Funchal Tips and Tricks

[bigfatsimulations]

Are people eventually able to "move 100"? As of tomorrow, the traffic rate will be dialed back about 4%. This should make it somewhat more do-able.

[bigfatsimulations]

I read BadWhippet's "Funchal - tears and tantrums", good stuff there. I posted some tips, which I'll share here:

With Funchal, I find doing everything in groups of 3 seem to work. Backtrack 3 for takeoff. Backtrack 3 for the terminal. Land 3. Launch 3. And so on. Vector planes to build gaps.

Hint: Prop planes always make the first taxiway UNLESS you vectored them. The reasoning of that is rather complicated. But there you go. You can get your jets backtracking, in anticipation of your ATR-42 making the first exit.

[Dark Larold]

thank you for the tips, i cant even move 20 planes without crying lol.

[Bobby]

Thanks for the tips. This airport is crazy insane and I just can't get past 11 planes but the challenge keeps me coming back. The sequencing is crazy and I try to judge speeds of all the planes to trying to sneak the sequencing right on the edge. I keep clipping wing tips causing crashes but I keep coming back.

Good thing there isn't a way to put the arrivals in holding patterns. That would probably cause me to start drinking on the job......LOL :)

[bigfatsimulations]

Lol, stick to coffee.

[bigfatsimulations]

I don't know if this airport design is the work of a genius, or the work of a crazy person. I enjoy it, and I've achieved the "Move 100" challenge.

I do everything in 3's. I'll clear 3 for takeoff, then land 3. Then simultaneously, I'll backtrack 3 for departure and backtrack 3 arrivals for parking. It's definitely an exercise in establishing priorities. It's important to group the activities, though. One-at-a-time definitely fails in Funchal.

Backtrack situations like this do exist in the real world, too. My first tower was at an airfield with no parallel taxiway. It was Backtrack Central!

[Bad Whippet]

Working in threes is definitely the trick. Watch out for the small prop planes approaching from the south though as these don't take the first taxi-way (all the others do provided they're not vectored as bigfatsimulations said).

Of course, it's easy for me to feel all superior now that I've (FINALLY) done it, but it was a tough one! Good fun though.

[bigfatsimulations]

It's not easy to make a single-runway airport 'fun'. Someone is begging me to build Kingston, Jamaica airport. The area is freakin' beautiful! But only one runway. Not sure if I can make it fun. I just got lucky with Funchal.

[Bad Whippet]

Japan's Kaitak (now closed) was a fun runway in ATC3 (I imagine far less fun in real life - it's something to see youtube vids of jets sailing close to skyscrapers just to land). It too was a single runway airport, and was a nightmare to keep planes taxiing back to the apron and not getting in each other's way. Too many aircraft on the ground meant no more parking spots - which equalled a long queue and planes unable to exit to runways for take-off.

[bigfatsimulations]

Not a bad suggestion. A single-runway field with an insane amount of traffic. Every takeoff would be a 'squeeze play' between two arrivals. The entire ramp clogs itself with traffic, except for the very best controllers.

[Lonesome 77]

Just got the game--great game--and of course I tried this one. It's a challenge, for me anyways. Vectoring planes really helps for sure; though I think it lowers efficiency over time if you leave one up too long. I think the key to this airport is "just" being very assertive, using every second and fraction of a second to your advantage to move stuff around...

I can say one thing...I sure as haaaaail would not want to work at that airport. Lol!

[Lonesome 77]

Originally posted by bigfatsimulations:

It's not easy to make a single-runway airport 'fun'. Someone is begging me to build Kingston, Jamaica airport. The area is freakin' beautiful! But only one runway. Not sure if I can make it fun. I just got lucky with Funchal.

Funchal is fun in the challenging sort of way--the type where you good naturedly wonder why you thought it was a good idea to do it! But no, already spend a lot of my 2 hours thus far just on Funchal.

[bigfatsimulations]

Single-runway airports have always been boring in the AM series. However, this one doesn't seem to be, with the addition of the backtrack problem.

No penalties for vectoring, aside from the obvious added workload added. The trick is to learn the "cutoffs". That is, the exact amount of room necessary to get a plane out. Then be super aggressive. Drink coffee...

[Lonesome 77]

The prop planes taking the first exit (without vectoring) has certainly helped me since i learned it. Allows me to bring up some jets at the end of the runway right behind it.

Also the rule of 3 seems to help though I don't always follow it (which is probably bad). I always get the first 3 jets to the queue at the beginning no matter what. Then sometimes I'll get a train of 3 jets from the bottom of the runway, and so on.

[bigfatsimulations]

I'm really careful about making the decision to vector. If you decide to "hold all arrivals so I can clean up this mess", it will burn you later when you attempt to land them all.

I use a great deal of speed control.

[Lonesome 77]

Originally posted by bigfatsimulations:

I'm really careful about making the decision to vector. If you decide to "hold all arrivals so I can clean up this mess", it will burn you later when you attempt to land them all.

I use a great deal of speed control.

I've tried to do it where I tell an incoming plane to vector, move some stuff around on the ground, and once the next plane appears, I tell the one on hold to go land, and hold the newest one. But it usually falls apart. I have tried to use more slowing/speeding up though. If there isn't a plane immediately following one coming in to land, I'll tell it to speed up to hopefully open up a larger gap in which I can move things.