copy of maintenance income tool - google docs

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Maintenance Income Tool

Simple economy and maintenance for FSX

Changes made to this document because of a new release version are marked in pink.

You can download this document in various formats from the “File -> Download

As…” menu!

Table Of Contents

Features

RequirementsDownload

Installation

Configuration

User Interface

Using MIT (Tutorial)

Concepts Used In MIT

Addendum

License

Credits

Changelog


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Features

● Buy (and sell) your aircraft

● Haul payload anywhere you want and get paid for it (or don’t)

● Maintenance and repairs

● Build a reputation or lose it

● System Failures

Requirements

● Flight Simulator X SP2/Acceleration/Gold/Steam Edition

● XMLTools (v2.0)

● An aircraft with at least a single engine

Notes:

● Might work in Prepar3D v1/v2

● Really complex aircraft (with AccuSim or so) might have to do without any failure

modeling on MIT’s part

Download

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6K_xiE2GqmMTU82Zm5VSExMRlU/view?usp=sharing

(Always links to the latest version.)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6K_xiE2GqmMTU82Zm5VSExMRlU/view?usp=sharing


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Installation

ATTENTION: As of the revision published on August 7th 2015, the installation method for MIT

has changed! If you have been already using MIT, uninstall the previous version, then install the

new one. You can keep your save files as long as you edit MI_Tool_Aircraft.xml accordingly!

The installation procedure for MI Tool can be divided into three major steps: Installing XMLTools,

installing the base gauge and installing the aircraft-specific gauge.

I ‐ Installing XMLTools

FSX:SP2/Acceleration/Gold and FSX:Steam Edition single installations may use XMLTools’

autoinstaller.

FSX:SP2/Acceleration/Gold and FSX:Steam Edition side-by-side installations might require a

manual installation. See XMLTools.pdf which is included in XMLTools’ download.

Prepar3D v1/2/3 users, see the note below.

1) Download XML Tools 2.01 from the link below, then install it by running the installer:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/resources/xmltools-2-01-xml-expansion-module-for-fs

x.148/

2) On the desktop: Click “Start” → “Run” and enter this: %appdata%\Microsoft\FSX\dll.xml

3) This should open the dll.xml in Notepad. Check if there is an entry for XMLTools. If there

is, ignore the next paragraph and read on. If there is not, try a manual installation as

noted in XMLTools.pdf on page 2.

If XMLTools was successfully installed, you should get a popup upon starting FSX for the

next time.

Note: The dll.xml for FSX:SE in a side-by-side installation is located in:

%appdata%\Microsoft\FSX-SE

Prepar3D v1/2/3 users should use XMLTools3D:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/resources/xmltools3d-for-p3d-v3-x.168/

Make sure to follow the installation instructions in XMLTools3D_v3x.pdf. According to Tom,

XMLTools’ maintainer, the module is backward compatible. In case you run into problems, the

FSX version allegedly also works in P3D as long as the correct SimConnect version is installed.

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/resources/xmltools3d-for-p3d-v3-x.168/http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/resources/xmltools-2-01-xml-expansion-module-for-fsx.148/http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/resources/xmltools-2-01-xml-expansion-module-for-fsx.148/


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II ‐ Installing the MI Tool base gauge

Simply copy and paste the “MI_Tool” folder into FSX\Gauges.

III ‐ Installation into an aircraft

1. Put the “MI_Tool_Aircraft” folder into the “ panel” folder of the aircraft that you want to

install it to.

2. Pick one of the two installation methods described below.

3. If a plane has multiple panel variations, repeat the process for each one.

Automatic

1. Simply run Install.bat in “MI_Tool_Aircraft” and follow the instructions.

It will backup your existing panel.cfg, but an additional, manual backup won’t hurt!

The script will add the necessary entries for MIT to the panel.cfg.

You can also let it check if there is an entry for the “No Smoking” chime in the panel.cfg.

If there is none, it will add one.

2. Review the generated panel.cfg. If automatic generation did not work, try the manual

method described below.

3. Read the section about configuring MIT below.

Manual

1. Open the aircraft’s panel.cfg. If an aircraft has multiple panel variations, repeat the steps

below for each one.

