This message should probably only be written after I've spent some extensive time digging through the source code, and it should probably go to the flightgear-dev of flightgear-flightmodel, but I've got a whole bunch of conflicting and not terribly well thought out questions running through my head, and I'm looking for the next steps (which may include X-Plane or MSFS, although I'd love to find a way to channel some energy back into this project).
I've built myself some helicopter controls[1] and have been trying to fly the Bo105 with some success. I've been in a real helicopter once, for a tourist flight from the back seat, so I'm trying to figure out what should be happening from written descriptions. The first thing I'd like to find are some less capable helicopters. I've only really played heavily with the Bo105, but the power to weight ratio seems to let me fill all the seats with full sized passengers, take on a full load of fuel, and hover from good ol' Runway 29 on KSFO up to a few thousand feet AGL... I've only started to look at some of the issues of helicopter simulation, and I haven't been anywhere near the stick on a real one, but much of the reading I'm doing talks about the challenge of getting out of ground effect (admittedly some of those tales have been about overloaded takeoffs from Vietnam LZs in Huey model Ds[2]), and I'd like to experience the challenge of short field take-offs and landings with something that can't hover out of ground effect. So, is anyone working on new helicopters? If I'm willing to ignore the visuals, is there an easy place to start to plug in numbers like airfoil curves, rotor sizes, engine power, and information about fixed surfaces, or is that sort of thing better done by someone who knows what should happen? Does anyone know if the ground effect effects currently in place are moderately realistic? Since I'm taking on helicopters, I'm also interested in low level scenery. Is the San Francisco Bay Area the only place that's fleshed out? Is there a current simple guide for how to build models and scenery like that for an area, perhaps with some sample buildings or aircraft for Blender so that I could use them to get my units and axes right? How about helping the simulator with collision detection and level of detail or visibility frustums? Aaaand, are there general guidelines for aircraft and scenery construction? Ideas on poly counts and such? If I sat down with Blender and the drawings from the Bell website[3] and turned out a 206 to put an airframe on the flight model that's currently in FlightGear is there anything I should know? (And I suppose I should probably see what Bell's model licensing terms are...). Thanks for any encouragement or leads! Dan [1] http://www.flutterby.com/archives/comments/8207.html [2] http://www.vietnammoments.com/ [3] http://www.bellhelicopter.textron.com/en/aircraft/commercial/prodSpecs206B-3.cfm _______________________________________________ Flightgear-users mailing list [email protected] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-users 2f585eeea02e2c79d7b1d8c4963bae2d
