New SPAACARS 8.0 and Econ Module is Open Again

Thanks Mike,

Yes...SPAACARS has never been able to adjust payload settings other than on what payload is provided first by your simulator. What SPAACARs does lately (or should do) is automatically note changes in your payload and plane model you make in your simulator, and then update the SPAACARS payload fields to reflect the new changes you made in your simulator - until your flight has started and you've pushed the "start logging" button. At that point the payload and model data can't - and shouldn't be changed. The flight plan is different and never updates unless you push the flight plan button. It should then update the flight plan.

Additionally, there's a few efficiency improvements in SPAACARS version 8 - even fewer read/write calls to FSUIPC and a very important bug fix to prevent incorrect ending Flight Duration value that can occur in Econ Mode in version 7.

As for the whiney passengers - Yes...I too suffered profit loss from my first Econ flight in the newest Cost/Revenue Model - but in my case it was due to damaged landing gear on a hard landing. I knew I should have gone around again! Oh well, your whiney passengers didn't extract quite the financial damage I incurred, along with the added insult of being hoisted upon my own petard <img src="tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-target1.gif" alt="target1">.

John<br /><br /><!-- editby --><br /><br /><em>edited by: jer029, Nov 14, 2017 - 08:46 PM</em><!-- end editby -->

Thanks Robert - just building on your earlier and numerous efforts!

I'm currently working on a new photo gallery module to replace the ailing gallery we currently use. Unfortunately the newer version of Gallery won't integrate automatically with PostNuke so I have to do some work-arounds. Right now pilots would have to log in separately to post photos - which I don't like, but it no longer uses Java Applets to administer or upload multiple photos, so it's a lot easier to use once logged in. I'm still working on the auto-login possibility and setting up a "Latest Images" display for SPA's main page, but I've migrated all our active pilots' pics to the new gallery, and even those historic albums of the old SPA get-togethers.

I've some real-world obligations today and in the next few days so it might be a while to finish the work I need to do, but will probably set up the new gallery with the secondary log in so that it's in use while I chip away at finding a solution for that if possible.

John

Thanks Bill,

Yes, there have been significant changes and improvements in SPAACARS from version 6 to the current version. Pilots using earlier versions of SPAACARS should upgrade soon because in the near future I'll be disabling PIREP uploads for earlier SPAACARS versions.

We try to keep several ACARS options available to pilots because we have a variety of Simulators in use - including Xplane and FlightGear users, and I don't currently have SPAACARS working for these simulators yet - but hopefully soon. I'm finishing up some work on the new photo gallery currently. Additionally, the manual PIREP entry from the Pilot's office provides a method when no ACARS programs work or is available for a pilot, or if they are having difficulty configuring, or if their fight didn't transmit for some reason.

However, some modules - like the Econ Module, will require SPAACARS because of the necessary fields and controls used in Econ Module are specific to data and settings in SPAACARS.

John

JIm,

I agree with the manual PIREP option as it gives the pilot the opportunity to add a flight that otherwise didn't get entered.

Yes...some of our pilots don't care about a number of offerings here at SPA, but there's plenty to choose from and everyone doesn't have to like (or participate in) those things they don't like. That's one of the wonderful parts of SPA.

The Auto-Pirep filing is designed to prevent econ-mode users from only logging 'perfect flights' which defeats the purpose of the econ mode. Unfortunately it has to occur immediately upon landing or else the pilot can prevent sending their flight to SPA if they don't like their numbers. I was tempted to alter my own first Econ flight after a hard landing but that defeats the whole idea of Econ Module, and the auto-pirep filing helps prevent pilot temptation for 'do-overs'. I wonder how many real-world pilots would like to have had that opportunity <img src="tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif" alt="wink">.

I'm happy to answer any questions you may have regarding cargo, you need only ask or email me. I've tried to explain in previous posts and instructions, but this might not always be sufficient enough as I sometime gloss over things that I mistakenly think pilots already know.

John