This release is about pace. Aircraft taxi at their own speed and slow down for the corners, a landing turns off at the exit's own speed, a crew giving way waits until the traffic has really passed, and Airside's Tower gives a landing the time it needs before lining a departure up behind it. The ground radar shows the wind, and draws each parking place by what it can take. About fifty changes, most of them from your reports.
Taxi and ground
- Each at its own pace. Aircraft taxi at 17 to 20 knots, each at its own, and take the corners at 8 to 10. A landing still turns off the runway at the speed its exit allows.
- Give way, until it has passed. A crew told to give way waits until the traffic has really come by. You can say where that traffic is ("give way to the A320 passing left to right", "… from your right"). Told to hold short as well, the crew stays short when the other has passed, and says so. An aircraft held short of a taxiway no longer stops traffic driving along it.
- Out under its own power. At a stand with a way out ahead, "taxi" sends a parked departure out forward, with no tug. "Pushback approved" still pushes it. A new switch in Settings, Crews, Stands left nose first (off by default), has the crews there ask you for taxi instead of a pushback.
- Light propeller aircraft on a stand wide enough ask "request taxi" and turn round on the stand by themselves.
- "Via Bravo". Where a field names only the pieces B1, B2, B3 of a taxiway, "via Bravo" is understood and read back as "B".
- A route back onto its own way is refused in words: "unable, that routing takes us back onto …". Say that taxiway twice and it is driven.
- "Taxi holding point … via …, cross runway …" said without "to" is a taxi with its crossing, no longer a refusal for the wrong runway.
- Ways Airside plans for an arrival to its stand no longer run nose to nose into a departure on that taxiway.
- Two stopped nose to nose are moved apart more surely by Airside's Ground: a tow no longer ends early round a bend, and an aircraft towed back as far as its route goes is not towed again for the same pair.
- No more "you go first" every second to an aircraft that is held short while the ones behind it stand.
- Taxi to Stand by a click. In click mode, Taxi to Stand in COMMANDS and TAXI TO STAND in the quick actions send an arrival with no stand to the stand it was planned to.
- Voice mode no longer shows the TAXI VIA… button. Click mode keeps it.
Runway and tower
- Room to clear. Airside's Tower gives a landing more time to be off the runway before it lines a departure up behind it.
- Fewer false incursions. A crossing cleared further down the runway from an arrival that is already turning off is no longer scored a runway incursion.
- Cleared on the way. A departure given its line-up or takeoff on the way no longer calls "approaching holding point", and a line-up behind traffic given on the way waits at the holding point.
- "Line up and wait behind". The crew waits for the landing aircraft when you say a landing word anywhere in it ("behind next landing aircraft"). A bare "behind" that would put it in front of a landing is asked back ("confirm behind the landing …?") and nothing moves until you answer.
- "Cleared to land, vacate left" is read back whole. Said to a crew already cleared to land, the turn-off alone is taken.
- Fewer "confirm …?". When a misheard callsign is repaired and that aircraft is waiting for exactly the clearance you gave, it takes it, even when another aircraft waits for the same.
- A calmer ATIS. In a swinging wind the letter changes at most every five minutes. A runway change still changes it at once.
Radio
- "Disregard". "Disregard", "never mind", "scratch that" and "ignore that" cancel the instruction before them in the same call, and what you say after them is the new instruction.
- "Readback correct" is understood in its misheard forms too.
- Corrections in one breath. In a taxi clearance, a runway corrected in the same breath is taken ("runway three one right, three one left").
- "Confirm runway …?" can be answered with the runway ("affirm, two eight left") or by saying the instruction again.
- Good day, good evening. After a takeoff readback a crew says "good day" by day and "good evening" in the evening.
- Short registrations. Once you call a registration by its short form, the crew uses it too.
- Spoken handoffs. The wait for "contact ground" starts when "runway vacated" is heard and pauses while you or another crew are talking. After you hand a departure to a position Airside works, its first call there is no longer heard on your frequency.
- Airline names. Aeroitalia flies as AEZ. Airblue's crews say "Pakblue", Fiji Airways' "Fiji", Iberia Express' "Iberexpres" and Plus Ultra's "Spanish", and the old names are still understood.
Traffic and stands
- The hold stack moves. An arrival at the front of the stack is released for its own stand when that stand is free, on every day, not only on live ones.
- Out of sight. An aircraft that appears on its stand during the shift waits, up to five minutes, while Airside's camera or the area round your own aircraft has that stand in view.
- Freighters are given a passenger stand at a field with no cargo ramp, and those parked at the start of a shift wear their airline's colours.
- Turboprops and light aircraft go to stands without a bridge before a jet bridge is used for them.
- While most bridges are free at the start of a shift, parked aircraft may stand at bridges too.
- The time of the flight. When Airside connects while the simulator is still in its menu, the day follows your flight's hour, not the menu's clock.
- Aircraft sounds. With the sound pack installed, FSLTL's A319, A320 and A321 play their sounds too, and the message to restart the simulator no longer repeats.
- Squawk codes no longer repeat every 24 aircraft.
Map and screens
- The wind on the ground radar. Under the compass rose, an arrow points where the wind blows, with its direction and strength, or CALM.
- Stands drawn by what they take. Airliner stands are drawn full size, light aircraft spots smaller and fainter, and fuel and vehicle places are no longer drawn or offered.
- Who said it. Airside's own lines in the radio log read TWR, GND or DEL, as the position that said them.
- A220s read "A220" on strips, the panel and the boards.
- Follow, then double-click. While the camera follows a flight, double-clicking another moves it there.
- The opening menu is drawn over Palermo now, at night.
The launcher and setup
- Not reached. When the simulator has been running for three minutes and Airside has not reached it, the waiting screen says so, and tells you to start Airside as administrator if the simulator was started that way.
- The apron options say what they do: aircraft appear on their stands, and no option makes the first hour quieter.
- The code box tells you when a marketplace key has gone into the box for the six-digit code, and a pasted key goes into its own box.
How to update
Open Airside from its launcher. It installs everything in one start.