A300St Beluga

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Globitz
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A300St Beluga

Post by Globitz »

Hi chaps.

Looking at the thread (currently) below this one, and as the Beluga is now available for x-plane, would it not be beyond the realms of possibility for the VA to maybe hve one and a selectio n of routes.

Seeing as we have branched out into not only Classic brits but also more classic airliners used by British airlines and subsiduaries. The Beluga is used to transport Airbus wings made at broughton for all AIrbus aircraft except the A380 and as such is a near daily visitor to the Uk.

Assuming there is an airframe available in FSA, would it be possible.

If it is, I already have a complete list of routes and if you let me know the other data needed, I can furnish you with it as I have already flown most of them in it!
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Re: A300St Beluga

Post by Vc Ten »

Im ok in principle Andy. I would like to see our fleets expand towards a more recent era. Maybe an addition to the "modern" fleet ? ( I'd like a couple of CRJ's to fly in MSFS while we are at it ;) )
The airframe is listed in FSA but no airline uses it. Bit expensive at $100,000,000 also considering its limited routes.
What do others think??
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Re: A300St Beluga

Post by TSR2 »

There’s classic and there’s classic. The CRJ doesn’t fit in either. The A300 / 757 / 146 at least have British ties and are old enough.
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Re: A300St Beluga

Post by Globitz »

Sadly replying to my own post, I would have to agree with Ben that there is classic etc.

The question is where is the line drawn, personally I liked the original idea of Classic British but getting them for the new sims is a task in itself!
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Re: A300St Beluga

Post by TSR2 »

Completely agree, it’s really frustrating atm. There is stuff in the pipeline with the Twotter and Rapide though, I’m guessing you’re getting your Twotter practice in 😁
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Re: A300St Beluga

Post by blanston12 »

I think the Beluga is available on FSA but its considered "Special Use" because only 5 were built meaning we have to request it in a support ticket.

I am a bit ambivalent about the Beluga, I would have though the routes would be a bit limited as they were just used to ferry parts to the factory but they did do the occasional charter. Of course no British airlines operated it since no airlines except airbus itself operated it. I don't know if it would make sense for us to have an aircraft based in Toulouse, France.

I suppose the Beluga would best fit in our 'Modern Charter Fleet' if we really wanted it. I personally like to see routes based on actual real world and any regular routes for the Beluga would probably be fictional, but as a charter aircraft its more plausable.

On the subject of the CRJ, I agree its not really much of a classic airliner and my short search could not find any British operators of it so I would not be in favor of adding it. But with all these requests, if a member really wants to fly it and is willing to do the research to work out all the routes I would not stand in the way, I was one of those in favor of adding the 747-400 to the fleet.

In general the addition of a 'Modern' fleet could work, I think we would need some guideline as to what is allowed, maybe as a minimum it has to have been operated by an airline based in the UK (that may rule out the CRJ). But if someone really wanted to fly A320/A380/B777 that could be a way to provide it.

I am rambling a bit here. Back to the original question, do we want to get a A300ST?
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Re: A300St Beluga

Post by Vc Ten »

Re the CRJ, it was mentioned a bit tongue in cheek ( hence the wink) I have bought it, and Aerosoft have done a very good job on it, but somehow I can't warm to flying it. Even if it could be used in the va I don't think it would come out that often. I agree that there should be some relevance with either age or UK operators Flybe did use the CRJ 200 but that's not modelled (yet.)
As for the Beluga, not sure. Andy said he could provide routes but they won't be extensive. Broughton Filton Hamburg Toulouse and a few which I can't think of. Not sure if there would be sufficient cargo based at the airport to generate revenue, so perhaps just leave it as charter ? It could be kept at Broughton. If there is revenue to be made, I'm sure Andy would get enough payback in a few months.
We should look at expanding the modern fleet to include models appearing in Msfs The flybywire a320 is a super addition and only gets better. Plenty of UK operators, plus wings are made down the road from me😀 I'd be happy to investigate routes
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Re: A300St Beluga

Post by blanston12 »

As far as doing research for modern routes, when I was looking for 747-400 routes I downloaded a PDF of the BA 2008 timetable, which I think was the last PDF timetable they created, and wrote something that would extract out the data in a way we could use, while I was only looking for 747 routes it also extracted routes for the 767 (107 connections), 777 (202 connections) F70 (6) and 'Jet' (1596 connections). I assume 'Jet' is mostly A320/A319 routes but there are affiliate airline routes included so we could include 737NG in that set.

That same data also included 441 'PRP' or turboprop routes, no indication of what aircraft were used, for some of the routes you could figure out the airline from the flight number but for many the don't say who is the operator.
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Re: A300St Beluga

Post by Vc Ten »

I have downloaded the BA Summer 2008 timetable which seems to be the latest available online
I have condensed it down to primarily European routes I could include the long haul connecting routes, but as you say Joe it's difficult to find out the carrier. We would also need aircraft based in the long haul hubs, N.Y. Boston J berg Sidney etc.
There are several connecting flights which connect to prop flights, I've not included these.
I'm not confident to be able to import directly into the route database. I am happy to add the routes one at a time (may take a while) The IATA code from the timetable will have to be changed ICAO anyway.
I would propose to enter the routes as "CBA" with the correct BA flight no
I can tie the routes to any aircraft type just to get the plans entered.
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Re: A300St Beluga

Post by blanston12 »

Hi Dale, I just shared with you the raw files I had extracted from what is probably the same 2008 timetable you are working with. They are in CSV file format that is compatible with the FSA route upload system, but its pretty much raw dump with no attempt to remove duplicate or disconnected routes.

I like your idea of the naming conventions with CBA for flights imported from British airways and then the actual flight number after. If we ever import from other airlines we could use there initials in the flight number instead.

I did see in the 'Jet' data several disconnected route groups with a group in Europe, North America and Asia/Australia and except for one flight between Madrid and Lima that is way to far for an A320 there is no connection between them. Personally I would not be in favor of leaving aircraft in hubs outside of the UK, I would rather we make fictional connecting routes where they are plausible or not include those other routes. I had started looking at the Jet routes and was going to make a filtered file without the duplicates and then remove the North American routes but if you want to keep them I would rather add connecting routes, EGLL to KORD is probably too far for an A320 but a stop in Gander/CYQX would probably do the trick.

I will leave them in your capable hands and you can decide what to do with them.

Say the word and I will create the a Modern British fleet and get us an A320 to start things off.
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