I received an email from the developers this morning introducing the new features of X-Plane 10.50. Here is a brief introduction.

Regarding static aircraft on the airport, although they increase realism, they sometimes block the Taxiway, and they are not intelligent enough. Therefore, in the new version, airport developers do not need to place static aircraft manually. They only need to configure the settings, and the system will handle everything else.

For example, specifying which model to place on the Apron, what the maximum capacity of the airport is, and which airline’s aircraft to set. For instance, if you enter United Airlines’ code “UAL”, then the X-Plane system will absolutely not place an American Airlines aircraft there.

In this way, aircraft on the airport and AI aircraft flying in the air will both be controlled by the system, greatly enhancing the realism of the flight simulation.

We’re hard at work on the next big feature release. X-Plane 10.50 will have multiple improvements, including a change to make airports feel more inhabited.

Better Static and AI Aircraft at Airports

Static aircraft enhance the appearance of airports by making them look more populated even if you don’t have a ton of AI aircraft enabled. But those aircraft objects sometimes get in the way, and neither you nor X-Plane have any control over them. X-Plane 10.50 will include multiple airport changes that will improve the randomization of aircraft.

The biggest change is that airport designers will no longer need to place static parked aircraft objects. Instead, X-Plane will automatically add static aircraft to existing ramp starts. Designers will be able to provide extremely specific guidelines as to what type of aircraft equipment can use the ramp, the maximum allowable aircraft size, and even what airlines can be parked there. Have a gate ramp start that only United Airlines uses? It can be tagged with its official 3-letter airline code (UAL) and X-Plane will never place an American Airlines plane there.

X-Plane will use all of this information to place the most appropriate static and AI aircraft there. All these changes are great for adding dynamism to airport Scenery–now every time you visit an airport, the parked aircraft can change in multiple ways. You’ll also have your pick of all the ramp starts, and will never have to fight static aircraft for your gate.