Downloaded from fsaerospace.tripod.com FS Aerospace Central v2 Come visit us! over 2047 airplanes! (c) Bill Cusick 106251,303 Merseyside Police Helicopter Aerospatiale AS355F2 Twin Squirrel ---------------------------------- Hi all... Thanks for downloading my helicopter. In my 'Mersey v1.0' scenery, I promised a 'local' Squirrel helicopter. Well, here it is. I've had a lot of fun (and problems) creating this model, and even more fun flying it. INSTALLATION This model is 'oven-ready' for FSW95. It does NOT require any conversion with FSConv.exe. You should have the following files in this release... Squirrel.txt You're reading it. Squirrel.air 'Pilots' Folder Squirrel.mdl 'Pilots' folder. 'Squirrel' textures: squirrel.0af Squirrel textures. squirrel.1af .. squirrel.2af .. squirrel.3af .. squirrel.4af .. squirrel.5af .. squirrel.6af .. squirrel.7af The 'Mersey' G-BOOV Tail Boom texture SquLond.7af The 'London' G-METD Registration version of Squirrel.7af. Place these in your 'Texture' folder. Helicop.wav Daniel Biosca's (CIS 100642,1111) excellent helicopter sound file. Place this file in your \Sound folder. To use this sound with the Squirrel, make a backup of your 737lp.wav file, and rename a copy of this file to '737lp.wav'. I have included the following textures to accompany the AFX. You will need them to perform any work on the helicopter with Flight Shop. If not required, they may be discarded: SqNose.r8 SqFuse.r8 SqEngF.r8 SqEngR.r8 SqBase.r8 SqBoom.r8 'Mersey' version of texture, with G-BOOV registration. SqTVstab.r8 SqBVstab.r8 SquLond.r8 'London' version of SqBoom.r8, with G-METD registration Squirrel.AFX There are 23 files in all. All the R8 files, of course, should reside in your specified Flight Shop \AF5\'project' folder, together with the AFX file. This helicopter is ideal for VFR flying around London. So I've included the SquLond.r8 and SquLond.7af files for the London 'Metropolitan Police' version. Those will give the aircraft the correct 'G-METD' registration. Just swap the two texture files Squirrel.7af and SquMers.Met. Rename the 'Squirrel.7af' texture file to say, 'SquMers.7af' & then rename the 'SquLond.7af' file to 'Squirrel.7af' after making backups. Voila ! The London aircraft varies slightly from G-BOOV, in that it has a slightly different camera pod under the chin, and it has a slightly different exhaust on top of the rear engine housing. However these are very minor changes, so to avoid having two separate .MDL and .AFX files, I have not bothered to correct them. If any of you out there 'have a problem with that' I have included the AFX. You will need a photo of the London machine, of course. See Janes' 1996 copy of World Aircraft. Do NOT use the converter. The Squirrel should appear in your aircraft menu on startup. Do not forget to install your 737lp.wav helicopter sound, first. Sorry, FS5.1 users, I haven't been very successful in tweaking the flight model for FS5.1, or in editing the FS5.1 'Air' file for this model. If anyone has any success, I'd like to know. ---------------------------------- Just a few notes regarding flying these thingys. I have coded all the 'furniture' items on this aircraft as near as I could to their correct sizes and locations on the aircraft. However, if you fly a AS355F2 'in the real World', (aren't you lucky) don't come running if there is something where it shouldn't be, or there is not something where it should be... A warning here... Flight Simulator is intended for fixed wing aircraft. There are problems, unfortunately, associated with the creation and flight of helicopters for FSW95. For example, helicopters cannot stall. Nobody has told FSW95...so.. do not allow the Squirrel to fly at less than about 6 kts, if you can avoid it. It will start to spin, and although you can occasionally escape, it is difficult to recover. On some occasions, if the 'stall' or 'spin' is really advanced, the program will become unpredictable, and a flight reset will be the only way out. You may even end up at somewhere around 50,000', performing really violent, uncontrollable manoevres. On many occasions a quick 'F4' to apply maximum thrust can get you out of trouble if you are near to the 'stall', and the aircraft is starting to spin. Just hit the Numpad '5' key to centre your controls, and then the 'F4' key quickly. I normally fly this helicopter with Autocoordination turned OFF. However leaving that option 'on' can give you a more realistic flight behaviour at speed - but I find that suddenly resetting the 