Project Overview and Planning: We have been discussing "Fuel Management" strategies for RTMM. (You can see the beginnings of this discussion
HERE. I've asked there that that discussion come here so we can focus on this project.
Many people have asked for means and methods of improving our fuel availability for sections of RTMM. Many people like to fly using "real fuel levels" rather than using the "unlimited fuel" option in the sims. So we are going to explore this area and discuss the best way to do this. We could just let the RTMM team figure this one out, but we thought it would be fun to open it up to the community for ideas and discussion.
First, lets look at our assets for the project:
1. We have 50 RTMM airports and 19 Tongass Airports where fuel triggers could be placed. That alone is quite a list of potential refueling sites. Look at ICAO
HERE.
2. We have the major airports that are already in the scenery (PANT, PAKT, etc)
3. For the remote locations we have the Brad's BBQ objects that we have placed at riverheads to start the boat trips, but these are remotely located and feasible for fuel triggers. Steve is making some new objects in this area that you will love, but basically, they create a "remote" and realistic refueling possibility ... and they can be positioned anywhere.
4. For "airports" we have ADE (Airport Design Editor), refueling stations can be added rather quickly even with refueling start points.
6. For "remote" locations, we have the xml code that Rod Jackson has made for us, we don't need an "airport" to turn on a fuel pump ... so we can use that to place one anywhere (Brad's, etc).
7. Steve has created some signs we can "hang" on the fuel depots indicating if they are "open" (operational) or "closed" (under maintenance, not working, abandoned, etc). So for many of the fuel docks we have ... like on a remote lake, we would hang a "closed" sign on it so people would know it didn't pump fuel. Those will come in handy as indicators of what we have done, etc.
Placement: What we need to do is decide which of these need fuel triggers, certainly not all of them, but which?
Helicopters: One question I have for helicopters, you land at a pad ... if you are "skid mounted" how do you go over and get the fuel now? Just wondering how you folks are refueling when you fly with fuel management. This is important as to how we create the solution. For instance the Brad's are out on the water. A floating helipad? Do we expand the footprint to handle the fuel pump on the Brad's dock and a helipad nearby (that would work).
Simple Proposal: The easiest way to do this is to have folks flying their favorite routes and submitting the need for an active fueling station. As you find them and report them here, I could keep a list in a thread reply so we could list them as "to do" and "done" ...we would just modifiy the list in the thread to keep it up to date. If we did this over time, we'd eventually have what everyone needs ... doing this over time, not a rush project. You see a need, you report it here, I put it on the "to do" list and in the "done" list when it is completed. You could even identify the "lake docks" that need the "closed" sign ... we have many, and your help would be appreciated in this area. This would keep it simple. How would one use this for planning ... use the facilities option on a gps?
Complicated: On the ICAO codes, we could indicate which facilities have fuel easily (plenty of room for another column), but this would leave out non-airport locations. We could put a "refueling table" below the startup points table on the Here2There page for all locations for refueling. This would be very complicated, and if you look at "how would you use it for planning," I don't see how it could be used. I may come down to a big map for our 4 areas (PFJ, SAK, TF and PNW) with grids. We'd letter/number them and each fueling station would have a grid designation. If you flying in the Bella Bella area, you'd look for that grid letter/number and go to the table where the grids would be alphabetically listed. This would be a lot of work and I wonder if that many people would use it considering the workload.
So the thread is open for discussion and ideas ... have at it.
Doug