or, at least, if you enjoyed Michael Crichton's Timeline 😄. It brings 55 castles to the Dordogne valley, a SW of France river, which was a border between the French and English territories during the One-Hundred-Years' war.

 55 Castles in French Dordogne » Microsoft Flight Simulator

Here is one. A special one. It was owned by an American-born singer of the 30 and 40's who made a great career in France. She was interred in the Paris Pantheon of f illustrious French because  she was also a secret agent for the Free French during the war ! Ms Josephine Baker's Château des Milandes.

 

By the way it was not far that Riddley Scott 's The Duellists was shot .

Nice find - a beautiful part of the world too. Josephine Baker led quite a life, bless her.

I found that book un-putdownable, though the film version was meh.  A beautiful landscape full of castles, including links to larger-than-life characters?  I'm in!

Of course I'll have to learn how to fly helicopters now...

18 minutes ago, JabbleWok said:

I found that book un-putdownable, though the film version was meh.  A beautiful landscape full of castles, including links to larger-than-life characters?  I'm in!

Of course I'll have to learn how to fly helicopters now...

A good book indeed.

I find the Guimbal Cabri not bad at all. That being said, I am a little biased as it is the first heli in a sim that I can handle without making a laughing stock of myself 😁. Seriously, she has had  good reviews. Slow, not perfect, a work in progress with the new Asobo heli architecture, but a nice bird to tour the countryside. A lots of MSFS  landmarks deserve  more than a glance from 20K feet and at 200 knots.  

Here are two sites that might help you

Helicopter Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-21B) specially chapter 9

Helicopter Aviation (cybercom.net)

Thanks for that!  I can take off no problem, it's just the other end that I've yet to master 😉

1 minute ago, JabbleWok said:

Thanks for that!  I can take off no problem, it's just the other end that I've yet to master 😉

Why am I not surprised ? why indeed  😇?

But don't assume that you know how to takeoff until you can hover ... 

You have pedals ?

 

 

17 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

You have pedals ?

Technically yes, but I'm (mostly) temporarily simming on a laptop with a twist-rudder joystick.

I can fly a course but can't yet hover, and my landings even make the static humans run for cover!  I've just not spent a lot of time trying, nor in P3D, so it's finally time to put in more effort.  The better scenery of MSFS is certainly a big attraction.

@Dominique_K  Sincere thanks for highlighting this Dominique. They look good quality. I will install them. 

Just one reservation.  As an 'English type', I am worried that if I fly low over them, I may be subjected to taunts of 'your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!'.

Another thing.  Having raised the spectre of Basil Fawlty in another thread a few hours ago, he would be very dissapointed that you mentioned 'the war' twice.  Including a really long 100 year one between England and France, that I believe may be still going on to this day in some quarters.  However, in the name of friendship, I am prepared to overlook this. 

Also... A strange thing... Basil Fawlty and the 'French type' shouting insults from the castle look very alike.  Do you think they were related?  

Note: People who have not watched classic British TV comedy will not understand any of this.  Don't worry about it.

 

Edited February 15, 20233 yr by bobcat999

21 minutes ago, bobcat999 said:

@Dominique_K  Sincere thanks for highlighting this Dominique. They look good quality. I will install them.

Note: People who have not watched classic British TV comedy will not understand any of this.  Don't worry about it.

 

The British do comedy? How did they ever get that approved through the MFW (Ministry of Funny Walks)?

🙂

13 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

@Dominique_K  Sincere thanks for highlighting this Dominique. They look good quality. I will install them. 

 

You'are welcome and, well..., if you don't fly a big empty rabbit everything will be fine. 

Another shot, hovering by the château de Fénelon. A really nice addon. There is .kmz coming with the scenery.

 

BTW the castles I've seen so far were not photogrammetry but 3d models. So you can see them with a low grade connection.

40 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

There is .kmz coming with the scenery.

Yes, excellent!

I also spotted this flight plan at flightsim.to.

https://flightsim.to/file/2729/kml-and-flightplan-for-55-castles-in-french-dordogne

17 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

 you mentioned 'the war' twice

Never two without three, as we say in French.  Go and have a look at Castelnaud-la-Chapelle.  There is a couple of reconstructed trebuchets in a courtyard. 

3 hours ago, Dominique_K said:

Never two without three, as we say in French.  Go and have a look at Castelnaud-la-Chapelle.  There is a couple of reconstructed trebuchets in a courtyard. 

Excellent - I will take a look!  Just the kind of thing needed to catapult a large wooden rabbit!  

This is such a good way to learn heli flying!  In a short time I've gone from landing somewhere in the same province to actually putting it down in the spot I'm aiming for.  Assuming reasonable winds.  The castles in their contexts make for lovely scenic flying, and they have that "just one more" appeal.  I keep open Google Earth so as to look up any extra information like history, and it's a shame only a few castles have Wiki pages.  The Cabri is now very flyable for me, and I'm also having fun in the Mini 500.

But I still haven't found Castlegard...