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show us your airport!

Started by jaronamo70, December 21, 2006, 09:01:56 PM

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Terring7

"The wisest men follow their own direction" Euripides
The Choice is Ours
---
Simtropolis Moderator here. Can I help? Oh, and you can call me Elias (my real name) if you wish.

Terring7

"The wisest men follow their own direction" Euripides
The Choice is Ours
---
Simtropolis Moderator here. Can I help? Oh, and you can call me Elias (my real name) if you wish.

noahclem

Great job with the custom airports from Earth and Mars Elias  &apls

mesorssi

Here's something i've been working on lately

shinkansen1

It is not pretty because it is still being worked on, greatly. However, since this is literally the farthest I have ever gotten into making a custom airport, I felt tempted to show it at this stage...

Lowden International Airport!


While I am working on this airport, I have some things to ask...

  • Since this is a medium tile, how long should the runways be?
  • Should there be taxiways connecting the two current runways to each other?
  • In what order should runway pieces be placed for maximum realism?
  • How frequently should taxiways meet the runways?

Before I started Lowden International, the farthest I ever got to making a custom airport was the terminal building(s) and the gates. Taxiways and runways are still a bit of a problem for me. ()sad()

SCWTC4

#1105
1: about the runway lenght.
taking the grid as a scale unit a single square measures about 16 meters.
a medium city tile is 128 squares long, so even at full-lenght your runway would be only 2.048 meters long, wich is about 1.000-1.500 meters too short for wide-body aircrafts.

i usualy build large airports on large city tiles so i can make 4.000-meter runways, with a runway that long everything from a small CRJ to a huge A-380 can land in your airport.
now i don't think you want to demolish your airport to build it in another place after all the work you've done, so i suggest you to take aside realism and leave the runways only 2 km long or make them end in the neighbouring city (it's just an eyecandy solution for region view, but useful if you want to mantain relism), just make an aveneue-connection and you'll know where to put the runway in the other city (obviously demolish the avenue once you''ve done, then fill the gaps).

2: about the taxiways connecting the runways.
yes, there should be taxiways connecting the two runways to each other, every airport with 2 or more parallel runways has taxiways between them, this maximize take-off and landing operations as the airplanes can use both of the runways regardless of wich of the two terminals they must reach.
also, without connection between the runways your airport would be basically split in two, as the terminals are placed on both sides with the runways in the middle. 
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/LaxAirportDiagram2.jpg
a little suggestion: shift the whole north side of the airport further up, count 4 squares, place a taxiway that runs parallel to the runway, thent count another 4 squares, put the other runway and then the small terminal area; this makes taxing operation more pratical and improves safety as the runways would be 160 meters apart instead of only 64.

3: runway pieces.
watch this:, it can be quite useful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMOkL3piI38

4: taxiways, again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sflKEUB9oPw


that's all, good luck  :thumbsup:
me and my (clever) friend..
f: "everytime i play SC4 riots erupts, they even blow up a bridge"
m: "do you ever consider the possibility of putting around some police stations?" (joking)
f: "you're right..."
m:

GMT

#1106
Quote from: SCWTC4 on May 14, 2012, 03:38:49 AM

a little suggestion: shift the whole north side of the airport further up, count 4 squares, place a taxiway that runs parallel to the runway, thent count another 4 squares, put the other runway and then the small terminal area; this makes taxing operation more pratical and improves safety as the runways would be 160 meters apart instead of only 64.

... or feel free to put 45 tiles between the runways, this would equal to 720meters and meat* meet ICAO regulations for "independent parallel approaches", which means 2 (or more, given the spacing) parallel runways can be used at the very same time. (with spacing less than 720 meters, parallel runways are handled "as one", so the same aircraft spacing as if it was only one runway apply.)
then you can use the inner area for terminals and maintenance and the likes.
this is a neat setup that provides both high capacity and little footprint... basically you can find this at many big airports like LAX, Phoenix Sky Harbor, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, HongKong Chek Lap Kok, ...

* EDIT: that typo made my day  &apls

... really, it is. I swear.