'airlerons' by centering with KeyPad '5' after a turn can be disconcerting - the machine 'wobbles' prior to settling on its correct heading. A more precise control - especially when hovering - is obtained with the Autocoordination setting 'off'. You can, after a little practice, even fly slowly sideways with the 'off' setting. Take your choice. But watch that tail ! The aircraft is quite stable down to 8 knots. I have hovered successfully down to 4 knots, but the aircraft becomes progressively harder to control, and requires a lot of correction at that low speed, to both rudder and 'aileron' controls. So I do not usually allow the speed to drop that low, except when just touching down, with 'spoilers' on. And anyway, when those levels of correction are required, most of the 'pleasure' of flying disappears. At that low speed, you must watch the horizon very carefully - once a 'spin' commences correction is darned near impossible. I suppose it is a penalty of stretching the envelope so far. It also helps when landing at very low airspeeds, say 5 kts, if you use that spot fixed view, and have the Squirrel tail in the frame, towards you. Any slight sideways movement is then much easier to correct, before it gets out of control. I have also limited the maximum airspeed to about 150 kts. Many FS helis (converted or otherwise) have severe problems above that airspeed, probably caused by the lower stall speed/higher lift parameters required (since this, increases the total flying 'envelope', I think this is the reason why FSW95 has problems with the higher airspeeds with helicopters). In this instance, that limit does not matter, since the normal cruising speed for the F2 is about 135 knots. The aircraft is quite stable at this speed, but if you increase it, by, say, going into a dive, then its behaviour may become unpredictable. I haven't managed to create these erratic problems with this model, but you may if your airspeed becomes too great (as in the real world ) I'm afraid the only escape is to do a 'Ctrl/;' to restart the flight. I have had stable flight up to 170 kts, after a dive. I have also found that the Autopilot 'Alt' hold and 'Alt/'H' heading hold work fine, except, of course, on Alt/Hold in FSW95 when doing turns, but remember those 'stall' conditions at low airspeeds. Also, using the Autopilot 'Ctrl/D' for the yaw damper works to reduce the yaw oscillations, but not always. Use your rudder sparingly, a little at a time. I do not use a joystick (I don't play games ), so I apply rudder by 'Enter' or 'Ins', and almost immediately reset it to centre with KPad (5). If applied for too long, the aircraft will go into a spin. You will find that a successful landing can be made more often by setting the flaps ('collective') setting on the next but minimum setting on approach, only advancing with F8 and using spoilers at the last moment when about 10 feet above the pad. Just before touch down, apply the spoilers, lift the nose, and then apply the parking brake with a 'Ctrl/.' (yes, I know that sounds ridiculous). The parking brake cancels itself if applied too early, but a little practice helps you to find the correct point to apply the brake just prior to touchdown. Application of the parking brake at this point makes a helicopter landing a little more realistic. If you have a problem with landing, try straight-in approaches at first, progressively bleeding off the airspeed until your airspeed drops to about 7 or 8 kts. If you prefer, hit 'F1' for minimum thrust. The airspeed will then rapidly reduce to about 40 knots, then use the 'F7' or 'F8' keys just prior to touchdown. After a little practice, you will get the hang of it. You will enjoy flying this machine. I do. At the average airspeed of around 135-140 kts it will manoeuvre like a fighter. I quite enjoy buzzing around the dynamic scenery at Woodvale, in the 'Mersey' scenery, or flying under those London bridges along the Thames with that brilliant MS London scenery. By the way, I fly this model with the 'Shift/Z-Z' coords/Altitude/Airpeed readouts at the top of the screen. I've become used to that, now, and it certainly helps. I also use the 'fixed transition' view option a lot, especially when flying this model. So that 'Shift/Z-Z' readout then becomes essential. Once you get familiar with the fixed orientation, and keeping a mental note of which is 'North' as you fly around, you will enjoy that view option. I use a spot plane distance of 50', and a view altitude value of +5'. With a standard fixed