For Fs2002 Only.
The Goodyear blimp Defender was built in 1929 at Wingfoot Lake near Akron, Ohio. As the largest Goodyear blimp to that date she served as the flagship of the fleet till her retirement in 1934. She was Christened by Emelia Earhart at the 1929 Cleveland National Air Races and during her reign she carried many notables of the day. She was luxuriously fitted out in the finest art deco furnishings of the time. Her 178,000 cu.ft envelope allowed a crew of two and 8 lucky passengers. She was powered by two 5 cylinder Lawrence engines which gave her a cruise speed of around 45mph. Just right for sightseeing in the grand manner!! She continued to be based at Wingfoot through out her service and was used on special occasions to impress visiting dignitaries and as a corporate flying limosine for Goodyear officials. This didn't stop Goodyear pilots from occasionally landing on building roof tops around the Akron area though.... Just to keep up their proficiency they claimed...;o))
Although Fs2002 does not support true lighter than air craft we can simulate that flight envelope using variable lift and drag to give a reasonable and fun flight sim experience.
INSTALLATION:
Just unzip the the inclosed file InstallDef.zip directly into your main fs2002 folder. This will place all the files in the correct folders and allow you to boot up and get right to the flying..:o) If you have a fast computer and are happy with the default pan rate in the virtual cockpit mode then you are finished installing... If you would like a faster pan rate open the fs2002.cfg file using Notepad and increase the pan rate under [Controls] from 400 to 900... This will allow a faster, more realistic view change as you swing around or up and down using the hat switch. At the end of this file I am including an easy method to get rid of the ugly red Brake and Parking Brake signs that so detract from the realism of the sim. Thanks very much to Roy Chaffin for this info.
OPERATION:
Under Flights/My Flights select the flight Defender Flight Lesson. This will place you at the Akron airport all tied down and ready for your blimp pilot lesson. IMPORTANT!! Flight instructions and key assignments are on the kneeboard checklist in the sim!!! Carefully follow the checklist to get her in the air!! Steering is with the rudder.. Do NOT use autorudder.. Use your ailerons to keep her level and make realistic flat turns. Fly with full realism but be sure to uncheck the Stress box under crash realism as blimps are fragile birds!! The lesson flight is set up in modern times so there is nothing under the copilots clip in the VC cabin.. Change the sim year to 1929 through 1934 to see sigificant events or places she visited in the 5 year life of the Defender before her retirement. Most of the city building roof tops in fs2002 are hardened and will support helo or blimp landings so after a little practice you can flyover to downtown Akron and practice your roof hopping.. Just to stay proficient..:o)) The pilot face texture (pilotc2.bmp) can be customized with your own photo image if you want to see yourself flying a blimp!!
Thanks to Louis Sinclair for the wonderful FSDS program, to Konstantin Kukushkin for AA, to Mike Crosthwaite for SDL Edit, to Martin Wright for his graphics programs,to JL Stubbs for his great gauges, to the MS Team who developed Fs2002 and to anyone else who I may have omitted. Thanks to the members of the Golden Eagles Squadron who are a great bunch of flightsim artists who have joined together to help each other keep the tradition of low key fun freeware alive in Fs2002.. Emphasis is on classic and vintage aircraft. This package is one of many you will be seeing in the coming months as we explore the wonderful new world of fs2002 that Microsoft has provided us. Please do not use our work in any commercial product. Other than that restriction our work can be freely distributed as an intact package. Please visit our site at http://home.earthlink.net/%7Epgrubich/goldeneagles.htm and let us know what you think of our flightsim offerings, make suggestions or check out future plans.. Most thanks go to my wife, Lynn, who puts up with this crazy passion I pursue..;o)
Good flying, Bill Lyons, Member of The Golden Eagles squadron, 2002, gwings@netexpress.net
Parking brake sign fix:Brought to you by RCS Panels
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Removing the "brakes" messages from the screen:
First make a backup copy of your FS2002.cfg file, which can be found in your main FS2002 folder. Then using a text editor like Windows Notepad open the original of the FS2002.cfg file
Scroll down until you reach a section called [Sim]
Add a third line " show_brake_message=0 " so the section now reads :-
