The Talent Company Limited 'Enterprise' Touring Airship.
Replica 'civilianised' British SS Type Airship with a three-crew twin-engined control car that has a touch of 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' about it. I have actually considered this as a viable design for a full size Airship for amateur construction, perhaps in an alternative reality where I'm a millionaire...
The flight dynamics are inspired by the fantastic work of Bill Lyons and are a mixture of mine and his work... I first put them together for FS98 but as it turned out that it was one of Bill's .air files I originally hacked way back then, I think we can largely say that the overall airship behaviour is down to him. Thanks Bill. :-)
FS can't really simulate airships but this gets pretty close with a little help from a sneaky little application of flaps from time to time. She won't loop, roll, or stall either, which is half way to reality. She also reacts to gusts in a most realistic way.
Installing:
Easy, just drop Enterprise folder into your main Aircraft folder. Manufacturer is listed as Unreal Aviation rather than 'The Talent Company Limited' as I wouldn't want to confuse you, besides which, I haven't finished the novel.
There is a simple VC. No clickable gauges as I don't know how to do that but you get to look around the airship and see some of the detail. Pressing CTRL SHIFT ENTER to move yourself sideways to look down the side is absolutely terrifying! I suggest a zoom of 60-70% for best results.
The rather nice 2D panel uses standard Sopwith Camel gauges as these seemed to be within the spirit of the thing even though they are quite inaccurate.
Flying:
Start your engines with CTRL E. This will get them both up and running. There is a nice air-cooled flat-twin engine sound, that is in keeping with the spirit of the thing. The engines are actually modern but as she is filled with Helium instead of hydrogen, the 500Lbs LESS weight means you can still get off the ground with a full load.
On the command "Up Ship" 4-6 of the ground crew would heave the aircraft bodily into the air and duck away from the rear prop as you firewalled the throttle and climbed away smartly. To simulate this, select full flap (you will hear a hissing sound as the forward ballonet is emptied and the rear one filled with air) then firewall said throttle. You can lose the flaps incrementally or all at once depending upon how you feel.
Best cruise on two engines is at 40kts. Rate of climb is very good but for realism you would stay below 4000 feet and normal operational height would be 1000-2500 depending upon the barometric pressure, gas temperature and whether you are carrying that third occupant (and whether or not it's a child).
She will cruise all day at 40kts or you can slow right down to 7-5kts (with flap) and hover in a light breeze. Try landing on top of a building (M$ ones are hardened for this - crash-detection must be switched on), it's fun.
Auto-rudder /ON is fine if you don't want to make rudder-only turns. The ailerons are there, this being FS you can't remove 'em, but they are not effective at turning the airship at all s'there.
In turbulence, she will pitch and roll and generally gets chucked about. Just like the real thing. :-)
On cross-countries, it helps if the wind is going your way.
To land you should really switch off the front engine to protect the ground crew. They get a bit miffed if they lose any hands and positively livid if they lose any heads.
To shut of the front engine press these keys, one at a time in this order in quick succession:
E 1 M - - -
That's Engine, One, Magneto(s) Minus, Minus, MInus. The front propeller should then stop. To ensure that you have full control of the second engine press E 2. Throttle control will return as usual but with half the power. She will climb on one though; this is an airship so the power isn't lifting it, just pushing it forward. (Yes, I know, I know, I AM an aerodynamicist, it's just easier to explain it that way, OK?)
To restart the front engine press E 1 + + + etc. (or just press CTRL E)
Add flaps as and when/if you need 'em. There are no brakes as they would be completely ineffective holding back a dirigible of 60000 cubic feet capacity. It may be light but there is a lot for the wind to get hold of and it has considerable inertia too. You might want to lose any flaps as you shut off your engine(s) to help prevent being blown about. Parking crosswind can help here too but remember, they didn't keep 'em in ruddy great sheds when it was windy for nothing.
Note: As always, I have included an autopilot so that the aircraft will follow FSNavigator tracks as I like to sit in the tower and watch her drifting around above my head etc.
If the aircraft seems to have a mind of its own, check that you haven't left the AP on from a previous aircraft. Press Z to toggle the AP. The same applies to Autothrottle. If the engines won't respond press CTRL SHIFT R to toggle the AT.
If you hate the AP then edit the Aircraft.cfg file to remove it.
That's it. I'm quite pleased with it but I'm open to comments. This is my first release to the World so be gentle. ;-)
Thanks to:
Milton Shupe for his help re night textures and landing lights etc.
John Woodside for the leather jacket to keep the pilot warm.
William Ortis for making me think "I really must get around to making that airship".