SCWTC4

a region view of my airport (about 90% complete)



as you can see (i've purposely shown the yellow boundaries of a large city tile) the ILS of all 7 runways extends beyond the city tile where i've built the airport, this allows me to take the whole lenght of the tile (as i've arleady said 256 squares or 4096 meters) to maximize the runway's lenght.

i'll post some closeups one of theese days, i just need to overcome the enormous times it takes to load every time.
(a little OT, but sometimes i ask myself why a game like Battlestations Pacific, wich requires 3GHz of CPU and 2GiB of RAM runs perfectly and SC4 lags like hell every time...  ???)
me and my (clever) friend..
f: "everytime i play SC4 riots erupts, they even blow up a bridge"
m: "do you ever consider the possibility of putting around some police stations?" (joking)
f: "you're right..."
m:

shinkansen1

Uh oh, I just realised something.

After looking at your airport, other airports in this thread, and layout maps of several real-life airports (O'Hare, La Guardia, JFK, and SeaTac), I had an epiphany: Lowden International has no concourses! %bur2$

I had never even thought to include something like that in the design, so I think that I will start redesigning the main terminal building to include several concourses to increase capacity. Once I finish the building itself, I will redo the taxiways while using the suggestions that I have recieved. However, I still have one more question, this time regarding the gates and concourses themselves:

  • How are concourses and gates arranged? And by that I mean how are different air carriers arranged throughout the airport?

WC_EEND

Quote from: shinkansen1 on May 14, 2012, 02:00:15 PM

  • How are concourses and gates arranged? And by that I mean how are different air carriers arranged throughout the airport?

In Europe, it can be domnestic, International Schengen, International non-Shengen and long haul.
Alternatively, it can also be arranged by alliance (ie: Star Alliance, Skyteam, Oneworld and non-alliance airlines).

Xander
RIP Adrian (adroman), you were a great friend

My LOT thread                                    

SCAG BAe146/Avro RJ Project

shinkansen1

What is Schengen?

I have redone the airport's layout so that it now includes four major concourses for large aircraft, two small concourses and two satellite terminals for smaller regional jets, and two walkways for private jets.


I have tried sorting the larger aircraft by their carriers instead of whether they are local or international flights. Building a custom airport like this is much harder to replicate realism than I ever could have imagined. &mmm

SCWTC4

quoting from wikipedia (with a bit of editing):

"The Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed on 14 June 1985 near the town of Schengen in Luxembourg, between five of the ten member states of the European Economic Community. It was supplemented by the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement five years later. Together these treaties created Europe's borderless Schengen Area, which operates very much like a single state for international travel with external border controls for travellers travelling in and out of the area, but with no internal border controls.
The Schengen Agreements and the rules adopted under them were, for the EU members of the Agreement, entirely separate from the EU structures until the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty, which incorporated them into the mainstream of European Union law. The borderless zone created by the Schengen Agreements, the Schengen Area, currently consists of 27 European countries:

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland"

anyway, the airport looks good, i only suggest you to put some empty gates around the airport, it's higly unprobable that every single gate is occupied at the same time.
me and my (clever) friend..
f: "everytime i play SC4 riots erupts, they even blow up a bridge"
m: "do you ever consider the possibility of putting around some police stations?" (joking)
f: "you're right..."
m:

GMT

in short, the schengen treaty allows for travel all across almost all of europe without the hassle of border controls. in practice, tho, every now and then the one or other state puts up border controls for whatever reason. recently it was spain as they held the meeting of the european central bank and wanted to filter out radical protesters.

I would really like you to consider building the airport on a large city tile.
Plus I dont see a reason for 2 control towers, except symmetry.

... really, it is. I swear.

SCWTC4

#1113
ok, looks like i'm monopolizing this thread oll of a sudden, but here it comes the pictures!  ;D

those are the first 4 shots (out of 15) of Karl Baker International Airport, i've arleady posted some pics of this airport months ago, but recently i've reworked some terminal layouts, added another cargo facility and take advantage of new packs like the MMP aircrafts, the airbus lots, the B-787 and the A-380.

i've also choose non to post all 15 pictures in a single post because they are a bit slow to load; also i don't remember if there is some sort of pictures-limit per post.

