Emergency landing aircraft

[Donald Duck]

I have airplanes that do long flights from one end of a 512x512 map to the other. Sometimes my airplanes break down half-way, which means that they will fly the other half of the long flight at reduced speed, which takes a lot of time.

I have airports around the center of the map too though, so when my airplanes break down, even though they're still very far from their destination, they're often very close to another airport. It would be nice if there were a way to tell my airplanes that if they break down mid-flight they should emergency land at the nearest airport for maintenance, but if they don't break down they should continue to their destination as usual. It would be much faster for them to land at the nearest airport and then continue to their destination at full speed than to just continue to their destination at reduced speed.

[LaChupacabra]

A stopover would not always reduce the flight time. Especially when the nearest airport (near the flight line) would be very crowded. It's also look different when the planes are flying at full speed. By default, their speed is reduced to 1/4. But the idea is interesting.

[odisseus]

Yes, that's the way breakdowns should work for aircraft. It just doesn't make sense when a supersonic plane crawls across the whole map at 321 km/h. If the airport has a queue, the aircraft that suffered a breakdown should receive priority, as would probably happen in real life.

It is true that in some circumstances an emergency landing can increase the total trip time, even when there is no queue at the airport. Consider the situation when the plane has already covered 40% of the distance, but the closest airport is still the one from which it has departed. Perhaps the pathfinder should take this into account when deciding whether to make the emergency landing.

The concept can be taken even further by allowing planes to make emergency landing at any airports, not just those owned by the right company. Of course, the owner should be unable to stop the plane at an other player's airports, otherwise this would offer a very powerful way of griefing.

[Eddi]

the next problem with this idea is that you have to consider the runway length. is it really worth the risk to land at a too short runway, just because it is slightly closer?

[odisseus]

I wouldn't call this a problem. This is just a decision the developers need to make, and both options can be justified.

In real life there are different kinds of breakdowns with a wide range of possible consequences. Sometimes emergency landing is not needed at all, but sometimes the pilots are forced to land on a stretch of road or even a river.

Maybe the pathfinder should take into account the runway length when choosing an airport for emergency landing. For example, if the nearest airport is a small one, but there is a large airport just a bit further away, the plane should go to the large one; but if there is no large airport nearby, the plane should take the risk and attempt landing at the small airport.

[Eddi]

I wouldn't call this a problem. This is just a decision the developers need to make

i don't know what language you speak, but from my point of view, that's the same thing.

In real life there are different kinds of breakdowns with a wide range of possible consequences.

this is a game, not a perfect simulation(*), so you need to make a cut somewhere on how detailed it will be modelled.

(*) there's no such thing a s a perfect simulation