Looking for a new toy

G’day everyone! Hope you’re all doing well and surviving the current craziness.

I have decided to pour some more time into flying these whirly birds of chaos, I really want to become comfortable behind the stick, and sink some time in (Also helps you don’t need toe brakes since my left toe brake went on my pedals)

To that end i’m thinking of doing an epic journey of sorts, heading out and perhaps doing around the world trip, or around Australia at the very least.

That or perhaps i could run an Air Ambulance series of scenarios, transporting patients, search and rescue, picking up injured individuals.

With that in mind it comes time to choosing the bird/birds that i’ll be taking.

Currently i have the Cabri, and the 407 and 412 available as my payware selection, but none seem suitable as an “around the world” type deal, great birds, and i’ve enjoyed learning on them, but i’m looking at something else.

I saw the R66, and knowing pilot yellows channel i thought maybe it would make a fun contender to take ATW, however it could also be a little slow?

Then i see all the new reviews, R22’s, The AW139, the 222, the Huey… all of them look so amazing, but i’m not sure what to grab.

Imagine yourself a private owner, going around the world with just your partner, a dog and a cat… Which would be your go to bird?

As for SAR/Medical… the AW139? I know our Westpac service uses them…

Help, i need more toys! recommendations?

The AW139 is, definitely, a good helicopter for SAR/Medical and, like you said, your Westpac crews uset it.

For the around the world tour, I would go with the 407 or the 429 myself. Back in 2003-2004 a B407 went from pole to pole (POLAR FIRST: Flying to Extremes 2003-2004 | WWF) and I always thought that to be inspiring.

The 66 is also a good choice. I met Mischa and Ruben when they were doing the world trip (you can see me briefly in the Lisbon episode) and I have followed that flight on YouTube so it really resonates to me.

I think you’re on the right path with your choices, to be honest!

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I’d be interested to hear how suitable you think the TH-57 – modified version of the Bell 206 – would be for your endeavor. I just uploaded it to the x-plane.org forum yesterday. I modified the 206 to get as close as I could to the TH-57C which I flew as a student in flight school during the late 90s. It will be able to handle any instrument approach you have to fly except for possibly an NDB-DME approach (I couldn’t find a DME-only receiver in Plane Maker that tuned DMEs by channel only). The model flies similar to what I recall from the TH-57B model in that there’s no ministab flight control system in it. The link to it is Bell TH-57 Instrument Panel (Based on Default Bell 206) - Helicopters - Rotorcraft - X-Plane.Org Forum
-Brian

my “goto” choppers are the Cowan Sim 500e (challenging, responsive and, rewarding) and the Dream Foil 407. Also great fun is the Lama and the Huey UH-1.