NOTE: This report is from the original Aircraft that was designed by Barry Blaisdell. I felt that it was important to include it here as it is so informative.
Dan Port
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From: Tony Cortes
Sent: Friday, December 22, 2000 4:28 PM
Subject: Pilot's point of view ; )
Only hours after unstrapping from CG1708 here in Kodiak, Ak. I found myself
being briefed by Dave Gillespie, the technical expert for the Coast Guard C-130
FS98/2000 project being created by Barry Blaisdell and Jens Borgstroem.
They have created a beautiful FS98/2000 rendition of the actual Coast Guard
HC-130H, 1706 that performs daily missions here at Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak.
I was asked to stop by to see how the latest version looks, and take her for a
spin to see how she flies.
I had seen pictures of her as she was being built and had much anticipated the
chance of getting to fly her.
When Dave pulled her up on his computer, she looked beautiful, like in the David
Lee Roth songs Yankee Rose, "She's beautiful!".
The texture of her skin was flawless.
Every part was the perfect size and in just the right places just like her big
sister.
Dave described her motions and then showed me.
With a APU add-on, he started each of the four engines. With the four engines
purring, he shut one down, just to show the excellent animating Barry had created.
It stopped in beautiful animation.
He restarted it, and in the same graphical animation she spun up to her normal
on speed condition ready to carry her part of the load.
After completing the brief, we taxied to runway 28. We decided to take her up
through Buskin Pass, a pass that is only meant for VMC conditions, but after all
it was a beautiful simulated day here in Kodiak.
As I taxied I noticed that the 1706 nosewheel swiveled just like the real one.
Prior to taking the runway, we set the trim two notches up and checked flaps at
50%.
At the approach end of runway 28, I lined her up with the centerline.
Taking a deep breath and thinking to myself, I've flown a lot of C-130 flight
sims and they are so much harder to fly than the real ones, I squeeze the trigger
button to hold the brakes. I push up the power as not to over torque her. I quickly
scan over the engine instrument and could feel raw power through the feedback
joystick.
I then, released the brakes, she surged forward, and within seconds the airspeed
was alive, picking up speed. 90, 100, 105 I pulled slightly on the joystick, and
her nose raised, at 109 IAS her mains come off the ground just as calculated for
her 128,000 pounder.
Incredible! I have never seen that before in a C-130 flightsim. Usually they
takeoff nowhere close to the same speed an actual herc takes off at. Most of them
you have to get up to 150 knots before they want to break their earthly bond.
Okay, climbing out now, gear up! Dave and I watched from a spot plane point of view.
I sat in amazement, as I watched the mains suck up underneath her and the nose wheel
move up, followed by the hatch in perfect synchronous order.
Continuing the climb, I raise the flaps as she continued to accelerate to a perfect
180 knots.
Looking out the right side I saw the right wing with the 2 powerful Allison engines
with Hamilton props creating thrust out of old dinosaur bone (simulated) as if I was
sitting in the right seat of a real C-130.
In the distance, I see us passing Pyramid Mountain, a Kodiak landmark. Now at 3500ft,
I decide to level off. I pull the power back, trim a little and bank to the right,
then to the left, just to feel the accuracy of the ailerons.
A tiny bit sluggish, but that was most likely me not being used to the joystick.
I lower her nose and raise it a gain, now that was perfect.
I continued my look around her as I searched for every detail and I thought to myself
she looks as good as she feels.
We cruise around, checking out some of the add-on sites Dave has created and posted
on AVSIM and then we decide it's time we cruise on back home.
I push up the throttles, trim and let her accelerate to 250 knots, a limit we must
maintain below 10,000 ft.
I decide that I'll try the Pillar Mountain approach for runway 18, a fun test on
airmanship. I descend down to 1300ft.
Approaching Pillar mountain, I aim for the saddle, pull the throttles back to flight
idle, and decelerate to 220 knots. At that time I started lowering the flaps a notch
at a time.
At 165 knots, speed checks, I lower the landing gear, and we complete the before landing
checklist.
Jumping to an outside view I watched once again the perfect animation as the gear came
down.
Jumping back inside, I continue to lower the flaps. Crossing the ridge with 100% flaps,
gear down and locked and at 130 knots, (100% flaps approach speed for our current
weight) I saw runway 18.
I lower the nose and aim for the numbers. On speed I cross over the threshold at 120 IAS.
I raise the nose a little, and allow ground effect to help her settle on the runway.
I lower the nose, press F2 for reverse thrust, and apply brakes to bring her to a gentle
stop.
What a rush!
She handled incredibly well. She looks beautiful and the her animation is very realistic.
The attention to detail, animation, and fantastic flight characteristics are a great
tribute to the hard work of the ground crews that keep her flying and the aircrews who
have spent countless hours, on board the CG1706, executing missions on behalf of this
great country.
Barry Blaisdell, Jens Borgstroem, and Dave Gillespie have done a great job, on replicating
what the real CG1706 looks and feels like.
At this point, I could not be more impressed, and I cannot wait for the FS98/2000 CG1706
to be posted.
The actual 1706 has quite a history behind her, and still to this day executes rescue, law
enforcement, and logistics missions on a daily basis. I feel honored to have the chance to
fly this replica.
I am happy to say, the flight sim model of the CG1706 flies just like her big sister, and
has wonderful detail and perfect synchronous animation. If you want to know what a real
HC-130H feels like, take her for a spin.