2. Add this to the bottom of the “[WindowTitles]” section at the top*:

WindowXX=MI Tool


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Change “XX” into the next highest number after the previous entry.

Example: Present entry: “Window04=...”, MI Tool’s: Window05=MI Tool”

Note: If the number of MI Tool’s entry is greater than “08”, you won’t be able to open the

subwindow with the “Shift+[number]” key combination!

You have two options:1. Use the keyboard shortcut mentioned in the “Usage” section

or

2. Reshuffle the panel windows to have MI Tool on one of the Shift+[Number] key

combinations.

3. Add this after the last “[WindowYY]” section:

[WindowXX]

background_color=0,0,0

position=8size_mm=200,600

window_size=0.125,0.5

window_size_ratio=1.0

alpha_blend=0.8

visible=0

ident=39146 //NEVER CHANGE THIS!

gauge00=MI_Tool!MI_Tool, 0,0,200,600

Make sure that you make “XX” the same number that you’ve assigned to MI Tool’swindow in the [WindowTitles] section.

4. Find the “[VCockpit01]” section and add the following line to it:

gauge98=MI_Tool_Aircraft!MI_Tool_Aircraft,1,1,1,1

gauge99=MI_Tool!MI_Tool_System,1,1,1,1

You do not change the “98” and “99” unless they are already taken. In that case, assign

a number greater than the one for the previous entry in the list.

If a plane does not have a [VCockpit01] section, check the bottom of Panel_cfg.txt and

paste the entry below the last [WindowYY] entry in the panel.cfg

Note: Keep the gauge entry for MI_Tool_System below the one for

MI_Tool_Aircraft!

5. Read about configuring MIT in the next chapter.


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*If you have difficulty copy-pasting the panel.cfg entries, check “MI_Tool\Panel_cfg.txt”

Updating MIT

Updates are announced by me in the support threads in various forums with mentions of

affected files or other instructions.

MIT save files are generally compatible across revisions unless mentioned in the update

announcement.

If MI_Tool_Aircraft.xml was updated by me, make sure to carry over any customizations (such

as aircraft or company save file names or custom values) to the new version.


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Configuration

The Maintenance Income Tool can be configured on two levels: Local and Global.

The local configuration is done in MI_Tool_Aircraft.xml, the global configuration in

MI_Tool_System.xml.

Any configuration variable listed in MI_Tool_Aircraft.xml can either be set to a value that will be

used by the panel (variation) currently used in FSX or set to use the configuration value

stored in MI_Tool_System.xml. The latter is useful if you want to run a company-wide, uniform

configuration, the former allows tweaking MIT for a specific aircraft.

Theoretically, MIT can be used without altering any configuration value whatsoever. It is,

however, recommended to at least set the most relevant configuration parameters like company

name and crew size.

After you’ve installed MIT into an aircraft, open MI_Tool_Aircraft.xml with a text editor (my editor

of choice is Notepad2, but the regular Notepad will do as well).

Generally, all configuration parameters in MI_Tool_Aircraft.xml are commented, outlining

their function, default value and consequence of altering their settings.

Save files

The first thing to deal with are the save files for aircraft (or panel variation) and company.

XML Tools will write the current status of the aircraft and company to these files. The save files

will be located in your Flight Simulator X root folder.

Aircraft

By default, MIT will generate the save file name for the aircraft from the “atc_type=” and

“atc_model=” lines in the aircraft’s aircraft.cfg.

If those lines read “Boeing” and “737” respectively, the aircraft-specific part of the save file,determined by the “AircraftName” macro will be “Boeing_737”.

You can set this to anything you want as long as you edit between the “>” “


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Unaltered, the aircraft-specific part of the save file name would apply to both panel variations

and read “Cessna_C172”, as specified by the aircraft.cfg.

When saving a file, the “aircraft” part of the save file name is then joined with the parts specified

by the “prefix” and “suffix” macros in the lines below.

The “prefix” part of the save file name is intended to facilitate finding it in the FSX main folderand helps to associate the file with MIT. Thus, it is recommended to leave the prefix intact. It

can, however, be altered, to anything you like as long as you only edit between the brackets.

