LesJar

A pilot flew on Vatsim today for a flight yet the pirep reports that it was flown off line. is there a correct point where you have to tell PHPVMS and Acars that you are on-line as the documentation does not seem to say anything about this

It seems that something got stuck in my internet service provider as I could access other websites. I was updating using secure ftp last night and we had a power-cut. so most likely the server had packets of data that could not be resolved, I rebooted my router and everything was alright for five minutes and then the problem happened again. Rebooted again and waited for a few minutes and retried the ftp and it worked and the access to the website has been perfect. It was such a pain to be able to get to most websites but not the ones I wanted to use. Never mind all is ok and I have a reference should this happen again on what to do.

It has returned to life maybe they had a hardware drive problem and replaced it on a raid system No more problems I hope

tried the ping to vmshost.io it is still down . I have enclosed a screenshot

I also tried ping virtualairhygge.com and got timing out again yet ping phpvms.net returns ok from ping. I cannot raise a ticket with vmshost.io since I cannot access them so hopefully Nabeel can see this message and help sort things out

I tried in terminal ping vmshost.io and it just keeps timing out ?

As for the past 30 minutes I cannot log into my account on vmshost.io to go to the cpanel for my website. It is not a good situation to be in !!!

What I was thinking was a notation for the livery file name as follows WWWW-XXXX-YYYY-ZZZZZZZ where WWWW is the simulator i.e. MSFS or XP12 or P3D5 where XXXX is the aircraft type i.e A320 or BN2P where YYYY is a code for software i.e. PMDG FENI TOLI ASOB where ZZZZZZZ is the registration number i.e. G-AABX G-AABY thus you could do a couple of Fenix A320 repaints with different registration numbers as I re[paint using aircraft names such as Aberdeen or Dundee etc. Just thinking about this if the files automatically get sorted by filename then without any changes they would be in the order I am trying to achieve. after that then the 'bells and whistles' is not to display all under generic Aircraft but to slowly introduce these sub-group. layers and to see what impact they have on loading . Maybe just start with simulator and that would be enough perhaps

Thanks I found the Blade and will try a few things out naturally of course back-up the software first . To subdivide into groups I think that the file names will need to have a standard set of names so that the sub-group(s) can pick them up of course.

I just realised that the downloads part of the website comes from Disposable Hero V3 Theme and is not on the general PHPVMS. if an admin could move the post to that section of the forum that would be very helpful

I like the division by tabs of the downloads section but I would like to make some suggestions as to what could be done to give a sub-division of the section like Aircraft Having all the Aircraft you can download from the Virtual Airline on what amounts to one page gives rise to fragmentation as repaints get done. You can start with an A320 repaint and do other types and then come back to another A320. It would be nice to be able to have subdirectories so that you can slot your aircraft into the same place as all the other A320's. As a precursor to this many Virtual Airlines support different simulators as does PHPVMS so it seems logical to have a major tab for each simulator and then have the aircraft types below that. That way the repaints for Fenix A320 are not mixed up with Flight Factor or Toils A320's. My immediate thoughts are yes it can be done since the download tab already brings up the various tabs such as Acars , Airports, Sublet and Aircraft so the blade or software running the downloads should be able to be 'edited' to accommodate other download categories. Likewise the file structure of these folders could also be defined. I am asking if anyone has already done this to the downloads before trying to do it myself as then I can learn where it has been done and thus lessen the learning curve . Also in return if I get this to work I will post a 'Customisation' document to help others as part of this PHPVMS V7 community.

I see now where you are aiming at , sounds like the database would need something like a Navigraph/Navdata upload each month and a process like PFPX where you can re-check all your route information each month. Of course if one wanted to share the routes with other Virtual airlines then a hosted PHVVMS library of the routes could be done as well. [1] Virtual airline maintain their own routes [2] Virtual airlines can deposit routes or take out routes from a 'global' shared database if they want to do so . I see it that way where everyone if they want can share their knowledge through the routes they build and maintain . Having good routes helps everyone running a Virtual Airline as well as those pilots who connect with Vatsim etc. I do not work in Aviation despatching but I can see similarities to freight logistics which I have worked on software to do with planning deliveries and schedules to meet customer needs and driver legal hours driving regulations.