Runways


The road and rail Layout leading to the airport, the People Mover system, parking spaces and somme of the terminals (T1 up, T5 and Satellite 5 center left, T6 and Satellite 6 center right)


Again the runways and the taxiway system (with a United 747 taxing)


Closeup of the terminals with an Air New Zeealand B-787 and a Qantas A-380
me and my (clever) friend..
f: "everytime i play SC4 riots erupts, they even blow up a bridge"
m: "do you ever consider the possibility of putting around some police stations?" (joking)
f: "you're right..."
m:

unit2981

Why are there three runways adjacent and parallel to each other? Should one runway be in operation, wouldn't any intersecting runway need to be closed? I like the terminal though  :thumbsup:
Come and visit Kita-Kaikyo Prefecture!
<a href="http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=14462">

GMT

Quote from: unit2981 on May 15, 2012, 09:57:39 AM
Why are there three runways adjacent and parallel to each other? Should one runway be in operation, wouldn't any intersecting runway need to be closed? I like the terminal though  :thumbsup:

in short: more runways = higher capacity and serviceability.

an intersecting runway does not necessarlily need to be closed when the other one is in use, as long as safe operation is guaranteed (=separation between AC meets or exceeds legal requirements)
it's more likely that an intersecting runway is not in use because runway operation is determined in relation to the wind situation; long story short: AC start and land "into" the wind, so a runway intersecting the active runway might not used because of unfavorable winds.
how this wind-dependent operation is worked out in practice can best be seen on old\former us airforce fields, plenty a time you can find 3 runways organized in a triangle-pattern so literally every wind direction can be serviced safely.

scwtc4, nice airport. like the layout and the over-the-top capacity created.
2 points concerning realism tho.
1: the placement - but even more the amount - of the VOR antennas makes no sense at all. It's a navigational fix, mainly for waypoints (but also often used as a reference for approaches) so it's very unlikely you will find more than one of these at an airport. I mean, serving as a waypoint, what's the use of more than one point within distances of about 1-2 nautical miles when you pass them at several hundred nautical miles per hour?  ;)
2: where's the control tower? I fail to find it in the overview picture. I hope it's location and size service the legal requirement to be able to overwatch the entire airport.

... really, it is. I swear.

SCWTC4

@GMT:

thanks for your reply, about your 2 concerns:
1- yeah, there are a bit too much VOR antennas, i've completely ignored their functionality until a couple of month ago so i've placed them siply where they looks good  :D, after what jou've just said i think i will blow'em all and place a single antenna on another spot (i've just got an idea about where to place it).

2-the control tower i'ts there, it's just not shown on those pictures.


well, let's take this opportunity to post the terminals pictures


Terminal 1 and Satellite 1:
Korean, Asiana, Northwest, JAL, Philippine, EVA air, Dragonair, China Southern, Lion Air, Singapore Airlines, Air China, China airlines.


Terminal 2, with Satellite 2 under contruction:
Northwest, Korean Air, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific


Terminal 3 (with the Control Tower) and Satellite 3:
Air New Zeealand, Garuda Indonesia, ANA, Cathay Pacific, JAL, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, United, Korean Air, South African, Emirates, Thai Airways, Jet Airways, Air Asia X, Air Thaiti Nui 




Terminal 4, with Satellite 4 in planning stage (upper left, the grass area):
Pan Am, TWA


Terminal 5:
Continental, Aeromexico, Hawaiian Airlines, American, Delta, Air Canada, USairways
Satellite 5:
KLM, British airways, Lufthansa, Olympic, Aeroflot, Air France, Aer Lingus, Etihad, TAM, Turkish Airlines, Alitalia, EL AL, Iberia, PIA, Finnair


