building landing pads??

[Mike S KPDX]

I have spent the afternoon searching the net for information on this and found the the following statement, on this forum of all places (should have started here).FS2k2'any building that uses a defualt roof texture can be landed on'When I found this I thought I struck gold. But either it does not work, I dont know what a default roof texture or there are none in the city of Portland OR in FS.So maybe you can help with this and the following;1. default roof textures 'landable'?2. if so, what do they look like?3. are there any default FS2k2 heliports (i.e. with H landing zones)?4. can you recommend an oil rig type of scenery freeware?5. recommend FS helio dedicated sites? (I know of hovercontrol.com)thanks guys, just trying to get involved in the helios a bit more.

[1mikel151]

Hey Mike (cool name! LOL) welcome to the rotory wing side! LOL the default textures are the ones that are generic, you can see them if you look in the texture folder for Fs2002 and get an idea of what they look like. You will need to have crash detect on to use them. Lots of default airports have a helipad "H" at them on the ground. As far as the oil platforms, just do a search for Steve Chase, he has several that are nice!As far as sites go, there are only a couple of dedicated sites (that I am aware of), you know of one, hoversafe is another specifically for learning to fly helis. There are several VAs that fly mostly helis, quite a few overseas, especially Germany. Metro, AirWeGo, Fox River, VUSCG, all have large (if not all) heli ops as well. my VA is about 70% heli ops and the other I belong to is about 90%. Hope this helps, if you have any questions feel free to drop me a line.Regards, Michaelhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res052cd/mybannercva1.jpgCalVirAir International VAwww.calvirair.comCougar Mountain Helicopters & Aviationwww.cgrmtnhelos.com

[Guest Airprox]

Totally agree with what Michael said...Regards Oil Platforms and the like, Highly recommend AirWeGo, look under divisions for VertiGo... most of the operation is Offshore Oil and Gas work and is run by Steve Chase who, as Michael pointed out, does some rather fine rigs (you'll also find a few of my releases there too)... VertiGo is also running a "Dynamic" contract at the moment, following the exploration and development of an oil field off the coast of the Faroe Islands, it's dynamic in the fact that Steve and I are designing the scenery as we go along, starting with survey ships through to drill rigs and on to fixed platforms.Also do a search on the main sites for "Ekofisk" which is done by Tor Inga Lima, and take a look for the Danish rigs at www.fsteam.dk by Ole Egholm. Both very good.Welcome to FS helicopters!Alun

[Mike S KPDX]

thanks guys, I think the crash detection ON requirement must be the key, I will give it a go tonight.Thanks also for the cues on the rigs. I have installed the hovercontrol.com practice field for the Montana airport which indicated that it had a practice platform, but I cannot find it. It stated that you tune your ADF to 200 or 201, neither of those will give me a direction on the ADF guage (range issue?) thus I dont know where the practice area is.I hope I will not have that type of issue with the oil rig stuff, will give it a try though.p.s. I think there used to be a list of building H pads on roofs for FS2k, did that go by the wayside with 2K2?? (I think you could select them from the 2k ver via the 'go to airport' dialog?)thanks again

[Guest Airprox]

I can't really help you with the HC scenery as my ageing machine slows right down with it, however I'm pretty sure that there is a large hover square right by the HC hangers, and there is a small trailer that you can practice landing on (I think thats the platform that you mean), though I don't know where that is!You shouldn't have any problems finding the rigs, both Steve and I usually add AFD files or start locations in the main bgl file so they should show up in the airport lists or under add-on scenery from FS95(possibly 98) and before. Any probs with those, just drop me a line.As for the list with all the buildings with H pads on roof... can't say I've come across one... Michael might know more... or if theres any chaps from Metro reading this, c'mon guys, this is your area :-outta Anyway, as I said, any probs, just ask... CheersAlun

[Guest Wayne Smith]

Mike,I fly for Metro Helicopters VA in the NYC, Long Island and NJ areas. I have not come across any true rooftop helipads in the default scenery, although some of the larger buildings have grey square or rectangular areas on their roof textures that could be used for practicing a landing. Metro's scenery design team has developed realistic custom freeware scenery for two Manhattan heliports, as well as rooftop helipads for a hospital on Long Island, 1 Police Plaza in Manhattan, and an office park in New Jersey. We also have custom heliport scenery for our headquarters at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, as well as our operations out of Teterboro Airport KTEB and Westchester County Airport KHPN.You're welcome to visit www.metrohelo.org. We also have developed helicopter route maps and heliport diagrams for download. Check the drop-down menu on the site.Regards,WayneMetro 7 / NMH07http://forums.avsim.com/user_files/14593.gif

[gary_canuck]

I sure wish I could remember the full file name but my scenery-addon shows "SOEP" which contains three rigs off Sable Island SE of Halifax,NS that are quite well done. Looking up Canadian scenery in the various sim sites should scare it up.

[Mike S KPDX]

I must say it is kind of like an oasis in here compared to a lot of the other forums around. It kind of feels like I just got on a pair of shorts, somthing cold to drink and I am sittin' outside in the shade - very relaxing.I have taken all your advice and now am exploring all the areas, actions and downloads, quite different from going M.82 at FL360. I have renewed respect the real life helio flights I am on about twice a month now.Anyways one last quick one and I will stay out of your hair for a bit. I use the Saitek X45 with the Dhauzimmer's X36/X45 USB driver set, it requires either an .BPF or .XDP file type, I have looked around a bit but was unlucky, any thoughts on where to get a working FS2k2 for this setup (before I try to make one)? I use a CH yoke for airplane flying.Again, thank you folks for you friendly help, much appreciated.

[Guest]

Welcome to the rotor world. You can get to the practice pads in the Hover Control scenery by going to your add on scenery and select Hover Control - StIg. This will put you on the helicopter hauler trailer. Lift off, turn left and you will see the elevated pads. Have fun with them.Keith