Since I now have the database of FS-TRAFFIC and Aig schedules as well as World Traffic schedules the system should be starting up again very soon and of course it can now take advantage of the most recent upgrades to PHPVMS V7 . I used a newer method to build my own virtual airline so as to align the code within the project which is not dead but has been sleeping for a while

I did a simple test of what various products could give you back using Airbus A320 I used Simbrief Flightplan Database, LittleNavMap and Navigraph Charts the route was from Lisbon LPPT to Vagar EKVG and to no surprise for me there appeared to be 4 different routes . Simbrief , LittleNavMap and Navigraph Charts all have an AUTO-ROUTE or Calculation so which one is the best to use and which one would you send to PHPVMS Route Database I have PFPX somewhere I think and that could throw up another route as well.

I also forgot that Simbrief always gives you a runway and a Sid and star where possible between the departure and arrival airports. This may seem good to start with but with airports like Heathrow where they have noise abatement runway alternation many simbrief plans become useless after they swap the runways around. Therefore it would make sense for a route database to show the waypoint at the end of a SID and only the waypoint at the start of the STAR on arrival. That way when you get the runway in use then you just use the Sid for that runway and likewise for the STAR arrival. The database should never have routes that include runway based sids and stars as winds and wx can cause the runway in use to be changed and so on

Also in the UK there is a standard document of entry and exit points from UK airspace so to conform to this and many other countries needs some good logic to get acceptable routes. Generally speaking there are many Virtual Airlines dotted around the world and each is likely to have more flights in a region than other regions . My new virtual airline covers the North Sea and northeast Atlantic over 5 countries , Scotland , Ireland ,Iceland , Norway and Faroe Islands so in theory I could cover that area with the 3000 routes I have that arrive or depart these five countries. Likewise Disposable Hero I think has many flights around the area of Turkey and of course there will be airlines that cover areas of the United States and so on. If we all teamed up I guess we could get a pretty good database going that is in compliance with local ATC and Aviation Authorities regulations and controls. That way we can have a database that the likes of VATSIM and IVAO and others will have flight plans that they are more likely to be happy with.

Yes I know that from simbrief in that on one tour leg in my Airline I used the simbrief option and it sent me a route for a 53 mile trip that was 250 miles and what I saw on the map was the flight spelt the words "VULCAN 2 " which may look pretty and Yes I did not fly it anyway. I agree with the idea of a routes database in PHPVMS that you could subscribe to and use for your airline , it sounds like a great idea but the problem I see is that who is going to be the guardian of it and prevent routes being added in a similar way that bugs Simbrief from time to time. Obviously a route sharing system would be nice for PHPVMS but I suspect that this will not happen because of the time involved in setting it up the storage costs for the database and obviously changes to PHPVMS for it to be used to upload and download routes. The other factor is that the database has to be maintained using the cycle of ARINC so as to be useable for all as in a few cases each month or year certain waypoints and fixes either get removed or are re-named and so on and as such each route would need to comply with the Navdata cycle each month. The other thing to get interest in this facility is that one would need a sort of 'starter' database so that everyone can get some routes to start with rather than it gets going as an empty system. What is also needed is a priority system where the likes of my friend DISPOSIBLE-HERO has a high priority in uploading and maintaining routes because of his working knowledge from the real world airline industry. That means that somebody with a lower priority cannot overwrite his routes. The only other problem I see is that this system would be in effect yet another competitor to what is already there on the internet and as such rather than just copy what they do it would need to have features that give it an edge over other systems otherwise the take-up is not going to happen that well. The technical side of things would work in a sort of Simbrief Integration where when adding a route the details are formatted into parameters and then passed to the PHPVMS route system and then on return you have a sort of PHPVMS Approved route that is updated to your files automatically, Likewise there should be a 'maintenance' option where you can run a task or have a cron task run that updates your flights to the current routes from the database or submits your routes to be added as well if you have the permission set to upload as a virtual airline. That would need just a token key like the acars and simbrief use so it would be monitored. Obviously a 'registered' uploader if they send weird or bad routes , then they risk of course being denied access to upload in the future. All routes will be logged against who uploaded them and when and for what navdata cycle and so on. I have a vmshost account and if more space is needed to hold such a database then I am sure Nabeel would do this for me as I can spend time in development of the tables and other aspects concerning this if he feels it would be a good thing to do.

