About

The aim of OpenAircraftType is to provide an open-source, adaptable database of aircraft types and variants.

Where is the data!

The raw data is located in the src folder. Compiled versions can be found in the releases. However, if you are using the data for a custom application, I highly suggest creating your own compiler tool so you get just the data you want/need.

Contributing

All contributions are welcome! The goal of this project is to create an up-to-date, reliable database so crowdsourcing is really important in keeping up to date with the ever evolving aircraft market.

Our most important issues are listed in the "Issues" tab. If you are new, you might want to look at one of the issues marked "good first issue" before tackling a larger, more complex issue. If you would like to claim an issue, simply comment on it and we will assign it to you. Try not to work on an issue claimed by someone else, as you might be doing work that has already been done!

Compiling the database

At the moment, I have written a custom python script for compiling the source data into CSV format. It is included in the compile directory, however it isn't pretty...

File/Folder Structure

The raw data is broken into files and sub-directories to allow for easy committing & PR merging. In theory, it should be very fast to add, edit or delete a aircraft to the database by simply creating a text file in the appropriate location. All you need is a text editor!

The folders are configurated as such:

• **MANUFACTURER** Folder - This holds all of the aircraft made by the manufacturer. It contains a aircraft type information file (more on this later)
  • **AIRCRAFT TYPE** Folder - This holds all of the information about the type. It contains a '**AIRCRAFT TYPE**.txt' file (more on this later)
    • "Variants" Folder - This folder is optional, and contains any variants of the type.It contains a aircraft type information file for each variant

As an example:

• AIRBUS
  • A320
    • Variants
      • A320-111.txt
      • A320-121.txt
      • ....txt
    • A320.txt
  • manufacturer.txt

File Contents

All of the files are in the format of a standard properties file, with the key being the first string (i.e MODEL=A320). If you want to add data that is not covered by the following properties, simply create a suitable, unique name for it and utilize it (making sure to add it to the appropriate section below). Ideally, all properties below are defined for each and every type (and/or variant)!

**MANUFACTURER**/manufacturer.txt

This file contains details about the manufacturer. At the moment the following properties are in use in the database.

Property Key	Description	Example
NAME	The name of the manufacturer	Airbus
COMPANY	The corporate name of the manufacturer	Airbus SE

**MANUFACTURER**/**AIRCRAFT TYPE**/**AIRCRAFT TYPE**.txt or **MANUFACTURER**/**AIRCRAFT TYPE**/Variants/**VARIANT**.txt

Here, **AIRCRAFT TYPE** should ideally be the ICAO code of the aircraft type, and **VARIANT** should be the variant model name (e.g A320-111). However, it can in reality be whatever works. This file sets the base properties for the aircraft type (if it is the **AIRCRAFT TYPE**.txt file), or it overwrites/extends the aircraft type base file.

As an example, when you define a variant, say AIRBUS/A320/Variants/A320-111.txt, any properties in this file will overwrite the properties of the AIRBUS/A320/A320.txt file for the variant.

Property Key	Description	Example
MODEL	The name of the model	A320
ICAO	The ICAO designator of the model, if available	A320
CLASS	The class of the air-vehicle. L=Land Plane,B=Balloon,A=Amphibious,H=Helicopter,G=Gyrocopter,S=Sea Plane,T=Tilt Rotor	L
WAKE	Wake Turbulence Category. L=Light,M=Medium,H=Heavy,J=Jumbo,S=Super	M
ENG_TYPE	Type of engines. P=Piston,J=JET,T=Turboprop/shaft,R=Rocket,E=Electric	J
ENG_NUM	Number of engines. Any integer	2
ENG_NAME	The name/model of the engines	IAE V2527E-A5
ENG_MAN	The name of the engine manufacturer	International Aero Engines
ENG_MODEL	The name of the engine model	V2527E-A5
ENG_THRUST	Thrust per engine in newtons OR Power in horsepower (for prop/turbo props)	118320
LENGTH	Length (nose to tail) in meters	37.57
WINGSPAN	Wingspan in meters	35.8
TAIL_HEIGHT	Tail height in meters	11.76
RANGE	Range in nautical miles	3300
CEILING	Operational ceiling in feet	41000
MAX_SPEED	Maximum Speed in knots	470
PAX_CAP	The maximum passenger capacity (not including pilot(s))	195
REMARKS	Another other pertinent information	Aerobatics Approved

Data usage and attribution

Data from Wikipedia is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.