Tower3D- KMEM, KSFO, KPHX, or KLAS?

[Fred_Mertz]

Trying to limit how much more I spend on the Halloween sales so I'm choosing between these. I'm favoring KSFO because it seems like it might be more difficult and have more variety, but I'm not sure. How would you rank them?

 

[crbascott]

My two cents:

KSFO is basically impossible to run using the realistic setup of departures on the 1s and arrivals on the 28s.

KLAS is pretty good. Only gripe is too many commercial arrivals on the 1s/19s. In multiplayer, it's one of the few airports where tower is more challenging than ground. 

KPHX can be really fun during busy periods. Primarily an AAL and SWA hub, so traffic variety is not its strongpoint.

KMEM is the weakest of the bunch. Unless you have a FedEx fetish, there's not much here to excite you. 

My ranking would be KLAS, KPHX, KSFO, KMEM.

For each of these airports, I'd definitely recommend using a custom schedule. A list can be found here:

https://forum.simflight.com/topic/85784-custom-schedules-list-real-life-airport-timetables/

 

[Fred_Mertz]

I was leaning towards KLAS after reading about the bugs on KSFO and KPHX.. although I'm pretty sure I've had that happen to me on other airports too.

That's an awful shame about KSFO. I have some difficulty with ground speeds a lot of times and I can see where it would get frustrating for me without a little creative deleting. Still, I like the layout of it that I'll get it, eventually.

Thanks.

[crbascott]

6 hours ago, Fred_Mertz said:

That's an awful shame about KSFO.

I agree, from a layout and ops perspective KSFO had the potential to be an incredible airport. But with the current limitations and flaws of the sim, it has become frustrating trying to control.

On the Tower_MP multiplayer server, I built a one hour challenge schedule that replicates real life. The objective is to take-off and land planes using the same runways in real life and at the same time as real life. Unfortunately the departures can't leave because of the slow taxiing arrivals. Oh well, maybe in next version. 😉

[CL30]

@crbascott hit the nail on the head with his list.  I would agree that LAS is probably the most fun on that list, with PHX a very close second.  I wouldn't spend money on MEM...hate to say that and trying not to sound negative.  SFO, like he said, can be fun, but only if using non realistic configurations.

Another fun one is ATL.  It can definitely get overwhelming quickly, and it can be really tricky getting planes from one side of the airport to the other.  Lots of potential conflict in the "alleys."  

[hexzed]

Have you flown into Atlanta? If so how is it in real life navigating the airport?

 

[CL30]

8 minutes ago, hexzed said:

Have you flown into Atlanta? If so how is it in real life navigating the airport?

 

I've flown into ATL a couple of times. Wasn't an issue getting around either time. We parked at the GA ramp on the north and landed each time on the north side.  The more difficult airports to get around at are ORD, SFO, and even DFW at times. 

[Fred_Mertz]

7 hours ago, CL30 said:

@crbascott hit the nail on the head with his list.  I would agree that LAS is probably the most fun on that list, with PHX a very close second.  I wouldn't spend money on MEM...hate to say that and trying not to sound negative.  SFO, like he said, can be fun, but only if using non realistic configurations.

Another fun one is ATL.  It can definitely get overwhelming quickly, and it can be really tricky getting planes from one side of the airport to the other.  Lots of potential conflict in the "alleys."  

It was really hard for me not to pick up SFO. I did end up getting LAS and so far I haven't seen a white plane yet, so that's a bonus. I'm only a couple hours in though, so we'll see if my other RC purchases fill in all the gaps.

I look at ATL gameplay videos and think that I can handle it... until I fast forward to the end and see all the craziness. I don't think I'm at that level yet. :) One day, maybe.

[DeltaVII]

On 10/31/2018 at 12:58 PM, crbascott said:

I agree, from a layout and ops perspective KSFO had the potential to be an incredible airport. But with the current limitations and flaws of the sim, it has become frustrating trying to control.

With the custom schedule, yes. However, I found a way with the default RT schedule for two - slow - hours where I was able to use gaps in the 28s approaches to get traffic out on the 1s.
It only works with doing what actually should be prohibited as far as I understand, but has been used in KSFO: parallel take-offs on 1L and 1R (as can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENe89j89tBA&t=6m57s).

A realistic schedule is indeed unworkable at any time.

[Ripskin]

On 11/1/2018 at 2:17 PM, CL30 said:

Even DFW at times. 

DFW Is great, provided you are staying on one terminal lol.  Though the trams have improved over the years as far as functionality and accessibility.  Still not the best way to lay that out.  ATL is not too bad.

[CL30]

6 hours ago, Ripskin said:

DFW Is great, provided you are staying on one terminal lol.  Though the trams have improved over the years as far as functionality and accessibility.  Still not the best way to lay that out.  ATL is not too bad.

Oh, we were referring to actually taxiing the plane around the surface, not navigating the terminals.  Sorry for the confusion!  DFW is actually pretty nice in that regard.