Terminal 6 and Satellite 6
Avianca, Mexicana, USairways, TAM, American, Delta, United, Varig, Aeromexico, Air Canada, Continental, Alaska (Aeroflot and KLM as fillers until more asian airlines planes comes out)


four pictures left to go, i'll post them tomorrow
me and my (clever) friend..
f: "everytime i play SC4 riots erupts, they even blow up a bridge"
m: "do you ever consider the possibility of putting around some police stations?" (joking)
f: "you're right..."
m:

unit2981

Quote from: GMT on May 15, 2012, 01:48:16 PM
Quote from: unit2981 on May 15, 2012, 09:57:39 AM
Why are there three runways adjacent and parallel to each other? Should one runway be in operation, wouldn't any intersecting runway need to be closed? I like the terminal though  :thumbsup:

in short: more runways = higher capacity and serviceability.

an intersecting runway does not necessarlily need to be closed when the other one is in use, as long as safe operation is guaranteed (=separation between AC meets or exceeds legal requirements)
it's more likely that an intersecting runway is not in use because runway operation is determined in relation to the wind situation; long story short: AC start and land "into" the wind, so a runway intersecting the active runway might not used because of unfavorable winds.
how this wind-dependent operation is worked out in practice can best be seen on old\former us airforce fields, plenty a time you can find 3 runways organized in a triangle-pattern so literally every wind direction can be serviced safely.

scwtc4, nice airport. like the layout and the over-the-top capacity created.
2 points concerning realism tho.
1: the placement - but even more the amount - of the VOR antennas makes no sense at all. It's a navigational fix, mainly for waypoints (but also often used as a reference for approaches) so it's very unlikely you will find more than one of these at an airport. I mean, serving as a waypoint, what's the use of more than one point within distances of about 1-2 nautical miles when you pass them at several hundred nautical miles per hour?  ;)
2: where's the control tower? I fail to find it in the overview picture. I hope it's location and size service the legal requirement to be able to overwatch the entire airport.

Makes me wish I finished learning how to fly, but from what limited knowledge I know... The base and final approach with three airplanes flying next to each other seems dangerous.
Come and visit Kita-Kaikyo Prefecture!
<a href="http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=14462">

GMT

Quote from: unit2981 on May 15, 2012, 04:15:49 PM
Makes me wish I finished learning how to fly, but from what limited knowledge I know... The base and final approach with three airplanes flying next to each other seems dangerous.
Dangerous and dangerous... well... aviation pretty much works with "better safe than sorry".
a few posts earlier I explained a major fact for real parallel use of runways.
but even if this factor is not guaranteed, parallel operating runways still bring a huge benefit over a single runway as a departing aircraft can wait on the one runway and get the "go" as soon as the other plane on the other runway is safely on ground. depending on the type of plane and it's landing distance this can easily safe a minute or two, which over the course of the day really pushes the envelope on busy airports. Think of LAX with it's 2x2 parallel runways. not just the afore mentioned time safer, but also does it comply with the regulations for real parallel use of runways, which really gives the extra notch of capacity. at least in theory.

a whole different story when it comes to visual flying as a whole other set of rules apply. where I started flying, at falcon field in mesa,az, the runways are just some 200m apart and we did patterns on the one runway and "regular" operation happened at the other at the same time.

of course you can't compare a visual pattern in a single engine piston that has an approach speed of some 50kts with the instrument approach of a turbojet aircraft well beyond 100kts, but it gives some perspective on the "better safe than sorry" in aviation...

anyways, I'm heavily working on my newest airport, maybe I can bring up a few pictures by the weekend  :satisfied:

... really, it is. I swear.

SCWTC4

allright, the last 4 pictures.

the main Cargo Facility and Fuel Depots


Maintenance Hangars and Fire Station


the second Cargo Facility


the last pic:

this space coud be an old abandoned cargo area or something else, i still don't know what to do with it, but i'm gonna place the VOR antenna around here...
me and my (clever) friend..
f: "everytime i play SC4 riots erupts, they even blow up a bridge"
m: "do you ever consider the possibility of putting around some police stations?" (joking)
f: "you're right..."
m: