FSX-SE FSX - Is there anything like Freight Dogs?

[Kronovan 14]

I had Freight Dogs for FS9/2004 and it was by far my favorite Add-on. I'd read somewhere that the creator or owner had some unfortunate mishap, that caused the FSX edition of it to be lost to the FSX community. I had great fun with it -mostly because I'm a bush piloting fan- and really miss it.

For those unfamiliar with the add-on; it provided an applet that could be accessed in flight from the FS9 menu. That applet let you choose a departure and destination airport and spec a cargo type/weight. It would then place that cargo at some point in the airport, which you'd need to taxi to have it loaded. It'd auto-generate a flight plan and you'd be on a timer for your arrival and unloading at the destination airport. IIRC it even supported seaplane airports, where you'd instead water taxi up to a point on the dock. Not to mention the package included a nice aircraft and fine rural airport. Yes I know, it seems simple but I enjoyed it none the less.

I'm wondering if anyone knows of anything similar, or whether I'm just word not allowed of some similar built-in functionality in FSX? I did purchase Dovetail's Cargo Crew add-on, but it's really just a series of adventures and nowhere near the depth of Freight Dosg; albeit it was cheap and some of those adventures are fun.

[kingm56 1,031]

just flight - air hauler 2 is freight dogs on steroids.  It's in alpha but incredibly well supported and functions fine in its current form. 

[Kronovan 14]

Thanks for pointing that Air Hauler out.

What about Air Hauler 1 which has already been released? These 2 paragraphs of its marketing blurb make it sound similar to Freight Dogs:

"As the pilot charged with delivering the goods on time, you can decide to fly a job in multiple legs, or stop anywhere en route for refuelling or maintenance. Contend with real-world weather conditions if you want the extra challenge and keep a watchful eye on your fuel economy - the price of fuel in Air Hauler can vary with the real-world price of aviation fuel for added realism!

The busy freight pilot will appreciate Air Hauler's flight briefings in the Flight Simulator kneeboard, and you can easily create a custom parking position anywhere on an airport and choose the airport gate for your departures."

The kneeboard reads like an improvement over Freight Dogs menu selectable applet. TBH, at only $30 US I wouldn't mind paying that price again down the road, if I could get a stable/bug free experience now with 1st edition. The prudent thing is obviously to wait for AH 2 which is only $10 US more and has more longer term upside since it also supports P3Dv4. But it's only just in alpha and heck, I want to fly now!   :)

 

[ford_friendly 2]

AH2 is just about to come out of beta according to their forums.

 

[Bjoern 1,157]

No pickups, no destination restrictions, no time limits, but you get to make money and haul things. Consider it a freeware pastime until AirHauler2 is released.

https://sites.google.com/site/fsxstuffbybk/gauges/maintenance-income-tool

[Kronovan 14]

Cool Bjoern thanks for providing that link -  I'll most definitely check out the Maintenance Income Tool. Meanwhile, I've added Air Hauler 2 to my shopping list and will probably own it before it's out of beta, or at least shortly after.