The suffix part contains another identifier for the save file as well as the file ending (.txt). The

latter should not be altered, but the identifier can be altered at will. This time, only edit

between the closing bracket (“>”) and the dot of the “.txt” .

Sticking to the default values and the example of a Boeing 737 from above, the save file for the

aircraft would be named ZZZ_MIT_Boeing_737_State.txt

Company

Company save files are shared between multiple aircraft or panel variations. They contain the

amount of Funds, the reputation or statistics like the number of flights for the company.

You can have multiple companies at once for different aircraft types, like a mainline butt hauling

company with its own save file and its regional subsidy with smaller butt haulers in its fleet.

Pick a fancy name for your company like “Haul-A-Butt_Inc” and enter it between the “>” and

“


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Further relevant settings

If you scroll down, you’ll arrive at the actual configuration section for MIT.

To change a setting, simply change the number at the beginning of the line of interest towhat you think will work better for the particular aircraft or panel variation. Keep the space

between the number and the “(“ bracket intact!

The most relevant setting to look at is the number of crewmembers (including flight attendants

or loadmasters) on board. Set this to whatever you need.

Next is the autosave interval, if you desire to use it. If you use tools like FSXSave, you might

want to sync MIT’s save interval with the one it uses.

Another item to look at is the altitude, below which the landing lights have to be switchedon. By default, the required altitude is 4000 ft, but this might not work for smaller aircraft.

Further down, there are the settings for attention management. If you can do without the MIT

panel window popping up at various occasions or don’t want to hear the chime, you can disable

these two options by setting them to zero.

Optionally, if you want to tweak revenue and cost generation before even having tried a few

flights with MIT, read the “Tweaking Revenue” chapter below and change the associated

parameters.

The rest of the configuration options are mainly means to tweak your experience and/or

difficulty.

If you find that different values work better for you than my defaults, feel free to post them in the

related forum threads.

http://library.avsim.net/search.php?SearchTerm=fsxsave&CatID=root&Go=Search


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Configuring global values

The configuration area for global values in MI_Tool_System.xml is - with the exception of save

file name generation macros - almost exactly the same as in MI_Tool_Aircraft.xml. The only

difference is that each configuration value is enclosed in an evaluation code block. This blockserves to determine whether the parameter will receive its value from MI_Tool_Aircraft.xml or

MI_Tool_System.xml.

If the block receives a value for the given parameter that sets the parameter’s evaluation result

to “true”, it will overwrite the parameter’s value with the one inside the “if{ }” statement. The

parameter’s value is then used in the remainder of the gauge until the next gauge update cycle.

As MI_Tool_System.xml is updated last in a gauge update cycle in FSX, the global value for

the parameter will always be used as long as the condition to use it evaluates to “true”.

In case of the evaluation equaling “false”, no overwriting will take place.

To adjust a parameter’s value in MI_Tool_System.xml make sure to edit the value within the

“if{}” statement. To be precise, only edit the number between the “{“ and “(“ brackets and

keep the spaces between them and the number intact.

So much for configuring MIT. Next stop: The user interface.


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User Interface

I’ve tried to make the user interface as self-explanatory as I could.

Each clickable item has a tooltip to help you along (might not work in DX10 fullscreen

mode).

1 ‐ Purchase Screen

This is the screen you will see if you don’t own the current aircraft.

It lists your company funds, the price for a new aircraft and the price for a used aircraft.

Left click the “New” lock bitmap to purchase the aircraft in factory fresh condition.

If you’re low on Funds, you always have the option of purchasing a more run down version of

the aircraft.


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Right clicking the “Used” lock bitmap will generate a new used aircraft offer in randomly

chosen condition. You might want to do this for a few times until you find a combination that will

work for you. Generating a new used aircraft takes a few seconds. You will see a “(Wait)” in the

purchase price field during this time.

Left clicking the “Used” lock bitmap will buy the selected aircraft in the condition displayedbelow.

Note that you will not be able to buy the aircraft if you do not have the required funds.

If you have disabled the purchase requirement in the configuration screen, you will not see this

page.

