FS2002 PRO Druk Air BAe 146 repaint by Wayne Brown
Repaint of Jon Murchison's original BAe 146-200 QT aircraft model
and textures in the colors of Druk Air, the national airline of the Kingdom of Bhutan. Textures are provided for both of Druk Air's BAe 146s, registration A5-RGD (shown in old colors, slightly weathered) and A5-RGE (shown in new colors). High detail model features fully animated gear with suspension, animated flaps, rudder, wing spoilers activated on the ground and tail spoiler in the air, 3D engine fan blades, animated front door with airstair ("Shift+e" to operate), reflective textures and dynamic shine effects.
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HISTORY
The Kingdom of Bhutan, slightly larger than Switzerland, is located in the eastern Himalayas between China and India, to the east of Nepal. A rugged and beautiful country, rich in tradition and culture, it is often referred to as "the last Shangri-La". Bhutan's terrain varies from the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas to dense semi-tropical forests and savannah grasslands. It was not until 1974 that tourism to the nation was permitted, and today the government takes a cautious approach to the development of tourism in an attempt to preserve the nation's rich heritage. Visitors to Bhutan must either be guests of the government or tourists travelling on a guided package tour. Independent travel is forbidden.
For those entering Bhutan by air, Druk Air is the only game in town. One of the world's smallest national carriers, Druk Air began operations in 1983 using a Dornier 228. In 1988, the airline replaced the Dornier with their first jet, a BAe 146-100 registered as A5-RGD (c/n E1095). The aircraft was selected for its ability to operate from the 6500' runway at Paro Airport, Bhutan's only paved field, which has what many consider to be one of the most challenging approaches in the world. With a published elevation of 7333 feet MSL, Paro is situated in a valley surrounded by mountains of approximately 16,000 feet. Flight operations to and from Paro Airport are only conducted in day VFR conditions. A5-RGD was initially used on routes from Paro to Calcutta and Dhaka.
In December 1992, a second BAe 146-100, A5-RGE (c/n E1199), was acquired to allow expansion of service to Bangkok, Delhi, and Kathmandu. In addition to the scheduled services, Druk Air's 146s also operate weekly sight-seeing flights over the Himalayas from October to March. The tours fly a "figure-8" pattern, offering passengers a unique view of Bhutan's spectacular countryside.
Links for additional info and photos:
Druk Air's website:
http://www.drukair.com.bt/
Non-official Druk Air website:
http://www4.justnet.ne.jp/~benjamin/DRUKAIRE.HTM
Photos of Druk Air BAe 146 A5-RGE at airliners.net:
http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=A5-RGE&distinct_entry=true
Photos of Druk Air BAe 146 A5-RGD at airliners.net:
http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?airlinesearch=Druk%20Air&distinct_entry=true
BAe 146/Avro RJ website with good info about Druk Air:
http://www.smiliner.com/operators/a5.shtml
Photos of the real Paro Airport can be seen at:
http://community.webshots.com/album/33798405bbxuAM
I highly recommend using Matthias Lieberecht's excellent freeware BAe 146 panel (not included, but available for download from SurClaro under filename mi1462.zip, or SurClaro.com under filename ml146pv2.zip and ml146pu2.zip). Also recommended is Einar Aarvik's FS2002 scenery for Paro Airport (from SurClaro under filename paro.zip, or SurClaro.com under filename paroairport.zip).
The actual aircraft in Druk Air's fleet are BAe 146-100 aircraft, while the model used for this repaint is of a BAe 146-200 QT. The -200 QT (Quiet Trader) variant has a slightly longer fuselage (7 ft. 10 in., or 2.39m) than the -100. The -200 QT is also equipped with a cargo door on the left aft fuselage, which is apparent in this model only when engines are shutdown and inbuilt scenery appears. As a suitable -100 model was unavailable for FS2002, this is as close as I can get. My condolences to the members of The Association of Flight Simulator Purists.
I hope you enjoy the repaint!
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INSTALLATION
Simply unzip to a temporary folder, then drag and drop the aircraft folder ("BAe146") into your "FS2002/aircraft" folder. Start FS2002, and you should find both aircraft in the Druk Air fleet listed under manufacturer "British Aerospace" and type "146 100".