wing aircraft, I find that this 'fixed view' is not as useful when flying near to the ground, (the ground contantly comes up and hits you) but with this helicopter, it is ideal. I have also got into the habit of turning off the 'crash' option with this helicopter. I find that I do not have to restart as often ! For a panel, I use Chuck Dome's excellent 'Panman' utility to match the 'Extra' panel to this aircraft. If you position the panel in the bottom left hand corner, reduce it in size, and move the panel to the left so that the other instruments on the left of the altimeter are hidden from view, I have found it ideal. Until a 'proper' freeware helicopter panel comes along, with the spoiler / throttle / airlerons visible, that'll do. Reducing the panel display that way allows me a full screen view, and offers that excellent forward view, so necessary for helicopter 'VFR' flight. The AH and compass are just about readable on this panel. I might even have a try at a panel myself...but I really want to continue with my Mersey v.2.0 scenery. The strobe switch will switch on the red tail strobe, and also the flashing blue light below the cabin. Unfortunately there is no 'spare' control in FSW95 for the 'Nite Sun' searchlight, and anyway, unlike the landing lights on the default FSW95 aircraft, it would not illuminate the ground. Sorry I haven't coded any stolen car pursuits ....that would be interesting. Perhaps sometime in the future ? . Are yer listening, Chuck ? (g) I have found that Wilco van Deijl's adventure GPWS50 works well with this aircraft. I haven't got around, yet, to editing Wilco's excellent source file, to comment out the 'Too Low - Flaps' warning ! But his Autopilot Heading / Altitude keys appear to work ok. I have had no problems with that adventure. (Except, of course, the half hidden 'Extra' panel does not allow easy access to the COM frequency for background ATC). I only wish that the flaps sound could be removed, it does not sound right with a helicopter 'collective' control..... Just a note regarding 'bleedthrough'. Unfortunately, I have found Flight Shop a very frustrating program to use on a project like this. If you require a relatively 'clean' simple aircraft model, it is ideal. Once you try to add a lot of detail, like I have, the program becomes very 'iffy' on it's visual output. I bet that 'Master' of Flight Shop, Russ Mueller, has no problems. But I did. Hope the remaining occasional bleedthrough does not affect your enjoyment. Unfortunately, due to these bleedthrough problems I had to discard the upper side exhausts. The results were just too poor to include in the final model. At one stage I ended up with no less than 24 glue components around the aircraft (those experienced Flight Shop users will know what I mean), and it became very haphazard, to say the least. The appearance varied so much between compiled results that it became a hit & miss affair. So I've included the minimum glue, and the final result is a compromise between a lot of 'bleedthrough' and a lot of visual accessories, and less bleedthrough with few accessories. I think that I've got about the best I can do with all that onboard detail, like aerials etc. Anyway, I have included the AFX for anyone to have a go at any improvements. Sorry about the occasional air intake 'bleed' from the forward view, but I spent some 80 to 100 hours on a full rebuild, just to erase that one problem. Every time I thought that I had it cured, another problem arose. So if any of you succeed where I failed, please let me know ! Incidentally, I did get as far as a 12 sided fuselage, to give a better silhouette from the fore & aft views, but the visibility problems became too much of an effort to put right. A lot of the upper engine housings became invisible, and a lot of detail seemed to disappear at will. So I used those extra parts within the 540 parts limit to improve the detail. The parts 'total' is currently 522 out of a maximum of 540. Some specifications of the Aerospatiale AS355F2 Twin Squirrel for those who are interested: Country of Manufacture France Date of Manufacture 1988 Engines Two Allison C250C20F turbines Weight Empty 1382 kg 2350 lbs Max TO weight 2100 kg 4630 lbs Max speed 150 kts Cruise 130 kts Fuel Capacity 160 imp gals Service ceiling 4000' ASL Hover ceiling 2600' ASL Main Rotor 10.69 m 35' 0½" Main Rotor RPM 394 rpm Tail Rotor 1.86 m 6' 1¼" Tail Rotor RPM 2086 rpm Length Total 12.94 m 42' 5½" Fuselage 10.93 m 35' 10½" Width .. 