Installation Requirements

LATA is an application and plugin written in the python language. It requires the XPPython3 X-Plane plugin.

LATA Software Installation

LATA is a Custom Scenery and needs to be installed as such.

Download the latest version of LATA from GitHub.

Decompress the archive file into X-Plane Custom Scenery folder.

LATA is written in the python langage.
You will need a python interpreter to run it.
Before you can use the interpreter, you need to install a few python packages. Most people use the pip python package installer.

$ python --version
Python 3.11.5
$ pip install pyturf networkx ruamel.yaml tabulate

The following optional packages can be installed for development or testing purposes:

$ pip install coloredlogs geojsonio

Custom Library of Objects

LATA includes one default object, a marshall car, the same LiveTraffic plugin uses. If all your aircrafts and ground vehicles appear as marshall cars, you probably did not install MisterX Library and Aircraft Extension. LATA examples use this library as it contains both static aircrafts and a variety of ground support vehicles.

Use as a X-Plane Plugin

Currently, LATA cannot be used as a X-Plane plugin. It must be used from outside X-Plane, as a external, independent application.

In a later release, LATA will be accessible directly inside X-Plane.

lata-cli Application

LATA provides a standalone command-line application to run it.

Running The Client Application

$ cd X-Plane/Custom Scenery
$ cd lata/plugins/PythonPlugins/lata
$ python lata-cli.py -h
usage: lata-cli [-h] {help,?,create,clean,lint} ...

positional arguments:
  {help,?,create,clean,lint}
    help (?)            help, print this help
    create              create turnaround, taxi, or tow, or random movement
    clean               clean airport movements or all
    lint                lint configuration files

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit

$ python lata-cli.py create turnaround -h
usage: lata-cli create turnaround [-h] [--add_aircraft | --no-add_aircraft] airport {departure,arrival} [{pax,cargo}] aircraft ramp time

positional arguments:
  airport               ICAO airport code
  {departure,arrival}   Arrival or departure flight
  {pax,cargo}           Passenger flight or cargo
  aircraft              ICAO aicraft type code
  ramp                  Airport ramp name
  time                  date and time of aircraft block time, time should be in ISO format: 2023-10-06T18:00:46 in simulator time zone

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --add_aircraft, --no-add_aircraft
                        Add aircraft object on ramp

$ python lata-cli.py create turnaround LFBO arrival pax A321 F12 "2023-10-08T00:15"

(
..informative output of the execution..
)

LATA creates files for LST in the X-Plane/Custom Scenery/lata folder.

$ ls X-Plane/Custom Scenery/lata
library
LICENSE
LST_LFBO_TAR_ARR_F12_A321_2310080015
README.md
packages.lst
plugins

Now start X-Plane and enjoy live turnaround operations on ramps next to you.