The title of this question at first glance might seem a little odd, but let me explain In PHPVMS V7 there is a large scale and very useful integration with SIMBRIEF and as such the Route for a flight is often passed for example to the Acars from the simbrief OFP. Likewise when you look at the briefing for your flight level for FMC MCDU input it is there in the detail of each flight leg. So to set the question is to what value in PHPVMS V7 is having anything in the route field of a flight have with the rest of the system . Yes it gets sent to Simbrief and is used to generate the OPF but Simbrief will give you a flight plan route if there is nothing to start with been trying to work through the code for that. Likewise the same for flight level. Or are these fields just there as to be compatible with migration from V5 or just in case you do not use Simbrief at all.

Given that you are looking at using the PHPVMS V7 as a starting point I would recommend the use of the Disposable Hero theme and Basic Tool add-on to build after creating your PHPVMS V7 Airline . Although there is a conversion process in PHPVMS V7 to upgrade from legacy version I have not used it that way myself. I have build the CSV files for import to PHPVMS V7 from scratch and thus can utilise many of the features of V7 tat are not in V5. The other issue which is important to understand is that many people took on various add-on modules in V5 and sometimes these added fields to the standard tables and so on. You are ok if your site is not so heavily customised with lots of reworked pages and themes etc. With the demise of PHP versions that are old that were around when V5 was built it is a safe bet that upgrading to V7 will ensure that you can have a system as many host companies are dropping older versions of PHP from being used. Where I can help is with taking the existing csv files or data files from V5 and making them into the V7 csv files as I use PHP and MYSQL to build the results from

I just set up a new virtual airline using PHPVMS V7 and I have taken the timetables from FS TRAFFIC , Plane WORLD TRAFFIC and AiG schedules and used them in a series of coding modules converted and selected the data so tat I created the csv files to upload into PHPVMS so that every flight and every subfleet and aircraft have a match and thus in one upload I hade some 3500 schedules with a fleet of 169 aircraft over 5 subsidiary airlines . take a look at https://virtualairhygge.com to see how a PHPVMS airline can look. By the way I can offer to build some csv files for you for free and help with installation again for free as I do not wish to charge for helping others with the same hobby

although this is an old topic it is an interesting add-on that could be enhanced further. I was thinking to help virtual pilots who say wanted to fly to KSAN from LEPA for example and just like you goto a travel agent they come up with a number flights that you have to make to complete the journey, So since this module does a 'RAMDOM" set of connections I am thinking that it would be nice to have a destination airport as an item for the search and then the module searches the schedules to come up with a set or sets of flights so that you can have say a non-stop flight from your schedules or a flight with 10 stops or connections as they are know, then the limiting factor of 5 , 10 ,15 comes into play that you see if you can complete the journey in less than or equal to the desired number.

Brining the topic of website developers up-to date for 2023, I would like to point out that I have time and resources to help any virtual airline using PHPVMS especially version 5 get more services and visuals for the website. I have recently re-designed a menu system that uses images like the menus you find on MSFS 2020 and indeed x-plane 11/12. Another feature I have developed is a process where for booking a flight you get to see a list of flights to airports in the schedules that you have not flown to before. Where you have lists of items that are often 100's long such as looking at all your pireps is a challenge to try and improve the look of a page and to avoid the scrolling off of the page , again I have overcome this by using a boxed table that I call search, sort and page where you limit the number of items on view at a time by the number of items on a page and then like forums etc you have pages to go to, however this has been taken to another level where you can type in a search text and it will find the items that match and just display them , so if you had a list of flights in a pirep listing and you wanted to see just those flights say made in the UK then you would type the first part of the icao code EG and that would list the Uk flights then for say Manchester you type EGCC. and so on also you have the ability to sort the columns say perhaps on the longest duration. It should be noted that this software is not copyrighted by any of the normal 3rd party add-ons but it could be used to improve them or add to them in a better way. The software and methods belong to me and all work is done by myself with no other parties involved. I am a retired software developer and as syuch do have more time to do these things than others who are at work and can only work in spare time. So if you are interested in making more modern look to your PHPVMS web-site here is the important news : I DO NOT CHARGE ANYTHING FOR THE WORK I DO !!!! Of course if you want to donate something it is upto you and I do not make a fuss if there is nothing, my work is my enjoyment.