1.80 m 5' 10½" Height 3.14 m 10' 3½" Hor Stab Span 2.53 m 8' 3½ Skid Track 2.17 m 7' 1½" Credits. This aircraft was created with Flight Shop. Thanks, BAO, wherever you are now ! Thank you, also.... 1. Mathias Weidemann, (Matthias.Weidemann@stud.uni-karlsruhe.de) for AIRDEC. I could not have managed this project without it ! Thanks a lot, Mathias. That is really a GREAT program. Pity more aircraft programmers do not use it. It would certainly stop all those 'hopping' aircraft on startup, after conversion with FSCONV. 2. Daniel Biosca, CIS 100642,1111 (Barcelona, Spain) for his excellent helicopter sound file. Thanks, Daniel ! That sound included here is the most realistic, comfortable heli sound I've ever used. I think you'll agree, Daniel has created a great sound file. 3. Wilco van Deijl for his excellent GPWS50. I use that a lot. I have added my own ATC recordings to that adventure. Gracious of you, Wilco, for releasing the source file ! Thanks a lot. I simply cannot get to grips with all those If...Else's. (and I've been programming with Assembler since 1981). 4. Special thanks to that creative 'Master' of Flight Shop, Russ Mueller, CIS 104074,3311, for his advice with this model. Thanks, Russ ! 5. For those excellent contributors who graciously released the AFX file with their own helicopters: 1. Martin Henne, CIS: 101554,2420 (Eurocopter BK 117) 2. John Chambers (Jet Ranger) Thanks, guys. I learned LOTS from your AFX files. I only wish more programmers would release theirs. 6. Chuck Dome (CIS 72723,734) for his 'Panman' utility, and all his other utils, too numerous to mention. Fantastic, Chuck ! Keep 'em utils coming ! 7. Compuserve. Thanks, sysops, for a GREAT FSForum. 8. RC Simulations, of Bristol. Thanks to Mary & all for my copy of Flight Shop. 9. And... last, but certainly not least, Microsoft. Thanks to all those creators, not forgetting Tim Gregson, Phil Saitta, and the remainder of Andy Silverman's team for a superb FSW95. ...and to all those I may have forgotten to mention... thanks. Copyright biz An awful lot of my time and effort went into this model. I have no objection to anyone who wishes to use any of my work in their own creations. All I ask for, is a mention. Give me some credit, if you do. This is FREEWARE. I am including the AFX file here also...since Martin and John, above, were gracious enough to include theirs (I learned a lot from their files) I have decided to include mine. I would like all of you who benefit from this AFX to mention it in your releases...it may encourage more authors to include their own AFX files in the future. There is a lot of creative talent around...it would benefit everybody, and create much more choice. The AFX is also intended for those static aircraft programmers. I'd like a static copy, if you do one. I hope this offering gives you as much pleasure as it has given me. I can now give something back to all those guys who have provided me with so MUCH pleasure. Sincere thanks ! AND I mean it. Keep 'em flying, all ! RE-DISTRIBUTION These files may not be further distributed in ANY way without my prior consent. This includes transfer to ANY other on-line service or sale in ANY way, including any type, colour or shape CD, but not limited to shareware, cardware, etc. These files may NOT be given away with any product which is being sold in ANY way. ...And I offer my apologies to those FS experts who may consider that I'm insulting them, with some of my advice in this file....there are some fliers out there who need this help I have included..as I did, once. I am still learning. AND I have been using Flight Simulator since ver 1.0...Glad I have never used the log utility, my 'flying' hours would have so many noughts, I'd need a Cray to add them up.... If anyone wishes to drop me an email, please do so. I like to hear where my creations end up ! I can also be found at least once a day, most days, on the FS Forum, Compuserve. If you enjoy this offering, please let me know. If you don't like it, say so. I've got a very thick skin. Once you've downloaded it, you can do what you like with it ! (But see my 'Re-Distribution' notes above....) And finally....If you think that I am, or my files are, responsible for any problems of whatsoever type on your machine, TOUGH. I will not be held responsible in any way for failures of software or hardware as a result of loading or using these files. Sincerely hope you enjoy it. I think you will. That's what it's all about...... There's such a lot to do.... Bill Cusick 106251,303 Formby, Merseyside.