Introduction

Contents

Warning

This documentation is currently under development! It should not be relied upon at this time.

Introduction#

Aircraft development is one of the most crucial parts of making FlightGear a compelling flight simulator. Afterall, a flight simulator with no aircraft to fly isn’t a particularly useful or interesting flight simulator.

Skills Required#

Aircraft development can be very challenging, as it requires proficiency at a large number of skills. Quite often contributors work together on aircraft due to the variety of domains involved:

  • 3D Modelling, texturing, and animation

  • Graphic design

  • Experience programming in Nasal

  • Familiarity with using XML

  • Familiarity with a Flight Dynamics Model (FDM) such as JSBSim

Tip

Creating an aircraft from scratch can be very overwhelming at times. It is recommended to start by improving an existing aircraft in order to become familiar with the development process.

Caution

Using and studying existing FlightGear aircraft for reference can be a great way to learn - _however_ not all aircraft use best practices or are good learning examples.

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