AI Monthly
AI MONTHLY
March 2013
KEEPING YOU UP TO DATE WITH EVERYTHING AI Edition 5
May 2013
We will be continuing to look at the features of AI Tools. This month we will be looking at some further features of AIFP by Don Grovestine. AIFP has become one of the most useful tools available to those users who manually install flightplans. Back in the March 2013 edition, it was mentioned that there would be a series of articles on useful AI tools to promote their use amongst AI enthusiasts. Don Grovestine has put a lot of hard work and effort into AIFP and the results are impressive. The program itself is lightweight and fast, meaning that it can accomplish a lot for any user. As a utility, AIFP has many benefits that some users might not even be aware off. The configuration file that AIFP uses in order to install complete flightplan packages, from downloading the textures, through to compiling the flightplan has a lot of flexibility giving the flightplanners much more freedom when it comes to creating flightplans. By setting up the file correctly, users can do less to achieve the same results. By setting airline callsigns and parking codes, AIFP will overwrite any existing callsign or parking code lines within the fltsim sections to the ones predetermined for the flightplans. This is useful in situations where an airline may be leasing an aircraft from somewhere else, or if the painter has entered the wrong details in the fltsim entry.
AIFP has recently gone through an overhaul to the repaints unpacking stage, whereby on large repaint archives, AIFP may struggle slightly due to the sheer size of the task ahead! After some work by Don, AIFP can handle these large repaint files with ease, and seems to literally fly through the installation process. A good example is the recent AIG Norwegian Air Shuttle plans whereby the 737800’s are all in one download file. During internal AIG beta testing, some users reported additional data of multiple GB’s appearing on their hard drives! Furthermore, alongside this complete overhaul, Don added a feature to AIFP that could select the texture types that users could install, providing that AIFP could “find” these texture types in the repaint files. Last year Don added the “Traffic and Parking Analyser” feature to AIFP. This feature can provide fantastic information to users on how FS assigns parking spots, and why some aircraft appear where they shouldn’t or don’t appear at all! By selecting all your traffic files and waiting for AIFP to analyse these files, you’ll get a detailed report on any missing a/c (useful if you need to be reminded about any *missing* paints when you installed the plans), but also the ability to scan any airport and get a log file with all the parking *problems*, and also a graphic representation of the parking at any airport over the course of a week.
Furthermore to this, flightplanners can also setup AIFP to install a/c with differing callsigns and/or parking codes. Take the recent AIG British Airways plans for example. Some aircraft use the “Shuttle” callsign, whereas others use the “SpeedBird” callsign. AIFP can install aircraft like this, depending on the setting. 1
AI Monthly
March 2013
ENDEAVOUR AI RE-LAUNCH
The site has been completely redesigned by Antoine, head of Endeavour AI.
Other features include “e services” where the team will re-design the livery and brand of virtual airlines on demand, you may read AI Monthly on the website or buy a t-shirt with the Endeavour AI logo on it.
The homepage will publish real world aviation news along with their own news of site updates and forthcoming products.
The final part of the re-launch is the new forum. The team invite everybody to join in the discussions on their forum and are open to all requests.
ENDEAVOUR AI (EAI) has re-launched their site and brand.
Many new repaints have been prepared for the site launch; Air Canada Rouge, Almasria Airlines, Avia Traffic, Gambia Bird, Livingston, Lufthansa Cargo, Thai, TMA Cargo, Varig, Virgin Atlantic and many more. The group will also release classic retro paints, ready to be release on the new site are a collection of FAIB paints, such as Air Malta and Britannia Airways 737-200. The revised team includes; Antoine Calleja, Gabe Bierbach, Dieter Barthelmeus, Zafer El Khatib, Doug Roth, Jason Dias, Hendrik Klon, Eberhard Haberkon, Lingyuan He and Peter McKennitt Harper. The major difference from the past operation is that Lingyuan He, a flightplanner has joined the team, Lingyuan sampled some of his Chinese flightplans on AIG forums earlier this year, before posting on avsim. All future flightplans from this author will be hosted on Endeavour AI’s site under the Endeavour brand. The first batch of releases includes; Hong Kong Airlines, Daily Air, Far Eastern Air Transport, Lucky Air, Mandarin Airlines and Uni Air.
