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Flying

Parked aircraft in your sim

The shared world is visible from your cockpit. The plugin puts each Tailstrike aircraft that is parked within 15 nautical miles of you into your simulator, at the stand where its last pilot stopped it. You taxi past the 737 that a pilot parked at gate B32 last night. It is on by default. You install nothing more on MSFS. On X-Plane you need a set of CSL models.

What you need

MSFS 2020MSFS 2024X-Plane 12
  • The Tailstrike plugin, version 0.1.33 or newer, connected to your account. The plugin updates itself.
  • A connected simulator: MSFS 2020, MSFS 2024 or X-Plane 12. The aircraft appear when the plugin has your position in the simulator. They do not appear while the simulator is on its main menu.
  • MSFS: nothing more. The plugin uses the aircraft that your simulator can load. MSFS 2024 has its own set of traffic aircraft, and the plugin uses them. MSFS 2020 uses the aircraft that you have installed.
  • X-Plane 12: a set of CSL models. The usual set is Bluebell. If you have xPilot or LiveTraffic, you have it. The plugin finds the CSL folders of each plugin in your X-Plane and uses them. Without a CSL set, X-Plane shows no Tailstrike aircraft.
X-Plane: one restart
The plugin installs a small plugin into X-Plane, Resources/plugins/TailstrikeTraffic, the first time that it connects to X-Plane. X-Plane loads a plugin when it starts. Therefore restart X-Plane one time after the first connection. The log in the plugin tells you when. After that, nothing to do. The plugin updates the X-Plane plugin together with itself.

What is optional

  • FSLTL or AIG on MSFS. Without an AI model library, MSFS has a paint for a few airlines only, and most Tailstrike aircraft appear in a white default paint. With FSLTL, each airline that the library covers appears in its own livery, and FSLTL models are light. Install FSLTL for your simulator version, restart MSFS, and the plugin uses it. The plugin prefers an FSLTL or AIG model in the correct airline over each other model.
  • The parked aircraft of the simulator. MSFS and X-Plane park their own aircraft at the gates. An aircraft of the simulator can be at the same gate as a Tailstrike aircraft. The plugin cannot remove the aircraft of the simulator. To see the Tailstrike aircraft only:
    • MSFS 2024: Options → General Options → Graphics → Global Rendering Quality → Parked Aircraft Quantity → Off. The change applies at once.
    • MSFS 2020: Options → General Options → Traffic → Ground Aircraft Density → 0.
    • X-Plane 12: Settings → General → Draw parked aircraft, off.
  • Off, if you want. In the plugin, on the settings page, under TRAFFIC, clear Show parked aircraft. The aircraft go away at once. The same card shows which models your simulator offers, and if it found FSLTL or AIG. Rescan models asks the simulator again, for example after you install FSLTL.

How it operates

  • Each 30 seconds the plugin asks Tailstrike for the aircraft parked within 15 nautical miles of your position. An aircraft is parked when a pilot stopped it at a stand and nobody flies it now. When a pilot leases it and starts to fly, it goes away from your simulator.
  • Each aircraft goes to its stand in your scenery, not to a coordinate. The plugin reads the stands of your airport from the simulator (MSFS) or from your apt.dat (X-Plane). Therefore an add-on airport gives the correct gate. If two Tailstrike aircraft record the same stand, the second one goes to the nearest free stand.
  • The plugin chooses the model by the aircraft type, then the airline. It uses the exact type when your simulator has it, or the same family, for example an A320 for an A319. It never shows a different type of aircraft. When no model of that family is installed, the aircraft is not shown, and the log says so one time.
  • Your own aircraft is never shown. The plugin does not show the aircraft of your lease, and it does not show an aircraft at the stand where you are.
  • The aircraft are static. They do not taxi, and they are not on TCAS. In X-Plane, a label with the registration appears within 1.5 nautical miles. In MSFS, the registration is on the aircraft.
  • Traffic from another source, for example vPilot on VATSIM, is not changed. Such an aircraft can be at the same gate as a Tailstrike aircraft.
Which aircraft do you see?
Open the airport page of your airport on the web. It lists each Tailstrike aircraft parked there, with its stand and its last pilot. These are the aircraft that the plugin shows you.

What is not supported

  • X-Plane 11, P3D and FSX. Flight tracking operates on them. The parked aircraft do not appear.
  • A paint for each airline. The plugin shows the paint that your simulator or your model library has. When it has none for the airline, it shows the default paint of the model, never the paint of a different airline.