Aircraft floating at gates? Diagnose scenery elevation, mesh, contact-point, AI and jetway faults using a default airport test across major simulators.
Aircraft float at gates when the simulator’s physical ground, visible airport surface and aircraft contact points disagree. If every aircraft is affected at one airport, duplicate scenery or terrain elevation is likely; one aircraft floating everywhere instead indicates faulty landing-gear geometry, contact points or an incompatible model. This is a general flight-simulator fault.
What causes aircraft to float above airport scenery?
The scope of the fault is the fastest clue to its cause. A mistake we see constantly is changing the aircraft before checking whether two versions of the airport are active.
| What floats | Most likely cause |
|---|---|
| Every aircraft at one airport | Duplicate airport, terrain mesh, airport elevation or scenery-priority conflict |
| Every aircraft at one gate | Faulty apron mesh, elevated platform, stand placement or invisible collision surface |
| One aircraft at every airport | Incorrect contact points, wheel radius, suspension animation or model geometry |
| AI aircraft only | AI model geometry, model matching or traffic placement |
| Multiplayer aircraft only | Different scenery or terrain data, model matching or network interpolation |
| Static parked aircraft only | Object-placement altitude; static models do not rest on normal aircraft contact points |
An airport package can contain aprons, flattening data, stand positions and an assumed field elevation, while the terrain layer supplies the underlying land shape. Our explanation of how scenery and terrain layers interact shows why a correctly textured apron can still have the wrong physical height.
A large, uniform gap usually indicates an elevation conflict. A few centimetres around one wheel can instead be suspension animation, wheel geometry or a weak contact shadow making the gap look larger than it is.
How do I use a default airport to diagnose the problem?
A default-airport test separates an aircraft defect from an add-on scenery conflict without editing either one. Here, “default airport” means a built-in airport with no third-party replacement or regional scenery altering that location, not merely the airport selected when the simulator starts.
- Reproduce the fault. Record the airport, stand and aircraft, then check whether the tyres are genuinely clear of the apron from several close external views.
- Use a default aircraft at the affected gate. If it also floats, investigate the airport and terrain. If it sits correctly, the original aircraft or model is suspect.
- Move the affected aircraft to a default airport. Use an ordinary stand and then a runway. Floating at both locations points to aircraft geometry or contact points.
- Try another gate at the original airport. A problem confined to one stand usually comes from a local apron, platform, jetway or object-placement error.
- Check other object types. If aircraft, jetways, service vehicles and static objects share the same offset, the airport package or terrain elevation is responsible.
- Restart after each scenery change. Some simulators retain terrain and object data for the session. Reloading the flight alone may not apply a package or priority change cleanly.
Do not use the cockpit altimeter to measure a small wheel-to-apron gap. Pressure settings, aircraft reference points and airport elevation data make it unsuitable for judging where the tyre contact patch should appear.
How do I fix every aircraft floating at one airport?
When all aircraft float at one airport, isolate duplicate airports and terrain packages before touching aircraft files. Temporarily disable add-ons rather than deleting them, and keep a record of every package moved or reordered.
- Close the simulator. Make package changes with the simulator shut down so files are not retained or rewritten during the test.
- Disable duplicate airport packages. Check for freeware, payware, official handcrafted and older versions covering the same airport identifier.
- Test without regional terrain. Temporarily remove mesh, photo scenery, city packages and airport-elevation corrections covering the area.
- Restore packages one at a time. Restart and retest the same aircraft at the same stand after each restoration. The package that makes the offset return is the conflict.
- Correct scenery priority where the simulator exposes it. Follow the airport developer’s ordering instructions. Blindly placing every airport above every mesh package can break airports that include their own mesh.
- Use cache resets only for persistent terrain faults. A cache can preserve bad streamed terrain, but clearing it will not resolve two installed airport packages that disagree about elevation.
If the runway, buildings or whole airport are also displaced, use our more detailed duplicate-airport and scenery-elevation checks. Do not use slew mode to push the aircraft down: it changes the immediate position without repairing the ground or model.
Where should I check scenery in each simulator?
The relevant package controls differ between simulator families, so an ordering fix from one platform should not be copied blindly to another.
| Simulator | Where to investigate | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 or 2024 on PC | Temporarily move suspect add-ons out of Community and disable competing installed airport content through the simulator’s package controls. | Moving official package files manually or assuming the rolling cache controls add-on priority. |
| MSFS on console | Use the in-simulator content or package controls available on that platform; the PC Community folder test does not apply. | Following PC-only folder instructions. |
| X-Plane | Inspect Custom Scenery/scenery_packs.ini. Custom airports normally need suitable priority over broad overlays and mesh, subject to the package instructions. | Deleting scenery_packs.ini without saving its order, or loading two mutually exclusive mesh packages. |
| FSX or Prepar3D | Check Scenery Library priority and look for older airport-elevation corrections or regional scenery. | Disabling the visible airport while leaving a separate elevation-correction file active elsewhere. |
In MSFS, floating jetways, static aircraft and service vehicles provide extra evidence that the airport rather than the flyable aircraft is displaced. We cover those cases in our MSFS object and airport elevation troubleshooting.
Why does only one aircraft float at every airport?
One aircraft floating at multiple default airports has a model or configuration problem. The simulator rests the aircraft on mathematical landing-gear contact points, while the tyres are part of the visual model; a mismatch leaves the wheels visibly above or below the surface.
- Install the aircraft release intended for your simulator rather than converting or copying an older version.
- Remove duplicate copies, especially liveries packaged with an obsolete full aircraft model.
- Check whether every livery using the same base model is affected.
- Compare the nose and main gear. One raised axle suggests wheel radius or suspension animation; the whole aircraft raised uniformly suggests contact-point or model-datum geometry.
- Do not copy contact-point values from an unrelated aircraft. Wheel positions depend on that model’s datum, gear layout and suspension.
In FSX and Prepar3D, aircraft contact points are commonly defined in the aircraft configuration, but visual model errors cannot always be repaired there. The reverse symptom has the same diagnostic split; our FSX runway-sinking checks explain how to distinguish landing-gear contact errors from airport elevation faults.
Why do AI, multiplayer or static aircraft float?
AI, multiplayer and static aircraft can float while your own aircraft remains correctly grounded because each type may use different placement rules and models.
- AI traffic: one AI type floating everywhere indicates its model or contact geometry; all AI floating at one airport points back to scenery elevation.
- Multiplayer traffic: another player may be positioned against different airport or terrain data. Model matching and vertical network interpolation can add another offset.
- Static aircraft: these are scenery objects placed at a specified altitude or ground reference. Editing flyable-aircraft contact points will not move them.
Matching airport packages between multiplayer users reduces discrepancies, but it cannot remove every temporary network-position error.
Why is the aircraft grounded but the jetway is too high?
A high or low jetway is usually a parking-stand or aircraft-door problem, not proof that the aircraft is floating. First confirm that the tyres and their contact shadows meet the apron, then compare another gate and a default aircraft.
Jetway alignment depends on the parking stop position, stand heading, bridge reach, aircraft door coordinates and the jetway’s own placement. If all jetways and apron objects are vertically displaced, return to the airport-elevation checks; if one bridge misses one aircraft, investigate that gate and aircraft combination.
Does an INI file control jetway alignment?
An INI file is not a universal jetway-height control. In X-Plane, scenery_packs.ini controls scenery package order, so it can indirectly select the correct airport or jetway package, but it does not define the aircraft’s wheel height or door position.
If by “ini jetway” you mean an iniBuilds aircraft at a jetway, avoid changing arbitrary configuration values. Test the aircraft at another stand and test a default aircraft at the original stand; that identifies whether the aircraft door definition or the airport jetway is the side needing correction.
Can an FCS fault or diagnostic code explain the float?
Can an FCS fault make an aircraft float at a gate?
No. An FCS, or flight control system, affects control-surface commands and aircraft response, not the terrain elevation or static landing-gear contact position. A noisy control axis may move elevators or spoilers, but it does not explain an aircraft remaining visibly suspended while stationary at a gate.
Do MISM-430 or 165.2 diagnose a floating aircraft?
No: MISM-430 and 165.2 are not recognised, simulator-wide diagnostic codes for aircraft height at a gate. They may be package-specific labels or unrelated search terms. If either appears in an add-on log, record the complete message and identify which aircraft, scenery or utility produced it before changing any files.