Development Idea - Ground Operations

[Donovan (DMoN) Carr]

G'day,
Quite simply, I have an idea for MSFS that I would like to put out there as I don't think anyone has really done it as far as I know. Quite simply, I wish I knew someone who could do development work in MSFS 2020. I would like to see an app/add-on for 'Ground Operations' where they create the different ground vehicles such as baggage tugs and trolleys, pushback tractors and little tugs with tow bars, passengers stairs, catering etc. You go and drive around the airport and do ground operations. What an awesome way to check out custom scenery while maintaining a form of emersion and interaction with the simulator.
Considering multiplayer, you get called to a  gate to do a pushback and you talk to the pilot and tell him to park brakes while you connect him up, then release brakes and do the pushback. Give the pilot permission to start engines etc. You might even have in your vehicle the tablets that are becoming popular in new aircraft that has the gate and taxi information for your pushback. So you know the push back point to leave the aircraft in the right direction to taxi out. Then announce you're clear of the aircraft.
Could be a lot of fun and a different angle on the sim. Not to mention a better way to run around and check out airport scenery and beyond...because there's no reason why you couldn't travel along a road and just go an a road trip!!!
But ultimately it was the ability to run around the scenery and check it out in a more fun and efficient method than the drone with the hope of interacting with the sim. 
You could have different vehicle liveries for different countries that replace the default ground operations vehicles liveries. Or include a paint kit to customise your 'operations. Think of the freeware 'pushback helper' only taken to the next level. Correct physics means you would have to make sure you don't jack-knife while towing or exceed aircraft turn ratio (And as a former aircraft maintenance engineer, I can tell you that accurately reversing an aircraft in to a hanger with a towbar is not easy!) Talking to ATC to gain permission to cross runways etc. Use your in-vehicle tablet to view airport map and control vehicle systems.

Activities I thought of are:
Pushback operations
Towing aircraft from the hangar to the gate
Towing aircraft from the gate to the hangar/maintenance area
Baggage handling - Setting up the conveyor
Baggage handling - Driving tug and trailers and aligning to conveyor or cargo door accordingly
Passenger shuttle bus from lounge to aircraft
Passenger shuttle but from aircraft to lounge
Flight crew golf cart shuttle to/from aircraft 
VIP limousine from hotel to aircraft  
VIP limousine from aircraft to hotel
Mobile air stairs for aircraft in gate/parking area
Catering trucks to either forward or rear doors
Clean up crews for spills and runway debris inspections
Fire Engine for Firefighting activities. Emergency landings. De-icing activities. VIP send-offs.
Include a ratings system for performance, efficiency, not damaging an aircraft or vehicle, exceeding speed limits etc. Also, add it to Volanta to show airports with live Ground Operations and also show which airports you have conducted ground operations at. A nice way of meeting VATSIM pilots, ATC, Ground Operations.

I would do this myself but I have no idea where I would start. But if people are playing ATC in the simulator, then why not expand things to include ground operations?

Anythoo, that's my suggestion for an expansion to MSFS and make it a little more interactive and interesting. What do you think? Do you see there possibly being a market for this idea? Who would you talk to to see if you could get it off the ground?

Cheers

[EasternT3]

Donovan, GSX by FSDreamteam is currently in development for MSFS, from my POV, GSX is the add-on I'm missing the most from P3D and am eagerly waiting for (sadly it seems it might be years end before it's release),

 

GSX does most of the ideas you thought off, and I know once it releases for MSFS they are going to add new features over time.

 

If Orbx created their own version of GSX, that would no doubt create some competition 

[Scott Harmes]

It is definitely an interesting idea.  GSX already implements automated ground operations in FSX and P3D, and I think they are bringing that to MSFS eventually too.  With GSX you can change your camera to custom views outside or even inside, the ground operations vehicles.  They have pushbag tugs, catering trucks, baggage trucks, driveable airstairs, jetways, cargo loaders, buses, vans, fuels trucks, and you can get up close to them all using the included custom camera views or with the avatar in P3D.  Making them driveable would be an interesting expansion on this that I think would make the most sense, so maybe FS Dreamteam are the ones to suggest this to on their forums.  Some PMDG aircraft (at least the 747 Queen of the skies II) come with a driveable pushback tug, so you can control the pushback of your own plane, but I'm not sure if you can then drive it around.

 

I often just use the avatar in P3D, or the drone camera in MSFS, to wander around an airport and surrounds to check out the finer details of a scenery.  Particularly with many developers now including interior modelling and more detailed surrounds, you can spend hours just wandering around an airport, just like I do in real life when I get a chance to do that occasionally.  I notice that the new Adelaide International by Impulse simulations has included the building which houses the record breaking Vickers Vimy (although not the plane itself), and I visited this in real life one day when I had few hours to kill at the real YPAD.  I spent over an hour there and I was the only one there!  I found that just by wandering around the perimeter of the airport, and walking to all the places I was allowed to .

 

An interesting idea for sure, but be warned, you will find opposition from the traditionalists who think you should not be allowed to leave your plane .