Druk Air's first BAe 146, registration A5-RGD, is found listed under variation "Druk Air (A5-RGD oc)". It is shown in the company's old color scheme and with a somewhat "dirtier" appearance.
The second 146 acquired by the company, registration A5-RGE, is found listed under variation "Druk Air (A5-RGE nc)". It is depicted with a cleaner appearance and with the subtle variations of the newer color scheme, including revised company titles and registration, deletion of the black radome, and addition of cheatlines to the engine nacelles.
INSTALLATION TO EXISTING "BAE1462F" FOLDER
If you have already installed the same version of Jon's BAe 146-200 QT (in TNT and Titan colors) using his auto-install program and did not modify the folder names, it should (probably) have created a folder for the aircraft located at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\FS2002\aircraft\BAE1462F.
If so, you can save hard drive space by adding only the texture folders from this package to your existing "BAE1462F" aircraft folder.
After dropping the folders labeled "texture.rgdoc" and "texture.rgenc" into your "BAE1462F" folder, add the following lines to your aircraft.cfg file after the similar entries for the Titan and TNT planes:
[fltsim.2]
title=BAe 146-100 Druk Air A5RGD oc
sim=bae1462F
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=rgdoc
checklists=
ui_manufacturer=British Aerospace
ui_type=146 100
ui_variation=Druk Air (A5-RGD oc)
description=Druk Air Royal Bhutan Airlines BAe 146-100 A5-RGD (c/n E1095), acquired in November 1988. Druk Air, based at Paro, Bhutan, flies to Calcutta, Dhaka, New Delhi, Bangkok, and Kathmandu. Yangon was also served briefly. In addition to the scheduled international services, Druk Air's 146s also operate weekly sight-seeing flights over the Himalayas from October to March. Druk Air's 146s are fitted with 10 business class and 62 economy class seats.
atc_heavy=1
atc_id=A5-RGD
atc_airline=
atc_flight_number=
atc_type=BaE
atc_model=BA46
visual_damage=0
[fltsim.3]
title=BAe 146-100 Druk Air nc
sim=bae1462F
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=rgenc
checklists=
ui_manufacturer=British Aerospace
ui_type=146 100
ui_variation=Druk Air (A5-RGE nc)
description=Druk Air Royal Bhutan Airlines BAe 146-100 A5-RGE (c/n E1199), acquired in December 1992. Druk Air, based at Paro, Bhutan, flies to Calcutta, Dhaka, New Delhi, Bangkok, and Kathmandu. Yangon was also served briefly. In addition to the scheduled international services, Druk Air's 146s also operate weekly sight-seeing flights over the Himalayas from October to March. Druk Air's 146s are fitted with 10 business class and 62 economy class seats.
atc_heavy=1
atc_id=A5-RGE
atc_airline=
atc_flight_number=
atc_type=BaE
atc_model=BA46
visual_damage=0
//Remember, the [fltsim.x] entries must be numbered sequentially starting with [fltsim.0] or the aircraft will not show up in the menu.
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CREDITS & LEGAL STUFF
Original aircraft model and textures by Jon Murchison.
Thanks to Jon for allowing this repaint of his aircraft. See Jon's README file, enclosed in the "original docs" folder, for more information.
Texture repaints by Wayne Brown, (C)2003. All rights reserved.
These textures are given as FREEWARE to the flight simulation community. They may not be redistributed or uploaded elsewhere, in whole or in part, without the written consent of the author.
In providing this repaint, no warranty, either implied or specific, is given. Any damage to your computer, programs, or files resulting from the use of these files is the responsibility of the person unzipping the files. The downloading, unzipping and use of the contents of this zipfile is at your own risk, and the author cannot be held responsible for any damages or problems which may occur in connection with the use of this zipfile and/or its contents.
The author's rights and wishes concerning this archive must be
respected.
Photograph of BAe 146 A5-RGD at Bangkok, September 1992, by Eddy Cuperus. Thanks to Eddy for allowing it to be included in this package.
Photograph of BAe 146 A5-RGE at Bangkok, October 1998, by Olav Rhensius/Propfreak Collection. Thanks to Olav for allowing use of this photo.
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Questions or comments may be directed to Wayne Brown at:
