Why are aircraft often positioned at startup on runways that are not in use?

Question

On startup, and configured to start on the runway with engines running, XP frequently positions my aircraft on runways that are not currently in use. Presumably, XP knows which runways at a given airport are currently in use, as this information is reported by ATIS. So, why on earth would the sim ever (or anyhow by default) position a plane on a runway that is known to not be in use? In general, I think XP is a really great sim. But some design quirks, such as this one, simply defy the imagination.

Answer 1

Your assumption is wrong. X-Plane will simply put you on the first runway that is mentioned in the apt.dat file - which describes the airport properties.

It does not take any weather or ATIS information into account, nor does it know if a runway is closed.

Once you "spawn" you can go to the menues and change your position (global airports) to any runway you like.

Jan

Comments

In addition, if you are starting at a ramp and using ATC, their guidance is only as good as what's been provided by airport artists. If the airport doesn't have hand drawn taxi routes and human-created runway use rules, ATC guidance will be a crap shoot and unlikely to be realistic.

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Fair enough, I suppose... But notice: My assumption is that XP has access to ATIS and runway-in-use information (if XP doesn't manage this information, then who/what does? Or one assumes, at least, that this information flows through some XP interface). My question, put slightly differently, is why not utilize this information to spawn aircraft onto runways that are currently in-service? (I can't imagine the logic being too difficult: 1. Lookup first runway in service, 2. write this to the apt.dat file).

Here is my idea of an ideal solution: In addition to current options, XP's "QuickFlight Setup" dialog would offer users the option to:

1. Select airport and runway (default is a runway in use).

2. Start cold and dark, on selected/default runway or on ramp. 

3. Start with engines running, on selected runway or on ramp.

4. Set date and time.

5. Load a saved situation.

Having these additional options available at startup would probably save me five minutes of manual setup before each flight.