The following movements can be created with LATA.
- Taxi from ramp to runway or runway to ramp
- Tow from one ramp to another
- Trip of a ground support vehicle from parking to destination
- Turnaround, which is a collection of one or more individual Services. A Service is a movement of a ground support equipment that provides a service to an aircraft. That vehicle will spawn at a parking position, service the aircraft at its ramp, and then head to a destination position where it will vanish.
Taxi¶
LATA can create the movement of an aircraft taxiing out from a ramp to a runway, or taxiing in from a runway to a ramp.
The following data need to be supplied:
- Aircraft model
- Parking position
- Runway
- Whether the move is a departure or an arrival
Tow¶
LATA can create the move of an aircraft being towed from a parking position to another.
The following data need to be supplied:
- Aircraft model,
- Arrival parking position, from where the tow will start,
- Departure parking position, to where the tow will end.
Turnaround¶
LATA can generate all movements of ground support vehicles that are performing turnaround operations.
Turnaround operations are split into arrival services (cleaning, waste, mobile staircase, baggage and cargo offloading, etc.) and departure services (catering, refueling, water, mobile staircase, baggage and cargo loading, etc.).
Movements of vehicles are coordinated according to a turnaround profile. All tasks are timed relative to the on-block time of an arrival or the off-block time of a departure.
Positions of vehicle around the aircraft are determined by an aircraft type position profile that give precise positions and orientation of support vehicles around the aircraft.
The following data need to be supplied:
- Aircraft model,
- Parking position,
- Whether the move is a departure or an arrival,
- Whether it is a passenger or a cargo flight.
Service¶
A Turnaround service is an individual movement of a support vehicle. A Service has:
- A service type (fuel, catering, APU, pushback...),
- A Vehicle (type) associated with it,
- Timing information like the start time of the service, relative to the aircraft block time, and the duration of the service.
- Optionally, a Service can require a precise position around the aircraft.
A service support vehicle always travels from a X-Plane parking position, and after service, heads to a X-Plane destination position. The intend is to provide meaningful positions around the airport where service vehicle can park, and where they are used to go to accomplish their tasks: Fuel depot, baggage handling, catering restaurants, cargo hangars, etc. These positions are defined in X-Plane, and should be close to service roads. There is an option to select the parking and destination closest to the ramp.
Movement Timing¶
Taxi, tow, or turnarounds are scheduled according to aircraft arrival at gate (on-block time), or departure from gate (off-block time).
A condition of success for scheduling is that the event being planned must occur in the future time, relative to the simulator time. (Please recall that the simulator time is not necessarily the current real life time.) If the event, for example a turnaround refueling, is scheduled to occur in the past, in respect of the local time, it is not created.
It is possible to either explicitly specify a movement time by supplying the aircraft on block or off block time, or to start the movement(s) immediately. In the later case, LATA will determine the on block or off block time based on the desired movements, the first vehicle that needs moving will start immediately creating some activity.
Trip: A Simple Movement¶
A Trip is a movement of a ground support vehicle from a Parking to a Destination through a ramp. However, the ramp is just a passing point and the vehicle does not stop at the ramp. A single movement can be conceived as a regular service with no service stop.
Trips are the simplest way to create random activity on the ground of and airport. It is very much comparable to activity generated by X-Plane. It actually uses the same parking and destination on the same service road network.
No Movement¶
A no-movement is a special case where an object is created at the requested time, does not move, and is removed at the end of its service. Security cones and chocks are excellent candidates for no-movement objects. In spite of their absence of movement, service objects appear and disappear in coordination with other services.