Runway used with FS ATC in parallel runway Situations

[EHM-1617 Iain]

I'm running FS2004 with lots of AI and have noticed something...

In FS2004 supprt for using both parallel runways together was added.

However at EGLL about 90% of departures get sent to 9R and only 10% to 9L (assuming the 9s were in use). Arrivals seem to be spread fairly evenly between the two.

So on the flight I just did I was sent to 9R and had 12 departures infront of me. And many arrivals too. But if I had gone to 9L I would have had a longer taxi but probably departed quicker.

So that leads me to my question:

How does the FS ATC decide which departure runway to allocate to you? Is there a way to change it so that it becomes more evenly spread and therefore is more realistic and also faster departure and less queues?

Thank you for any help.

[EHM-1343 Jonathan]

It's all to do with the ACFAD, mabey Robert can explain better becasue he messed around with his!;)

[EHM-1281 Cyriel]

I'm not sure how real life this AI is. But in real life 9R is the preffered runway for take off. It is slightly longer as 9L and I suppose there are other reasons.

When I'm controlling at Heathrow I usluslly only have people parked on the right side of 09R takeoff from 09R. The rest goes to left. All landing traffic will go to 09R. As traffic is usually heavy at heathrow this setup allows for parralell takeoff and landing. Is someone needs to line up in between on 09R this means landing traffic needs more spacing to allow for 2 min separation. On 09L they can safely line-up already meaning you can keep the gap's for landing traffic as small as possible. The same goes for 27's but only with L and R switched

This is all pure "Cyriel" theory ofcourse but this is what I was thought in the beginning at Heathrow and it works well. Is there any chance the AI is programmed like this as well?

[EHM-1365 Benjamin]

Originally posted by cyriel
...in real life 9R is the preffered runway for take off. It is slightly longer as 9L and I suppose there are other reasons.

Yes, the other main reason is that the 'Cranford Agreement' (in place since the 1950’s) prevents the normal use of runway 09L for
departures. Cranford is a village just past the threshold of 27R, so you can imagine why the agreement was introduced

[EHM-1617 Iain]

So the AI is more real than I thought then - not using the 9L for departure? Sp in real life there are queues that big?

[EHM-1001 Robert]

With AFCAD you can configure the runways. You can close/open runways for takeoff/landing. I used this method mainly in FS2002, where only 1 runway was used for all traffic, and it was very annoying.

What I have discovered, the ATC may transfer planes to the parallell runway, if 5-6 planes report in for taxiing. In that case, ATC may transfer some to the other runway. I think generally, L-R choice is ruled by wind direction, as in real life.

At airports with 2 parallell runway, I used to download/edit the AFCAD file, that uses 1 runway for landing and other for takeoff only. This means both side. It may be not realistic, and does not solve the problem, if too many airplanes want to takeoff at a time, but it may be even better, when the same amount of landing aircrafts can be stepped to the other runway.

Anyway, I like the large airports, because you can taxi even 15 minutes, which is quite a lot of time for the convoy to disappear from the end of the runway. Other tactics is, to start the game 15-20 minutes before departure time. You can do the pre-flight checks/settings, you can drink a cup of tea...and meantime...departing AI aircrafts starting to move on the ground, some of them can even takeoff. When the departure time comes, you can close the doors, start pushing back, and you find yourself in an airport with full of life, and probably less waiting at the holding points.