Coast Guard Transport Mission- Final Landing

[Guest j-mo]

I can't seem to get the final landing... it always sees it as a crash. I'm there in plenty of time. I'm in a stabilized hover (0.0 knots) just feet above the landing spot, set it down gently, all wheels on the pad, and then... "CRASH!"Is there anything else I need to know about this?

[Guest fsxmissionguy]

I'd recommend a save right before the final landing while you test this.That landing pad is fairly small for the EH101 to land on (landing a Bell on it is trivial).Most people land too far back, thinking they're going to hit the rotors on something forward ... thus, their back wheels touch the netting area (or fencing, or whatever that is.)Here's the cockpit sight picture you want to create when you touchdown this beast on this relatively tiny helipad:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/189667.jpgAnd here's what it will look like from the exterior when you've landed:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/189668.jpgIf you land in this configuration, you will not crash. If you land rearward of this configuration, you are almost guaranteed to touch your rear gear to that fencing surrounding the helipad. This will result in a crash designation every time.I got pretty good landing on this helipad when I was designing this mission, but even for me it's a difficult landing just because the crash detection is particularly tight on this helipad with this large of a helicopter.But hey, that's the challenge, right? Once you can do this landing each and every time, you'll be comfortable that you can put that EH101 down on anything large enough to hold it.Cheers,

[Guest j-mo]

Hi, Kevin-Thanks for your quick response!Wouldn't you know it... the very next time I tried, I landed successfully.Yeah, I had already figured out to save shortly before. I must have attempted the landing 20-25 times before posting here.The odd thing for me is positioning on the pad. I had actually landed EXACTLY(I believe) as your picture shows. Result: "CRASH." Multiple times, from different directions, etc.Here is how I had to land (!) to be credited with success (this is with an absolutely virgin install, no add-ons whatsoever):http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/189669.jpg

[Guest fsxmissionguy]

That's so bizzare!I'm testing this, but it's late here in the EST. Maybe I'll test it again tomorrow morning. I have a special mission area that I use to test all the raised helipad surface areas for problems just like this. The pics I posted are actually of the other hospital (there are two in FSX).So, let me test it again with the "red" hospital. This mission was tested pretty thoroughly, so I'd be surprised if a normal landing like you see with the "white" hospital isn't possible, but I'll let you know (and provide the screenies as "proof.")Cheers,

[Guest j-mo]

Any chance the landing coordinates in the mission don't match up with the landing pad's coordinates?I'd be interested in hearing from others who have completed the mission successfully.

[Guest fsxmissionguy]

Alex,There is nothing (much) that the mission designer does as regards crash detection.The way that FSX detects whether or not you've crashed is to just check to see if any part of your aircraft (besides certain predefined parts such as gear) has touched an "out of bounds" surface.The "out-of-bounds surface" is specific to each piece of scenery. In some cases, this surface matches the visual model pretty well. In a lot of cases, it doesn't. For example, if you fly anywhere close to the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, the game will "crash" you even though you haven't come anywhere near to touching the bridge at all.ACES is aware of this shortcoming. For fixed-winged aircraft, this wasn't much of a problem, but as helos made their appearance into Flight Simulator in a big way, it has become a huge problem.This particular piece of scenery is designed to allow a helicopter to touch its landing gear onto the helipad part without triggering the "crash detection."As the mission designer, I do not know, and cannot even see, the box that defines the area that is acceptable to land in. I wish I could, because it would be a lot easier to design missions.ACES definition of a "crash" also doesn't contemplate helicopters very well. For example, you can land the Robinson R-22 on just about anything in real life. Its gross loaded weight is only 930 pounds. That's significantly lighter than most automobiles. That's light enough that it should be able to land on almost any commercial rooftop. Certainly any parking garage. And yet, if you try to land on many of the parking garage structures in-game, you'll trigger a "crash."The physics in the Flight Simulator world begin to break down below 300 feet (where the structures start.) There really aren't any real world physics to speak of that are unrelated to how a given aerofoil performs. This is unfortunate, and competitively not very smart in my view. Microsoft is competing against others for your entertainment dollar, and that competition is shaping up around physics in a huge way.You'll often see Flight Simulator compared unfavorably with games that revolve almost totally around the simulation of real world physics in a convincing way (games like Crysis, for example.)Whether such a comparision is valid or fair is beside my point. Microsoft is competing for that entertainment dollar regardless. Hopefully Microsoft is intent on improving the real world physics in vNext. (Crysis-level physics isn't required, but some attention should be paid in this area.)I'll get back to you on what I find in my "test area" as regards the EH101 and the "red" hospital helipad.Cheers,

[Guest fsxmissionguy]

Alex,OK ... I have some hints for you now. First, here's the sight picture I try to create when I'm landing the EH101 on just about any helipad. This "feels" a LOT like I'm too far left and rearward on the pad when I'm doing it, but it always results in an almost dead-center landing:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/189677.jpgI took this shot in daytime at my "Raised Helipad Proving Grounds" (RHPG) so you could see it better. And yes, I did just make up a new acronym for you to remember.Here's the landing that this sight picture will create:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/189678.jpgNow, I think I agree with you that the crash detection box might be a little off on this helipad. I rolled around it a bit, and detected what I think are the edges toward the front and to your left. I've marked them in red here. If you put the front gear outside the red line I've drawn, you will trigger a "crash." Interestingly, you can place the rear gear rearward of that red line and still not trigger a crash, even though this probably SHOULD trigger a crash.So, I think the box is somewhat misaligned. But it's still very possible to land on this pad correctly in my view.Hope this helps you to improve, and I hope you liked that mission. I put in an unbelieveable amount of hours designing it. If you can nail this landing every time, you'll be able to put that EH101 through the eye of a needle.Cheers,

[Guest j-mo]

OK. Here is what I think.The landing pad is larger than what you actually see, but the ribbon of netting/fencing is off-limits to any landing gear.I have managed to land with either the nosewheel or main gear outside the fencing, and received the "Success" message. Just can't touch the netting at all.Fortunately, I can now also land with all wheels inside the nettingOT: Now, if I can just rescue the injured skier in "Avalanche Rescue" mission. I can hover over him for more than 5 minutes with the sling enabled, but he never attaches.

[Guest fsxmissionguy]

Dude,That mission gives me fits.Couple things: Make sure the cable is enabled (Shift-O I think).Secondly, the cable length must be right. Lower the cable until it just touches the ground, then move it into position.I still haven't achieved success on this mission. Got all the way back to the hospital and screwed the pooch on the landing at the hospital (same as you did on Coast Guard Transport.)I never save though. That's cheating! And I haven't been able to find time to get through this one again!Cheers,