AI Flying in Formation

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   Hello JustFlight,

This weekend I again played around with the Traffic X tool and I have a question...

Is it possible to set up a flight plan for two+ planes flying in the formation?

I got "inspired" by the picture in the promotional page of Traffic X (the bottom right one).

http://www.justflight.com/trafficX-home.asp

Thank you

Milan

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apollon01 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Ground Crew Joined: 16 Oct 2008 Points: 56	Post Options Post Reply Quote apollon01 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: AI Flying in Formation Posted: 02 Feb 2009 at 8:19am
	Hello JustFlight, This weekend I again played around with the Traffic X tool and I have a question... Is it possible to set up a flight plan for two+ planes flying in the formation? I got "inspired" by the picture in the promotional page of Traffic X (the bottom right one). http://www.justflight.com/trafficX-home.asp Thank you Milan

freddy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Chief Pilot Joined: 29 Nov 2008 Location: Melbourne, Aust Points: 1339	Post Options Post Reply Quote freddy Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 02 Feb 2009 at 9:00am
	I asked this exact same question on a different Flight Simulator forum and, unfortunately, did not get any responses. I wanted to set up military aircraft to fly in two-abreast formation, as they would in the real world. And, yes, it was that same Just Flight promotional picture that you have mentioned which got me intrigued by the idea. I didn't actually end up trying it, but I imagine if you set two Flight Plans for two aircraft to both fly the exact same route at the exact same time, then it might work. However, considering the way FSX is programmed and how aircraft like their "space", I doubt they would fly in formation. Instead, they would probably keep their distance from each other. So I am not so sure it would work. Like I said, I didn't end up trying it.

apollon01 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Ground Crew Joined: 16 Oct 2008 Points: 56	Post Options Post Reply Quote apollon01 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 02 Feb 2009 at 9:13am
	Well... you seem to be right in pointing out that the planes "like their space". On the other hand I still believe the feature is included as it is on the promotional page of the product... let's wait for JustFlight response. Milan

aconstable Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Check-In Staff Joined: 05 Nov 2008 Location: London Points: 35	Post Options Post Reply Quote aconstable Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 02 Feb 2009 at 9:57pm
	You can get 4 fighters flying in formation with trafficX, dont ask me where, I will check! AHC

aconstable Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Check-In Staff Joined: 05 Nov 2008 Location: London Points: 35	Post Options Post Reply Quote aconstable Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 02 Feb 2009 at 10:17pm
	Right I have no special flight plans, only the default one that came with TrafficX which includes the SP1. If you go to Edinburgh UK at 12.18.53, in traffic explorer at the bottom you should se Tornado-Blank flying from EGQL at 11.57 to EGDM landingat 13.00. Click on the Tornado you should see 2 tornado's flying in formation! AHC

Ruthus Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Check-In Staff Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Points: 43	Post Options Post Reply Quote Ruthus Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 Feb 2009 at 5:36pm
	Well flying around SW UK I regularily see pairs of Tornado and even a pair of Typhoon. Then I had a pair of Maule both the same tail number flying together and so I now suspect that the duplicate bug may not have completely been solved..) Have since stopped generating Maule traffic...)

apollon01 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Ground Crew Joined: 16 Oct 2008 Points: 56	Post Options Post Reply Quote apollon01 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 Feb 2009 at 6:33pm
	Hello, I checked that airport with two Tornados flying in formation and... ...they were there. Now the question is how it is possible to make such a flight plan ourselves? Milan

aconstable Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Check-In Staff Joined: 05 Nov 2008 Location: London Points: 35	Post Options Post Reply Quote aconstable Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 Feb 2009 at 7:04pm
	Helo Milan I have not got a clue, it may pay you to locate the flightplan, then see how they have managed to do it.These are not duplicated aircraft as Ruthus suggested.I got a feeling they may be something to do with a BGL file rather than the flightplan. As I mentioned you can get up to 6 tornados flying in formation. Your best bet is to ask Just flight! AHC

apollon01 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Ground Crew Joined: 16 Oct 2008 Points: 56	Post Options Post Reply Quote apollon01 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Feb 2009 at 8:14am
	asking JustFlight... that's I hope what I am doing here I located one flight plan but haven't seen anything special also noticed that the two planes in the formation had two different flight numbers hopefully JustFlight will help here Milan

MikeS369 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Check-In Staff Joined: 18 Feb 2009 Location: USA Points: 1	Post Options Post Reply Quote MikeS369 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 18 Feb 2009 at 3:51am
	Flying IFR from Glasgow to Warsaw I came across 4 Typhoons flying together. It looked like two were in formation, at times they were actually inside of each other, and the other two were trailing. I also came across two tankers in formation,with one's nose inside the wing of the other, fueling two Tornados.

flying-w Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Ground Crew Joined: 22 Aug 2008 Points: 86	Post Options Post Reply Quote flying-w Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 20 Feb 2009 at 7:04am
	You can use duplicate schedules to produce formation flying of a sort. You must specify the same kind of plane to depart at the same time, and the effect works best when the aircraft are created in the air (due to the time and day) rather than on the ground. It's quite fun, I've had mass fleets of 20 747s flying around with each other. It starts to break down when you begin getting close to your destination airport, when one or two receive orders to decend that the others don't get. Another alternative is through waypoint programming through SimConnect, but I'd guess TrafficX isn't doing that as it requires an active program alongside FSX to drive it. Regards Simon
	SuperTrafficBoard V2.1 Now Available http://www.supertrafficboard.com

pilot7893 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List P/UT Joined: 16 Oct 2008 Location: Beverly, MA Points: 113	Post Options Post Reply Quote pilot7893 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 23 Feb 2009 at 6:37pm
	Every now and again I come upon 2 rebellious jetliners doing formation flight. Very entertaining.