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spirittoo

Helicopter Missions?

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Don't know the answer to that one.  I sort of make my own, I fly my copters or VSkyLabs gyrocopters on short hops around the Sonoran desert, or from Vegas into the Grand Canyon, because I did that in real life in 2013 in a Eurocopter.  I have assigned keyboard buttons to the autopilot functions, which work with most of the copters I have, a real plus if I just want to cruise along until I arrive at my destination for landing or for picking up and dropping off my virtual pax and cargo.  Also remember there are excellent Xplane11 add-on copters at Xplane.org.  One thing that Xplane11 beats any other sim in is in copter and gyrocopter (in the right hands) modeling, I have flown in many real copters and I know how they feel inside when they fly, and Xplane11 captures it very well. 

I have even flown in the piston R44 at a Goodyear AZ airshow way back when, which was the thrill of my coptering experience, that short 12 minute flight from Goodyear out to Phoenix International Raceway and back even beat my Grand Canyon copter trip, just because I always wanted to fly in the R44 with its tall rotor mast and unique look now copied in the turbine R66.  Altogether I have flown in the two place Bell, four place Bell, Eurocopter which I believe was five or six place, and the Robinson.  I have flown in every type of aircraft other than a blimp or a Zeppelin, and a hovercraft and seaplane if one wants to get picky.  The only engines I have not flown with in real life are electric and diesel.  One day when I resume my flight lessons I know I will fly electric, with the new battery tech on the near horizon flight schools and casual pilots will gravitate towards battery powered aircraft, with more reliable brushless motors like my RC gliders used to have.  Copters will have them too.

John

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Hi John,  Deborah here ... what do you do for fun in XPlane since there are not any missions?  I get bored after a while just flying around.  Nothing to see because it doesn't have the well know landmarks.  So have you thought of interesting things to do?

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I enjoy flying helicopters along with GA fixed wing. To stay motivated, I use the FSEconomy game, where you pick a place in the world you're interested in, and find flight assignments that have to be completed from takeoff to landing, in return for virtual cash. Basically charter ops, not scheduled airlines. 

You start by renting planes, and if you fly enough to earn virtual cash, you can "buy" planes that let you fly consistently in one area. FSE supports FS9, FSX, X-Plane, and (unofficially) P3D. 

I've been playing FSE on and off for years, and now virtually "own" a Pilatus PC-12 based in the Pacific Northwest, and a Bell 412 helicopter based in the UK. I've been using the Bell to tour the Orbx UK South scenery, with FSE assignments that take me to different airports in the region. I'm planning to work my way up into Scotland eventually. It's a great way to have a reason to fly somewhere and see new sights, and it imposes some discipline in having to complete every flight. 

You can make it as challenging as you want by choosing to use real weather (it's optional), and there is an economic challenge in finding good assignments that can fill your helicopter or fixed wing plane with passengers or cargo to pay for the flight. I'm not sure I'd still be as active as I am in civilian flight sims if it wasn't for FSE.


X-Plane and Microsoft Flight Simulator on Windows 10 
i7 6700 4.0 GHz, 32 GB RAM, GTX 1660 ti, 1920x1200 monitor

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Thanks for the links guys ... the first one looks like I would have to put my thinking cap on to figure it out ... trouble is I can't find it. 🤓  I will check them out as soon as I can.  One of my flying computers died on me yesterday, so I have to replace the cpu, mobo, memory and case.  With my luck there will be complications putting it together so I will be focus on that for a while.  Happy flying. 👍

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