Flightplan XML formats

FlightGear can use flightplans stored in property-list xml files. Due to having different needs the flightplans used in the route manager and the ones used in AI scenarios have different formats.

AI flightplans

See also AI Scenarios#Flightplans and Their Waypoints.

These flightplans contain only waypoints.

Waypoint tags

Each waypoint can contain the following tags:

• <name> - Waypoint name, if it is the last waypoint use EOF or, if you want the AI model deleted, END.
• <lat> - Latitude, decimal degrees
• <lon> - Longitude, decimal degrees
• <alt> - Altitude above mean sea level, feet
• <crossat> - Crossing altitude, feet
• <ktas> - Knots true air speed
• <on-ground> - True or 1 if on ground, if in air or in a tunnel set to false or 0
• <gear-down> - True for gear down, false for gear up, or 0 to 1
• <flaps-down> - True for flaps down, false for flaps up, or 0 to 1

Example

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<PropertyList>
  <flightplan>
    <wpt>
      <name>First!</name>
      <lat>53.6762</lat>
      <lon>-1.39984</lon>
      <alt>1000</alt>
      <ktas>120</ktas>
      <on-ground>false</on-ground>
      <gear-down>1<gear-down>
      <flaps-down>0.25<flaps-down>
    </wpt>
    ...
    <wpt>
      <name>END</name>
    </wpt>
  </flightplan>
</PropertyList>

Route manager flightplans

See also Route manager#Defining a Route.

Rout manager waypoints are a bit more complex, for starters they contain departure and destination information and not just one type of waypoint.

Note that the first and last waypoint are the departure and destination airports.

There are in FlightGear support for Level-D 767 SIDs and STARs.

Departure and destination tags

• <airport type="string"> - The ICAO identifier of the airport
• <sid type="string"> - Any available SID
• <star type="string"> - Any available STAR
• <transition type="string"> -
• <runway type="string"> - Departure or destination runway

Waypoint types and tags

• runway - The runway end on the departure and destination airports. Accompanied by the <icao> tag.
• navaid - Any significant point along the route. Both airports, navaids and fixes.
• offset-navaid - An point offset from a navaid by a bearing and distance. Note that true bearings are used here.

• <type type="string"> -
• <alt-restrict type="string"> -
• <altitude-ft type="double"> -
• <ident type="string"> -
• <icao type="string"> -
• <lon type="double"> -
• <lat type="double"> -
• <radial-deg type="double"> -
• <distance-nm type="double"> -

Example

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<PropertyList>
  <version type="int">2</version>
  <departure>
    <airport type="string">KOAK</airport>
    <sid type="string">(none)</sid>
    <runway type="string">29</runway>
  </departure>
  <destination>
    <airport type="string">KSJC</airport>
    <star type="string">(none)</star>
    <transition type="string"></transition>
    <runway type="string">11</runway>
  </destination>
  <route>
    <wp>
      <type type="string">runway</type>
      <departure type="bool">true</departure>
      <generated type="bool">true</generated>
      <ident type="string">29</ident>
      <icao type="string">KOAK</icao>
    </wp>
    <wp n="1">
      <type type="string">offset-navaid</type>
      <alt-restrict type="string">at</alt-restrict>
      <altitude-ft type="double">7500</altitude-ft>
      <ident type="string">SFO</ident>
      <lon type="double">-122.3738889</lon>
      <lat type="double">37.61947222</lat>
      <radial-deg type="double">88.22972768</radial-deg>
      <distance-nm type="double">16</distance-nm>
    </wp>
    <wp n="2">
      <type type="string">navaid</type>
      <alt-restrict type="string">at</alt-restrict>
      <altitude-ft type="double">10000</altitude-ft>
      <ident type="string">MISON</ident>
      <lon type="double">-121.890306</lon>
      <lat type="double">37.496806</lat>
    </wp>
    <wp n="3">
      <type type="string">runway</type>
      <arrival type="bool">true</arrival>
      <generated type="bool">true</generated>
      <ident type="string">11</ident>
      <icao type="string">KSJC</icao>
    </wp>
  </route>
</PropertyList>

Using the flightplans in FlightGear

Through the route manager

See Route manager for the main article about this subject.

For AI models

See AI Systems#AI Models for the main article about this subject.

Related pages

• AI Systems
• UFO from the 'White Project' of the UNESCO
• List of Nasal extension functions#flightplan()
• Nasal Flightplan
• PropertyList XML File
• Howto:Create a flightplan, contains no information whatsoever on using flightplans in FlightGear though.