After having bought your first airplane, you’re taken to the…


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2 ‐ Status Window

This window is the main information window regarding your aircraft and company. It is as self

explanatory as I could make it. This section mostly deals with the click spots. Check the “Usage”

chapter below to find out what each

Page 1


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“Status Overview” Section

The green area contains the icons and click spots for conducting system repairs and

checks. Each system can be repaired or the aircraft can be checked when there are enough

funds available and the component health has dipped below 99%. Checks are possible after at

least a few minutes of flying time. To conduct checks or repairs, you have to be stationaryon the ground with your engines turned off.

Yellow area: In case of an engine fire, the engine’s health status in this area will be clickable.

Left click to extinguish the fire (in case a working fire extinguisher is not modeled on the

panel).

“Current Flight” Section

The blue area contains the “Save” and “Load icons. These are always visible.Saving can be done in one of three ways: Automatically in certain intervals (if enabled),

manually by saving the flight from FSX’ “Save Flight” menu and manually by left clicking

the “S” icon.

Loading is normally done automatically from the save file whenever you first load or reload the

aircraft. If this does not work, right, then left click the “L” icon. This is done to prevent

unintended loading of the last saved status.

The click spot marked in magenta toggles between revenue and non-revenue mode. This is

useful for when you still have a flight plan loaded, but do not want to make the next flight arevenue flight (see concepts below). Right, then left click the area to toggle between modes.

“Status” section

Right, then left click the orange area to force a flight reset. If something went wrong and you

do not wish to record the flight after you’ve landed, use this area to clear the current flight

tracking data. Only works when the aircraft is on the ground!

A check mark icon will appear in the area with the cyan marking after you’ve finished a flight.

Left click it to put the flight result to your record.

Left click the red area to go to the next page. Right click the area to go to the previous

page.


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Page 2

The dashed green outline marks a click spot that is only active when the plane is on the ground

and marked as “landed”. Right then left clicking it will advance the current flight plan to the

last leg if it did not do so automatically.

The yellow click spot and associated icon will appear under the same condition as the repair

icons (stationary on the ground with engines off). Right, then left click to sell the currently

used aircraft. The MIT instance for this aircraft will then go back to its “Locked” state.

Note: You should delete the save file for the aircraft from the FSX root folder after doing

this!

Left click the red area to go to the next page. Right click the area to go to the previous

page.


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3 ‐ Destination Finder

The destination finder is a new feature (as of Jan. 2016) to help unimaginative pilots (like the

author) to find a suitable destination for the next MIT-powered flight. It uses FSX’ default airport

database (including add-on scenery) and the same functions as any of the default GPS models.So if the GPS can find an airport, so can the destination finder.

Usage instructions are displayed in the window, so this chapter mainly deals with the click spots.

Every field possesses helpful tooltips!

Note: All fields displaying numerical values can be altered by clicking on them and using

the number keys on your keyboard (not the numpad!). The “backspace” key resets the

value to zero while the “Enter” key confirms the entered value.


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The red area can be clicked to override the maximal aircraft range. By default, Destination

Finder will take an educated guess regarding the current aircraft’s range capability. Aircraft

range determines the maximal radius in which the database can be scanned. You might

therefore want to override this value with a more accurate figure. The upper limit for this value

is 22000 nm, which is nearly a trip around the planet.

Clicking the blue area allows altering the minimum search range for an airport. The minimal

value is 1 nm and can not be larger than the maximal value . If the entered value for them

minimal search radius is greater than the maximal value for the search radius, the

maximal value will be set to the minimal value plus 50 nm .

The yellow area is the click spot for the maximal search value. As previously mentioned, the

maximal search radius has to be larger than the minimal one and can not be larger than

the aircraft’s maximum range. So in order to override the maximal range limitation of your

aircraft, you’ll have to adjust the maximal range first.

Cyan marks the click spot for altering the minimum runway length for the aircraft. By default,

Destination Finder will guess the minimal runway length based on your aircraft’s maximum

takeoff weight (MTOW). Since this does not take any STOL capabilities into account, you will

most likely have to manually adjust this value. Setting this field to zero will auto-fill it with the

suggested value.

