Catalog metadata

Tags with catalog metadata can be added to aircraft to help searching and filtering them, for example in future versions of the aircraft center, so that a user can quicker find the aircraft of interest.

the goal here is to almost get rid of a centralised aircraft repo anyway, and have a decentralised development system with the only central point being the aircraft package manager for end users. Then 99% of people never care where the aircraft is stored while it’s developed. — James Turner (2015-02-13). Re: [Flightgear-devel] FGDATA split without Aircraft. Addon in SVN. (re)Suggesting a Submodule approach. (Re)Proposing a per-Aircraft repository. (powered by Instant-Cquotes)

Supported Tags

Note  Please do not extend this list without discussion and agreement.

The tags are translation / search keys, not human-readable strings. Any additions or changes mean updated translation files. The catalog-generator script will reject aircraft with non-standard tags!

Tags are designed to be inclusive, not exclusive, to give the broadest range of search results. If multiple tags apply, use them - for example the DC-3 has had multiple civilian and military roles.

Aircraft types

• ga
• helicopter
• fighter
• interceptor
• glider - But does this includes the Space Shuttle, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipeOne, as well?
• spaceship
• bomber
• tanker
• cargo
• passenger
• bizjet - Not just for jets, but I can't think of a better term
• reconnaissance
• airship
• balloon
• trainer - Used in a pilot training role

Manufacturers

Intention here is to provide logical groupings, not to track corporate history - so the MD-80 and MD-11 would get the 'douglas' tag, which will likely translate to 'Douglas / McDonell-Douglas' in the UI. The 717 could get the boeing and douglas tags. Also not supposed to be an exhaustive list, this is so we can search on 'all glass-cockpit Boeing and Airbus aircraft'. It might be worth actively lying in the tags, i.e group all Hawker-Siddley / BAC / Avro aircraft under the Vickers tag.

• boeing
• cessna
• douglas
• lockheed
• vickers
• piper
• diamond
• airbus
• beechcraft
• mig
• fokker
• ilyushin
• antonov
• embrarer
• bombardier
• saab

Eras

Logical groupings, not historical accuracy - some aircraft are going to have a lot of these, e.g. the B-52. Again the goal is intelligent searches: 'show me all WW2 fighters'. Would like to avoid this getting political too, comments on that are welcome

• early-pioneers
• ww1
• 1920s
• 1930s
• golden-age
• ww2
• 1950s
• 1960s
• 1970s
• vietnam
• coldwar
• korean
• 1980s
• 1990s
• gulfwar1
• 2000s

Aircraft Features

This could get long, as always trying to focus on tags people might search on - 'show me all the VTOL aircraft' or 'show me all the biplanes'. Some will be very useful in improving the user-experience, if the plane is tagged with seaplane we might be able to force a water start (not for amphibious obviously).

• prototype
• experimental - For X1 and similar X-planes
• ifr - Panel and equipment (radios, lighting) suitable for IFR flight
• fixed-gear
• retractable-gear
• tail-dragger
• carrier-hook - Do we need a separate tag for carrier-capable?
• stol - For short-takeoff
• vtol - For the Harrier, F-35 if it ever works, and the Osprey
• floats
• amphibious
• cannard - Cannard planform
• delta - Delta planform; Vulcan, Concorde, Space Shuttle
• variable-geometry - For Tomcats and the like
• supersonic
• glass-cockpit
• refuel - Supports air-to-air refeuling
• seaplane - Flying boat or float plane
• etops - ETOPS capable aircraft, presumably implies twin-engined
• biplane
• triplane
• pressurised - Pressurised cabin

FlightGear Features

• combat - Support this various MP combat / bomb-able options
• dual-controls - Supports copilot over MP
• tow - Supports glider towing over MP
• rembrandt - Supports Rembrandt, obviously

Propulsion

• piston
• radial - Radial piston engined
• diesel
• jet
• turboprop
• 1-engine
• 2-engine
• 3-engine
• 4-engine
• turbocharged - For pistons with a turbo-charger
• afterburner
• rocket
• electric - For power-assisted gliders, mostly.
• unpowered - Balloons, etc

Examples

• B-52 would have: bomber, jet. boeing, coldwar, 1960s, vietnam, 1970s, 1980s, gulfwar1, nato, refuel, retractable-gear, ifr
• Citation would have: cessna, bizjet, jet, 2-engine, glass-cockpit, ifr, retractable-gear
• Cub would have: piper, piston, 1-engine, ga, trainer, fixed-gear, 1930s, ww2, tail-dragger

Adding metadata to aircraft

The tags are added to or included into the sim section of the -set.xml file(s) like for example below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

<PropertyList>

 <sim>

  <tags>
   <tag>passenger</tag>
   <tag>boeing</tag>
   <tag>jet</tag>
   <tag>twin-engine</tag>
   <tag>retractable-gear</tag>
   <tag>etops</tag>
   <tag>glass-cockpit</tag>
   <tag>ifr</tag>
  </tags>

 </sim>

</PropertyList>

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