Picture: Varig Boeing 737-700w – Gabe Bierbach
You can follow Endeavour AI on twitter or like them on facebook.
YOU CAN NOW READ AI MONTHLY AT MORE SITES THAN EVER Issuu Avsim
Flightsim United Traffic Team
Endeavour AI
2
AI Monthly
March 2013
REPAINTERS’ SECTION
Reports by Robert Williams
Jürgen Baumbusch Despite working hard on FAIB A32X beta, Jürgen still finds time for other paints. This month saw Borussia Dortmund take on Bayern Munich in the Champions League final and Turkish Airlines announced a sponsorship deal with Dortmund. As a result we now have a wonderful colour scheme in the skies above us;
Picture: Transavia Boeing 737-800w – Kyle Meeks
Individual Painters Nils Bindauf – China Cargo Airlines MD-11F, Titan Airways 733F and MyAir CRJ1000 Mariano Bonaccorso – Malindo 739W
Also Enter Air 734 & 738, Trans Mediterranean Airways (TMA Cargo) 763F, Asiana 763 fleet, Azerbaijan A340, Cebu Pacific A333, Czech A333, Garuda Indonesia 773ER & CRJ1000 were all released.
flyingcarpet75 All the team are involved in the beta stages of FAIB’s new Airbus A32X family model. As a result releases aren’t as frequent as usual. Philippe released the three Air France variations for the newly released CRJ 1000 (UTT), while Kyle released Air Nostrum on the same model.
Felix Chapman – Titan Airways 752 Dukgeun Lee – Asiana Cargo 763F. Symon Long – dae F100, Hebridean BN2 Islander, Island Air ATR72, Jet Airways ATR72 & Melilla Airlines ATR42. Manuel Querencias – Afriqiyah Airways A320, Titan Airways A320, BH Air A320, Helvetic A319, Meridianafly 737, Aigle Azur A320, Smartwings A320 & Finnair “Metsanvaki” A333 Doug Roth – Vincent Aviation JS31 Mike Stewart – flypgs Asia 738W & XL Airways France A330.
Elias updated his Air Cargo Carriers fleet, both Shorts SD3-30 and SD3-60. Kyle also updated the Transavia fleet, including a mixture of Gol Hybrids and two new logojets displaying “Sunweb” titles. Robert painted Air Saint-Pierre’s ATR 42-500 along with fixes to previous paints.
Picture: Melilla Airlines ATR 42-300 – Symon Long
3
AI Monthly
March 2013
FLIGHTPLANNING SECTION
Reports by Joshua Dean
Alpha India Group After a bumping winter round finalising at the beginning of May 2013 with ASKY Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopian Cargo and Jet Airways, AIG have finished the season with over 200 flightplans. The first release of the summer season has since been released, hoping to continue the success of the winter period. Airlines in Summer 2013 Round 1 include: Air Botswana, Asiana Cargo, Borajet, Island Air, Isles of Scilly Skybus, Korean Air Cargo, Mango Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines, Virgin Australia International, flyNonstop, flyDubai and Darwin Airlines.
Regional, Air India, Air Transat, Ak Bars Aero, Amakusa Airlines, All Nippon Airways, ANA Wings, KLM Cityhopper,
Team RATS MBK-S
RATS’s flightplans can be downloaded here
Realbigtree Xstrata Nickel, Malindo Air, EG&G Flight Operations, VietJet Air and Tasman Cargo Airlines.
juergenbaumbusch.de
Looking at the airlines currently in AIG beta reveals that some big airline groups currently awaiting testing, with some interesting airlines still yet to enter beta.
Ghiom has been focused on US majors; Delta, Delta Connection, US Airways, US Airways Express, American Airlines, American Eagle and American Connection.
United Traffic Team
Individual Planners
United Traffic Team has started the Summer 2013 with a strong set of releases.
