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SuperTrafficBoard and Ultimate Traffic 2
A question I am sometimes asked is: UT2 already includes a utility called “Status Board”, why would I need another add-on such as Super Traffic Board? Here are some thoughts:
The UT2 status board (UB) and Super Traffic Board (STB) are designed with different objectives. UB provides an excellent simulation of the UT2 schedules, however it is unconcerned with what is happening in FSX, does not connect to it and does not describe the condition of flights as they are under simulation. You can quite happily run UB without ever starting up FSX! UB describes arrival and departure flights at a chosen airport, and simulates the state of those flights in relation to their schedules and their current time. Some nice features of UB include listing traffic at any airport at any time of day.
STB builds on this by focusing on the activities of FSX in relation to AI aircraft. The flights you see listed on STB are actually occurring in FSX, and the departure and arrival states reflect accurately what each AI is doing. We extend the familiar display with additional data including the distance, altitude, speed and heading of each aircraft, so you can get an idea of how far away each flight is from landing.
With STB You can directly interact with your AI aircraft from the board with a variety of commands, including:
The ever popular “View AI”, allowing you to click an arrival or departure and see the actual aircraft in FSX.
Delete AI, which can help in all sorts of situations such as deleting an aircraft that has become stuck and is blocking your taxi way.
Depart Now. Want action at the runway? It’s simple to make happen with Depart Now! This command starts up an AI aircraft and tells it to leave for its destination immediately. It still goes through all the regular cycle, including clearance, push back, taxi etc, and simply behaves as if its scheduled departure is now. This command is great for those times when you are the only aircraft that is active on the taxi way and you’d like to see some others with you.
Automated features such as restarting aircraft that have become stuck and deploying flaps on AI aircraft ready for take off.
Listen AI, tracks AI aircraft and enables you to listen to all ATC communications regarding it. You can also restrict the flights listed on the board to just those with the same ATC as a chosen AI aircraft, or even your user aircraft.
A very popular “real world” feature of STB is logos. You can download airline and aircraft logos and really bring the board to life, just like you’ll see it at a real world airport. Collections of logos exist for all the major AI packages, UT2 included. As a pilot you can take STB with you on your travels. Activate the “Auto Select” feature, and STB will automatically show the flights at the airport that is closest to you throughout your flight.
Screen “Real Estate” is very important for traffic boards, so you can display many flights at busy airports. STB uses a resizable window, and may also be used on a separate computer to FSX without buying any additional software. You can change the look and feel, including fonts, colors, text size, column order, etc.
While having support specifically for UT2 flights, STB is not limited to any one AI package. If you use others such as MyTrafficX or World of AI, you’ll find those flights listed seamlessly on STB too.
In conclusion Super Traffic Board and Status Board are not competitors, but offer different features according to the experience you are looking for.
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