely, but I can't phrase it as such that it doesn't sound so. [Actually, given data required, I wonder if presumably easily available pdfs of pilots manuals, etc, could provide it - since they probably give you a fuel burn calculation etc.]

 

That is something that is still under consideration. One step at a time!

how about the 777X. It has been offered in the market and the date of entry and first flight have been announced. first flight around 2017 and first airline delivery 2020. maybe add them as well.    

 

It is on the To-Do list

 

http://www.airline-e...uture-aircraft/

For some time, we have had a policy of not adding aircraft to the game until they have entered production. Before the aircraft enters production, the publicly available statistics are often little more than advertising spiel, pipe dreams by the manufacturers and wishlists from the airlines. They are also nearly always lacking some of the critical data that we need: TSFC is always tricky to find or to accurately calculate.

I have always been against "improvising" missing data - it seemed sensible to try and avoid the inevitable backwards and forwards of bug reports and complaints about the aircraft because somebody has found a more favourable "source" about an aircraft that doesn't actually exist yet. This policy has been knocking around since a time when most games were either "dateless" (year 1, year 2, year 3, etc) or running between 1980 and 2015, and so it was accepted to a point.

Now that we have games that run much later, there has been more interest in these kinds of aircraft. With that in mind, we are rethinking our aircraft addition policy. Aircraft that are currently in development may well be included in the game, if certain conditions are met. These conditions are that:

• The aircraft is officially offered on the market, preferably with some firm orders being made
• The aircraft has a relatively sound Entry-into-Service date
• Sufficient published and reputable data is available, and missing pieces can be calculated with relative accuracy.

All "futuristic" aircraft additions or data changes require special approval by myself and/or Yuxi, as all data and calculations will be subject to greater scrutiny, in the interests of fairness.



As part of this, I am now happy to announce that the Boeing 737MAX and Airbus A320NEO will soon be available in the game - a big thank you to Northern, for collating a good chunk of reputable data. I will also be reviewing the "Rejected Aircraft Requests Log" shortly, and I may well approve certain aircraft that were previously rejected under the old policy, so there is no need to start re-request them.

That's grand thanks. I was just interested know and if I could be of any assistance. +1 Northern for getting the information but if this information does mean the addition of the A320NEO, when (realistically and not an AE wishlist ) would it actually be available in-game?

 

I'm keen not to give definite time scales, but if everything seems in order, it could be soon.

 

 

Well why are all the A350-1000s on ther? they have a later date then the 787-10

 

The A350 series aircraft were  added before I took up my current role here and before the policies that I work to were drawn up. I might have been tempted to remove them, but that gets complicated and its hard to work retrospectively.

You will be pleased to know that before Christmas, one of the Data Collector team, Northern, provided me with a complete set of referenced data for the A320NEO. I haven't had chance to go through it yet, but this may mean that the aircraft makes it into the game.

 

If the data is there (even if it's not the final data but data from the manufacturers) why are new aircraft (like this) get thrown by the wayside? (just asking, not accusing or attacking)

 

In answer to the quoted question above: I will consider all aircraft additions. The problem with freshly-announced aircraft is that most data is a combination of the manufacturer's pipe dream and the operators' wishlist. Information is quite often sparse, differs wildly between documents and some of the more obscure technical stuff that is used in AE simply doesn't exist. I am usually against the idea of completely making up or "tweaking" information, as it quite often ends up in the realms of the imaginary and involves accusations of bias. If, however, there is a good case and solid information exists for aircraft not yet in production, then it may enter the game.

As time goes on, and a more solid design comes about, and tests are done, this data "settles" and becomes more readily available and more usable. When this happens, I will always reconsider an aircraft. I will look into the NEO and MAX in the near future, and they may enter in future.

 

 

EDIT: Doc, it looks like you posted when I was typing this - my apologies.

You will do it. Brit. I command you

 

Now there's a sure-fire way of getting me to decide against doing something....

It is impossible for us to create a usable model for the game at this stage. We need to wait until, at the very least, the design specifications are released.

I see no reason why this can't be included - I am going to do a bit of research and think about which variants to include.

I'll add this to the approved list.