First Part of this Project in Github is to define the Mysql Tables and to use a PDO library to make use of Pdo in PHP as it is supported better in more upto date versions of PHP. The files this will create in a Mysql Database will be as follows-: [1] The master subfleet header table , based on what schedules are used in this project. [2] The master schedule table that is build from the FS-Traffic Tables. What you need to do is create a CSV of all your Airline Airports that you need for your project as the base airports for PHPVMS. Any flights in the same country with the same airport codes like EDDF EDDM or ED for Germany will be classed as Domestic Flights Any flights to other airports in your CSV file of airports in your group will be classed as Group Flights. Likewise you need a csv of the ICAO designators to include specific other countries. like E for northern Europe or L for Southern Europe etc. These will form the basis of regional/international flights. All flights will either arrive or depart from one of your airports in your CSV file as you do not want 100's of thousands of flights. You will need a csv file to hold the basic flight numbers for each category Domestic , Group and Reginal/International. suggest 1 to 2999 for domestic flights 3000 to 5999 for group flights and 6000 to 8999 for regional/international flights. The process will also use names of towns from geo-names to give each of your aircraft that is built a local name maybe Hamburg if it is a based in ED i.e Germany or Glasgow if based in EG and so on. The build csv file as I call it is a config file which will have all the values in it for you to edit and use , several factors apply such as number of aircraft given the count of flights using that specific subfleet. NOTE THIS PROCESS WILL NOT BE PERFECT FOR EVERYONE AS EACH HAS THEIR OWN IDEAS BUT IT IS EASY TO EDIT CSV FILES BEFORE UPLOADING TO PHPVMS IF YOU NEED TO DO SO OR JUST RUN THE SOFTWARE AGAIN.

Actually you do get the departure time by matching the flight numbers in FS-TRAFFIC 0=DT:1015,ICAO:FIMP,CA:MAU,AC:AT7,FLTNO121,CS:AIR MAURITIUS,DAYS:1234567* 7=AT:1155,ICAO:FIMR,CA:MAU,AC:AT7,FLTNO121,CS:AIR MAURITIUS,DAYS:1234567* This is from the departures at FIMR the sister island of Rodrigues to my home airport FIMP DT:1015 is the departure time from Rodrigues and the arrival time in Mauritius is AT:1155 so the flight time is 1 hour and 40 minutes in an ATR 72 aircraft

Given that one of the hardest jobs in setting up a virtual airline is sorting out schedules that work well , alongside the subfleet and aircraft to fly the routes. Now if you have MSFS 2020 and the FS_TRAFFIC add-on it comes with a good set of schedules that you can copy and use with some coding to make all the data for your airline. The Departures folder can be found in the following place Community\justflight-fstraffic-module\Data\Schedules. The Arrivals folder can be found in the following placeCommunity\justflight-fstraffic-module\Data\Schedules folder\Arrivals folder An example of the schedule for EINN is attached and you can see from the data that all the information is there for example -: 0=DT:0605,ICAO:EYKA,CA:RYR,AC:73H,FLTNO8822,CS:RYANAIR,DAYS:7*. this is a flight departing from EINN 0605 on a Sunday using an aircraft type 73H to goto EYKA. The 0= is just a sequence number DT:0605 is the departure time ICAO:EYKA is where the flight is going to CA:RYR. is the carrier RYR or Ryanair to be precise AC:73H is the aircraft type 73H being the Boeing 737-800 aircraft FLTNO8822 is the Fs-traffic internal Flight Number which can be matched to arrivals CS:RYANAIR id the Ryanair callsign DAYS:7* is the days of the week for this flight 7 being Sunday and probably need to be converted for PHPvms data of the week. Yes it is missing the departure time but things like that can be worked out using calculations. The good thing is also that if you want to model a real world airline then you can get all the schedules that you need for that airline as at I think summer 2020 but FS-TRAFFic is said to have a schedule update soon as well. I already built my airline on something similar using the AIG text files and the schedules from World Traffic in X-plane 11 as these again were text files , but looking at these they are the simplest to decode but missing a departure time which may not be good but can be worked upon. This is just an insight of where to find schedule information to build your own airline from scratch and input csv files rather than input every single flight. Because I have not yet done the schedules using these text files there is no code that I can post on here to help you yet. The code I used was PHP and MYSQL but I think it could be done with Visual Studio and other databases as you are reading in text files storing the information, processing the information and then creating the output csv files to input to PHPVMS. I might open up a community GITHUB for this so that everyone can get the code to do this , but it will be PHP and MYSQL so that it can work alongside PHPVMS any comments and suggestions are always welcome