Click the magenta area to set the maximal runway length of the destination airport. This

number, of course, has to be greater than the minimum runway length. If the value for the

minimum runway length is larger than the value for the maximal runway length, the

maximal length will be auto-adjusted to the minimal length plus 5000 ft. Based on 2016airport data, the greatest value that can be entered is 20000 ft.

The light green area is the click spot for the minimal airport bearing (direction) from the

user aircraft. The maximal possible value is 359 degrees.

Similarly, the orange click spot controls the maximal airport bearing from the user aircraft. If

the entered value is smaller than the minimal bearing, the maximal value will be

automatically set to the minimal value plus 45 degrees. The maximum possible value is

360 degrees.

Clicking the light blue area cycles through the airport types. “H” is for hard surface airports

(default), “S” is for soft surface airports, “W” is for water runways and “O” is for other types,

e.g. helipads. When “other” is selected as airport type, the minimum runway length will be set to

zero!


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The dark red area is important because it controls the maximum number of items from FSX’

database that are to be scanned (this does NOT control the maximal number of items to

display!) The more items are scanned, the more likely is the chance of you getting a high

number of results at the cost of longer scanning times and lower frame rate during the scan.

The “Scan Database” button and its click spot (marked in dark green) will appear when validsearch range and scan limit value have been entered.

Once a list of valid results with more than 19 items has been created, you can hover your

mouse over the dark yellow area and use your mousewheel to scroll the airport list.

Airport finder usage notes

● Scan time scales with the number of items scanned!

● Frame rate will drop to a few FPS at best during a scan. If you want to avoid this,

decrease the number of items to be scanned.

● A scan might take a very long time. If you run out of patience, click the click spot for

minimal radius or maximal radius or Scan Limit and try again with more specific

search inputs.

● If no valid results are displayed after you’ve waited a long time and your frame rate

stays low, reset the search (see previous item) and try again.

● The compliance with the minimal or maximal search radius, as well as minimal and

maximal bearing decreases with increasing airport distance. You might get airports that

are 1700 nm away from your position as a valid result for a search limited to 1500 nm.

Results thus generally get less accurate the farther they are away from you.

● Database performance gets really, really bad at search radii above 1500 nm (on a 4

Ghz i5 with 8GB RAM at 2.4 GHz and a SSD!). So it is recommended to stick to lower

values. Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should!


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4 ‐ “Attention Required” Mode

The “Attention Required” mode is an overlay over the current page. If so configured, it will be

accompanied by the “no smoking” chime ringing and the MIT window opening

automatically.

If you see the window pop up in this mode, a failure has occurred that requires immediate

attention. Simply click the window and then check the “Status Overview” area for the

affected system and then the message area for details.

Clicking the overlay will reset it, so it can pop up again in case another failure occurs.


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Using MIT (Tutorial)

So you’ve installed MIT, configured it and know where to click. Great!

Here’s a walkthrough of what to do next:

1) Buy the aircraft

Provided that you have not disabled the purchase requirement, you can now buy a new

or used version of your aircraft.

If your starting funds are not enough to buy the aircraft, change the amount in

MI_Tool_Aircraft.xml or MI_Tool_System.xml and reload the aircraft.

After a successful purchase, the initial status of the aircraft will be saved.

If you already own a company (i.e. same save file name than a previous company of

yours), the company’s current funds will be displayed in the “Company Funds” field.

2) File a flightplan If you want to conduct a revenue flight, first file a flight plan with FSX’ flight planner.

Go anywhere you want to or where your airplane is capable of going to. Use the

Destination Finder if you need.

Or don’t file a flightplan, but you won’t get any revenue for it.

If you want to fly using a plane’s FMS, that’s perfectly possible. In that case, simply file

a “Direct To” flight plan in FSX’ flight planner.

3) Check your payload

Your allowable payload is determined by your aircraft’s payload capacity, the current fuel

load, your company’s reputation, the amount of crewmembers on board and a bit ofrandomness.

In order to do a revenue flight, your current payload will have to be equal to or

lower than the maximum allowed payload.

Use FSX’ fuel and payload manager to adjust your fuel and payload accordingly. MIT

will not do this for you!

Payload managers for payware planes are supported as long as they manage the

payload stations defined in the aircraft.cfg.

