New FSX/P3D Helicopter Transport Charter Available

Pilots,

I've added a new charter in the Special Operations area for FSX/P3D (requires a scenery download from our downloads area).

Offshore oil rig transport charter - delivering crews to and from the oil rigs of the Louisiana Coast. Here I deliver workers to Na Kika Offshore Oil Rig.



Happy flying,

John

Hah smiitty, I spent the last half hour bouncing off the landing pad and flying through the oil rig. Oh well, practice makes perfect.

Just finished up the first leg. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm not very good with the whirlybirds!

Nice Eric,

Yeah, I'm flying using my Saitek yoke and pedals, so not very authentic. I'm wondering if another controller for a helo might be better or just different. Certainly just getting used to the controls and how to fly the thing will be the major adjustment. My first love was helicopter as a kid. I loved the arcade game with the helicopter that would go round and round on the little stick with the weight on it. They came out with a home version but I never got that for Christmas. Needless to say, those things still left an imprint on my memory. So...now with flight simming we can do almost the next best thing (and more in some ways). So...I'm interested in improving my flying skills with helicopters in addition to fixed wing aircraft.

We had a helo pilot join some time ago but didn't fly long. Not sure if it was because of the lack of offerings for that or more likely just another one of those in-and-out pilots.

Your helo flew the first leg quite a bit faster than mine. I might have to look at other models. As it was, I actually had to spring for some cash to by my helo from Milvez - something I had told myself not to do with the new MSFS to be my primary simulator. I wanted to put all investments into upgrading my MSFS hangar rather than spend on the old sims I hope to soon put aside but for maintaining flight offerings and testing here at SPA for the die-hard FSX/P3D simmers.

Anyway...pilots considering the new Offshore Oil Rig Transport Charter Service flights will want a helo with autopilot. The bird I flew I could set a GPS heading, Alt and airspeed and it was on its own until nearing the landing point. At that time I took controls and promptly bounced it off of and into the oil rig for the next half hour before finally getting it onto the landing platform. Auto-hover would have been nice, then I could just lower it down. But I guess I should really learn to fly the damn thing anyway.

For those looking for another Helo Adventure, you might want to try out AdventurePack 6 (SPA6) - 1950's - Building the American Dream. Adventure 6.1 and 6.2 deal with the Sandia Mountain crash in New Mexico of TWA Flight 260. While 6.1 flight you fly the ill-fated route with the fixed wing aircraft (hopefully the model actually used - Martin 4-0-4.), the second part 6.2 requires a Helo to land best you can at the crash site on the mountain. One of the few adventures I didn't alter the landscape to accommodate a fixed-wing aircraft landing.

As with many of my other adventure packs, this one has a recommended book the adventure was based on that is a good read too. In fact, one of the quotes of the Random Quotes section that appear on the righthand side of the main page was from that book. The book covers the crash and another pilot's effort to clear the name of the captain involved in the crash (all aboard died). The investigation attempted to blame the pilot for failing to follow adequate safety measures and possibly taking a shortcut. The fellow pilot's effort eventually proved that the crash was due to a flaw inherent in the early version of the compass used on the plane and not the pilot in command. He was a by-the-book captain and would have never taken the risks that he was accused of.

During the investigation the investigators interviewed the ground crew at the airport the plane had just left from. The ground crew told the investigators that they could clearly see the Sandia Mountain from the airport. When another pilot was advised by an investigator that the ground crew could see the mountain from the airport shortly before the crash, he made the memorable response to the investigator..."Well, we fly airplanes, not airports". You got to love those guys! Hence the quote added to our Random Quotes. It came from that crash and the book referenced in AdventurePack 6.

Happy flying,

John