Hey All

 

Recently I have become interested in learning how to fly helicopters, which X-plane does quite well.  I have a selection of heli to choose from but keep coming back to the ND art BK 117 for it's aesthetics and flyability.

 

I also recently decided to make a "chopper playground" for myself.  Since I had Aerosoft Chicago from back in the day, I converted it with FS2Xplane and then added some nice photoscenery with G2XPL and voila, my playground is ready.

 

I am trying to get the slow maneuvers down, basically hover, hover taxi and take/off and landing.  I though what better place to get it right than on top of some building helipads.

 

Departing Meigs Field, that's Buckingham fountain ahead:

 

 

Art Institute and some big buildings on South MIchigan Ave.

 

 

Helipad straight ahead and the Sears(Willis) Tower beyond it.

 

 

Not pretty , but I made it and the ship is intact:

 

 

Just a little readjustment to get a better shot:

 

 

Off again, found my next spot just south of the river, see it there in the window?

 

 

Looping turn around and in to burn off speed and energy:

 

 

Things are getting a little wonky here in the final moments:

 

 

Aaand we made it, not pretty but effective:

 

 

I have enjoyed my x-plane helicopter experience so much that I have ordered a heli-kit control system, and I have a helicopter discovery flight scheduled this Saturday.

 

Thanks for looking!

Beautiful screenies!

wow xplane actually looks really good wow.

Wow indeed!  Great series:-)  I really enjoyed the tour

These are really fantastic....and I'm not just saying that because I'm a Native Chicagoan :lol:  

Awesome ! :Applause:

X-plane does a superlative job for helicopter flying. I bought the Dreamfoil As350+ and been flying (did I say flying? I meant crashing) my way through Cardiff (my playground). It's a very good add-on and Recently it looks like Dreamfoil have just updated their R22 Beta II.

 

What heli-controls did you buy PingPong? Great shots by the way. Why Aerosoft haven't converted their scenery months ago for XPX is a mystery.

 

Rhydian

I bought the Heli-Kit, but I would not endorse it yet(still testing and may return it).

 

Actually, my prior combination of:

 

Saitek throttle velcrowed to the side of my chair(as collective) and un-powered Sidewinder force feedback( as cyclic) is working out beautifully.

 

Thanks again for looking.

X-plane does a superlative job for helicopter flying. ...

 

Indeed ... After having my first (real) helo sighseeing tour in Cape Town some weeks ago, I decided to try again to master chopper flying. And boy ... that's quite hard - not so much in the air, but hovering ... whew!!

 

By the way - nice shots of Chicago ...

Looks better than Justin Bieber!!! Nice shots.