Payload calculation is only possible on the ground before takeoff, so do that there!

4) Set the parking brake and start your engine(s) If everything went well, the status message on page 1 will read “On Ground” and the

message window on page 2 will display “Revenue” mode.

5) Fly

Go and fly your flight. MIT does not care if you fly directly to your planned destination or

do multiple stops in between (for refueling or so). The only thing that counts is

arriving at the destination defined in the flight plan!


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During the flight, you will see the current status. After takeoff, you will see “Climb” in the

status window, followed by “Cruise” and then “Descent”.

Make sure you have your landing lights on below the limit height if you want to avoid

penalties. A notification about the landing lights will be displayed in the message

area as long as you are below the “landing lights required” altitude plus 500 ft.

Watch your aircraft’s condition deteriorate in real time and hear your wallet scream asyou struggle to keep fuel flow down to keep the flight profitable.

In case a failure occurs during the flight, the health status of the affected system will

turn into a red colored “!!!”. Go to page 2 of the window to see what exactly is wrong

with the plane. Knowing your emergency procedures finally comes in handy!

6) Landing

Watch your vertical speed!

After touchdown, the status message window will read “Landed”.

Come to a complete stop or taxi to your parking spot and stop there.

7) Confirm arrival

Check page 2 of the status window. “Next waypoint” should display the name of your

arrival airport (and a waypoint number of one less than the number of waypoints in your

flight plan). If not, use the click spot on page 2 (see the click spot reference section) to

manually advance your flight plan to the last leg. Without the last leg being active,

FSX will not consider a flight as “arrived” at its destination and thus, you will not

be able to end the flight in MIT.

8) End the flight Turn off the engine (or at least one engine if in a multi engined aircraft). By default, the

MIT window should pop open to grab your attention. Review your flight’s income, the

landing vertical speed and your performance ratings on page 2, then either reject the

result (see click spot references) or accept it by clicking on the checkmark icon on page

1.

Your status will be saved to the aircraft and company file.

9) What now?

File a flight plan to the next destination, tweak some configuration settings or engage

non-revenue mode and do whatever you please.


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Concepts Used In MIT

Flight Tracking Modes

Revenue and non-revenue. The former will require you to keep your payload within the limit andland at your planned destination, the latter does away with these two requirements.

There is no restriction regarding your destination. If you want to do a revenue flight from

Anchorage to Melbourne in a DC-3, go ahead. The only thing that counts is arriving there.

Flight tracking is done from engine start to engine shutdown at the destination.

Money

Funds are used to pay for new aircraft and maintenance and can be shared between aircraftunder the pretext of a company. Generate income by flying revenue flights.

If you don’t have enough Funds to pay for maintenance or repairs, you’re screwed. Either try to

get some in by doing a revenue flight or cheat (see farther below).

You can sell your current (owned) aircraft whenever you’re stationary on the ground with

all engines off.

Reputation

Reputation is gained from successful flights, good landings, well maintained aircraft, smooth

flying and adherence to the landing light rule.

The better your reputation, the higher your maximum payload limit and thus the higher your

profits.

Likewise, a bad flight, especially one with a failure occurring, can make your reputation take a

fairly strong hit. So fly well and keep your aircraft in tip top shape.

System degradation

Each system will degrade over time. This process will be accelerated by placing higher stress orloads on it. Don’t fly too fast with your gear or flaps out, don’t pull many G’s, don’t overspeed

your aircraft, be conservative with your power settings, etc, etc...


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Repair and maintenance

Repair and maintenance is divided into two areas: Checks and repairs. To conduct either, the

aircraft must be stationary on the ground with all engines off.

Checks are mandatory after a certain time and cost a fixed amount of Funds. They will alsoimprove each system’s condition by a certain amount. The C-check will completely fix up your

aircraft at the cost of a horrendous amount of Funds.

Keep in mind that running late on a check will have a negative impact on your reputation.

Repairs can be conducted whenever a system’s health is lower than 99%. The cost of a

repair is composed of a base cost and scaled with the amount of damage requiring to be

repaired. Hence, you should repair early and often.

If you do not have the necessary funds to conduct a check or repair, both icon and click spot will

not appear.Note that you should manually save MIT’s status after conducting repairs!

