FS2002 Unreal Aviation "Drifter" pedal-powered Airship.
Pedal your way from rooftop to rooftop (if you can climb that high) over your favourite bit of scenery in this delightfully cute machine.
Although designed specifically for FS2002 this aircraft will work in FS9 using the alternative AIR and CFG files provided.
Installing:
Unzip to a spare directory then drop the Drifter folder into your main Aircraft folder.
FS9 users must move the AIR and CFG files out of the FS9 folder into the Drifter folder, replacing the existing files. The FS2002 files will not work in FS9.
FS2002 users must move the Unreal folder in the aircraft's Panel folder into the default Gauges folder. If you already have an Unreal folder (thank you for downloading my aircraft) then overwrite it with this one, the contents will just be added.
Flying:
Important. You must cycle through the cockpit views at least once before flight (S key three times) to activate the hidden gauges otherwise, the aircraft will not work properly.
Start the 'engine' with CTRL E.
Once the prop is a blur open the throttle, aircraft will lift off gently. Aim for a cruising speed of 7 knots as any faster and you will climb. In FS, you can fly at any height but for realism, you should stay around 500-1000 feet as there is no internal ballonet and the aircraft is severely pressure-limited.
Turns are made with rudder, as there are neither ailerons nor elevators. Actually, this being FS, they are there - you can't get rid of 'em, but they are restricted for realism.
To land, close the throttle. You will descend at a constant 5 knots or so until near the ground when the invisible ground crew will grab hold of you.
Note that the maximum permissible wind speed is 5 knots and it needs to be calm. It also helps if the wind is going your way otherwise, you could spend a couple of hours over one spot....
In FS9, the aircraft will fly faster than it should in reality and it cannot slow down to zero knots but it still looks the part and is fun to fly.
Sorry, there is no non-pedalling pilot. I used GMAX and although it is the superior modeller in almost every way, it lacks a couple of features found in FSDS, one of which is the ability to switch pilots on and off.
Thanks to Ian Radcliffe for fine-tuning the FS9 versions of the AIR and CFG files. I don't have FS9 and so cannot test for this myself.
That's it. Have fun.
This aircraft is FREEWARE and must remain so.
It has been uploaded to www.SurClaro exclusively and so if you got it from somewhere else then it didn't come from me. If you paid for it then you were ripped off.