Philipp Buechner – Air Canada Rouge & Germania
Airlines that have made an appearance so far are: Air Malta, Indonesia AirAsia, Philippines AirAsia, AirAsia, AirAsia X, Airlink, Edelweiss Air, easyJet, easyJet Switzerland, Austrian Airlines, South African Express, South African Airways, Ryanair, Helvetic Airways, Swiss, Singapore Airlines Cargo, Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Scoot, South African Airways Cargo, Wizz Air,Cathay Pacific Cargo, Rossiya Airlines, Air Greenland, Dragonair, Air Hong Kong, AirAsia Japan, Jet2, Hebridean Air Services, Aer Arann, Aeroflot, Icelandair, Luxair, WOW Air, Pakistan International Airlines, airBlue, Air Arabia Maroc, Air India Express, Air India
Jeroen Eekhof – Kolavia (opf MetroHet), Titan Airways, flyNonstop, Nouvelair, Orbest, Syphax Airlines, Tunisair, Tunisair Express, WOW Air, Air Incheon, Air Zimbabwe, Dniproavia, Wind Rose, Monarch, and Thomas Cook Airlines UK.
Pavel Hulva - Danubewings
4
AI Monthly
March 2013
SCREENSHOT OF THE MONTH Would you like to feature in the next edition of AI Monthly? Send your screenshots to us and we will debate which we think is the best. Seasonal and topical screenshots are a good idea, but a random amazing screenshot may win us over! There is of course one rule‌ IT MUST BE AI! Send your screenshots to aimonthly@hotmail.co.uk
Philippe Tabatchnik has provided us with this Aeroflot Airbus A320 taking off from Zvartnots, Armenia. The scenery is available here
World of AI Several releases this month from the WOAI team. A total of seven packages have been released with flightplans spread over three seasons, Summer 2013, Winter 2012/2013 and Summer 2013. Summer 2013 Releases Air Bridge Cargo British Airways World Cargo Tasman Cargo Airlines
Winter 2012/2013 Releases Croatia Airlines Okay Air Cargo Summer 2012 Releases – Martinair Cargo Rusline
5
AI Monthly
March 2013
Military Section Reports by Robert Williams
MAIW One release this month from Military AI Works. The 46th Brigata Aerea (Italy) was released on 21st May.
“The 46th Brigata Aerea “Silvio Angelucci” is the only squadron committed to air transport within the Italian Air Force, and one of the most prestigious. The 46th Brigata Aerea is equipped with C-27 Spartans and the most recent versions of the C-130J, and hosts a crew training facility as well as maintenance facilities at Pisa-San Giusto (LIRP). The squadron is divided into three operational groups. All of these units are included in this package, which contains repaints, AFCADs, flight plans and custom call signs for each depicted unit. As a bonus, two further C-27s based in Italy are included. Download our latest package today” A video of this package can be viewed here (Youtube), if you would like to taster of the package before installing.
Pictures: Taken from MAIW Forum
6
AI Monthly
March 2013
Modelling Section
Reports by Robert Williams
FAIB A32X BETA (IN PICTURES)
PLUS LOADS MORE‌.. 7
AI Monthly
March 2013
From the authors… THANKYOU FOR READING AI MONTHLY The authors of this newsletter are;
Robert Williams - AI Painter, formerly a member of realbigtree.com, who moved on to releasing his work independently on Avsim. He is an active member of AIG Dispatch (as a beta tester) and has worked with FAIB on pre-release painting for the FAIB 737 Next Generation model. His work is now hosted at flyingcarpet75.com Joshua Dean – AI Flightplanner, currently an active member of AIG Dispatch, previously he released his work independently on Avsim and AIG forums. He was also a brief member of realbigtree.com beta testing team and is still an active member of UK2000 Scenery beta testing team. Rob Corp – Rob is a very active flightplanner for AIG Dispatch. He is a journalist the rest of the time, so we use him to try and catch typos in the newsletter you have been reading.
Terms of Use This newsletter must not be modified by any persons without the permission of AI Monthly. It must not be redistributed on other sites by any persons. We will upload it to the sites that we wish this newsletter to be available from. This entire newsletter is copyright of AI Monthly! Any breach of these terms will be taken very seriously
SCREENSHOT OF THE MONTH Please send your screenshots to the email address at the bottom of this page. Please try to get your screenshots to us by the beginning of the last week each month. Thank You to everybody that enters!
PLEASE NOTE We try to cover the entire flightsim AI traffic scene as fairly as possible. Some areas (such as painting) are much more active than others. While we try and include as much news as we can, it is always possible we may miss new developments – so please feel free to send us your latest developments to the email address below. However, the writers reserve the right to select items from correspondence for inclusion in the newsletter. If you have any comments or complaints about anything you read in AI Monthly, please send us an email.
aimonthly@hotmail.co.uk
8