Failures

The chance for a failure depends on a system’s condition, i.e. a failure will become more

likely as the condition of a system decreases. Once a system fails, another throw of the dice

will decide the exact type of failure. Do your emergency procedures and do them well!

Engines can shut down either with or without being restartable or outright catch fire. If an

engine catches fire, you can click its health status (the “!!!”) to extinguish it. After that, the

engine will be considered permanently broken until fixed. If you fail to extinguish an engine

fire within 60 seconds, the control surfaces will incur damage, making flying very difficult.

Flaps can either get asymmetrically or symmetrically stuck in their current position.

Landing gear may become partially or fully stuck, the nose or tail wheel steering may fail, brakes

may fail or tires may blow. The last is the default complete failure for fixed gear aircraft. Hard

landings may also blow tires. Floats or skids will still incur damage due to airspeed, but will

never fail.

Airframe failures are either aileron or elevator or rudder degradation or all of the above.

Statistics

Present for “nice to know” purposes. The “Best Landing” item is the best landing ever in your

company’s history. Care to set a new high score?


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Addendum

Tweaking Revenue

Use these for tweaking revenue and costs. Variables prefixed with “A_” can be determined fromFSX’ “Fuel And Payload” screen. Variables prefixed with “MIT_” can be tweaked from the

configuration section in MI_Tool_System.xml.

Payload calculation

Actual:

[ A_Aircraft_Weight - A_Fuel_Weight - A_Empty_Weight - (MIT_Crew_Count *

MIT_Crew_Weight_Per_Person) ] * (Random_Payload_Factor) = Actual_Payload

Maximum:

[ A_Maximum_Gross_Weight - A_Empty_Weight - A_Fuel_Weight - (MIT_Crew_Count *

MIT_Crew_Weight_Per_Person) ] * ( Reputation_Percent / 100 ) = Maximum Payload

Costs

Other:

( A_Maximum_Gross_Weight / MIT_Other_Cost_Factor ) * Flight_Time = Other_Cost

Crew:MIT_Crew_Count * MIT_Crew_Salary_Per_Hour * Flight_Time = Crew_Cost

Total:

Fuel_Used * MIT_Fuel_Cost_Per_Pound + Crew_Cost + Other_Cost = Total_Cost

Revenue

Revenue per pound per flight hour:

( Reputation / MIT_Payload_Yield_Factor ) + 0.1 = Payload_Yield_Per_Pound_Per_Hour

Flight Income:

Payload_Yield_Per_Pound_Per_Hour * Actual_Payload * Flight_Time = Total_Income

Net Income:

Total_Income - Total_Cost = Net_Income


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Example

Assume you’re just starting out with MIT with a GA aircraft.

Crew: 1 person, 170 lbs

Empty weight: 3000 lbsMaximum gross weight: 4000 lbs

Random payload factor: 0.945

Reputation: 50

Other Cost Factor: 20

Crew Salary Per Hour: 40 Funds

Fuel cost per pound: 0.224 Funds

Flight time for the first flight: 1.5 hours

Current fuel on board: 200 lbs

Projected fuel required for the trip: 100 lbs

Rough desired net income: 100 Funds

Maximum payload: [ 4000 lbs - 3000 lbs - 200 lbs - (1 * 170) ] * ( 50 / 100 ) = 315 lbs

Assuming that the current payload is the maximum possible payload:

Current aircraft weight: 3000 lbs + 1*170 lbs + 200 lbs + 315 lbs = 3685 lbs

Actual Payload: [ 3685 lbs - 200 lbs - 3000 lbs - (1 * 170 lbs) ] * (0.945) = 297.675 lbs

Other Cost: (4000 lbs / 20 ) * 1.5 h = 300 Funds

Crew Cost: 1 * 40 * 1.5 = 60 Funds

Total Cost: 100 * 0.224 + 60 + 300 = 382.4 Funds

What value for MIT_Payload_Yield_Factor is required to attain a revenue of +100 Funds after

the flight?

First, the net income equation has to be solved for Total_Income:

Net_Income + Total_Cost = Total_Income

With numbers: 100 Funds + 382.4 Funds = 482.4 Funds

Next, the equation for flight income has to be solved for Payload_Yield_Per_Pound_Per_Hour,

so…

Total_Income / (Actual_Payload * Flight_Time) = Payload_Yield_Per_Pound_Per_Hour


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With the numbers from above:

482.4 Funds / (297.675 lbs * 1.5 h) = 1.08 Funds/lbs/h

Finally, solving the equation for revenue per pound per hour for MIT_Payload_Yield_Factor:

Reputation / (Payload_Yield_Per_Pound_Per_Hour - 0.1) = MIT_Payload_Yield_Factor

With numbers:

50 / (1.08 - 0.1) = 51.02

So the value for MIT_Payload_Yield_Factor has to be set to 51.02 in the configuration section.

Easy, huh?

If you’re lazy and want to do this via trial & error, there’s a spreadsheet containing these

equations.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16eTWv_eJObEakM_DqyqRbxJj16_15gI5TBb7nrWCc

a4/edit?pli=1#gid=0

(Click "File -> Download As", then select the format for the spreadsheet tool you're using.)

Cheating in MIT

The save files are composed of a single column of numbers. Each number corresponds to a

value that XMLTools will read and associate with a variable when loading. The status save

process works exactly the other way around.

A list that indicates what variable is saved at what position in a save file is included. For the

aircraft save file, the file containing the list of variables is called “AircraftSaveVars.txt”. For the

company, the file is called “Companyvars.txt”.

If you urgently need funds, find the line corresponding to the “MIT Funds” variable in the save

file and then increase its value.

The same principle applies to any other shenanigans you might want or need to do to your save

files.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16eTWv_eJObEakM_DqyqRbxJj16_15gI5TBb7nrWCca4/edit?pli=1#gid=0https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16eTWv_eJObEakM_DqyqRbxJj16_15gI5TBb7nrWCca4/edit?pli=1#gid=0


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License

● Freeware

● No hosting on “Pay for access” sites

● Feel free to expand upon this tool if you’re inclined to do so. Just make sure to credit me.

● I can not be held responsible if this gauge or any part associated with it does any

damage whatsoever to your software, PC hardware, life, spouse, pet, house or whatever

else you hold dear.

● Use of your brain and common sense is mandatory during installation and use of MIT

Credits

Tom Aguilo and Robbie McElrath for XML Tools 2.0, FSDeveloper.com for being a really cool

place

Changelog

25/03/2016 Changed XMLTools installation instructions to account for the 2.01

update; put randomly generated numbers into discrete g: type variables

to make processing more robust; fixed a very small bug with MLG

failure type determination.

26/01/2016 Added Airport Finder functionality; fixed touchdown speed tracking bug;

increased default starting money; strongly increased aircraft purchase

prices; fixes to used aircraft generation process; improved and

simplified random element of failure generation; engines of newly

purchased aircraft now adhere to the user-defined maximum engine

time; selling, then re-buying an aircraft will now correctly reset the

current flight data; increased fire damage time threshold to 60 seconds;added “advance flight plan to last waypoint” click spot to status page 2;

modified the documentation here and there

05/01/2016 Improved aircraft value calculation; changed used aircraft value

generation; baseline for increased engine wear is now 92.5% throttle

(used to be 85%); purged some legacy code from the system file; fixed


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semi-broken tire damage code; new bought aircraft will now adhere to

the TTF value for the engines that is specified in the configuration area

10/12/2015 Fixed display of large amounts of funds in the status window; fixed a

bug with reading aircraft-specific component wear rates

07/08/2015 Changed file handling, added panel.cfg generation script, small internal

change to allowed damage thresholds, added warning system, added

hotkey for status window, adjusted documentation to changes

28/07/2015 Payload calculation only done before takeoff (support for droppable

payloads!); flight plan information, last landing vertical speed and

landing light notification added to message window

06/07/2015 Fixed a critical bug concerning consecutive flights, adjustments for

floats or skids as an undercarriage type, vertical speed threshold for

blown tires and airframe damage now user-configurable

04/07/2015 Initial release

Björn K.

copy of maintenance income tool - google docs

Documents