CH-34A "Choctaw"
Made with
gmax



For FS 2002 Pro or Standard
Model by: Paul Bradshaw
pbradshaw@nc.rr.com
or
HC0003@yahoo.com

Sound by: Manuel Gonzalez
manuel@thlz.com


First of all, I would like to thank you for downloading this aircraft. I have tried to make as good of a visual model as possible while trying to keep the frame rates reasonable. As this is my very first aircraft ever made, I have learned alot from researching, model design, panel design, and the .air and .cfg files. This aircraft is not in the same standards as you might expect from the likes of Jordan Moore, Dwight "Blades" Booth, Antti Pankkonen and many others who have set the standards in aircraft design. Like I said, this is my first attempt at an aircraft.
For those who love the virtual cockpit, you may be disappointed to see that this version does not have a virtual cockpit. I am not making a promise of creating one either. Only time will tell. The "Eyecandy" is also limited as well, you will notice that the rescue hoist does not lower. The reason for not having a virtual cockpit and no animation for the hoist is because of a limited time frame at this moment.
What this aircraft does have:
Animated rotor disc
Pilots panel and Co-pilots panel Shift+1/Shift+2
Opening troop door Shift+E
Green lighted gauges at night (for the military look)
Drooping main rotor blades at full stop

Special Notes:
I have tried to accurately reproduce the panel as much as possible. However, there is very limited information about this helicopter and out of hundreds of pictures, only a couple are of the main panel and from a distance that makes it hard to determine exact accuracy of the layout and gauges. Also, the technical specs for the aircraft is limited as well but you will find that the empty weight, max weight and max airspeed are as accurate as possible. Out of countless E-mails that I sent out to certain people who know about this aircraft, NOT ONE of them replied.
I created the CH-34A to work in conjunction with Jordan Moore's Dynamic Load Control program that allows you to change the amount of fuel, passenger weight, and sling weight while flying without having to leave the simulation. You will notice that you can type in the max sling weight of 5,000 lbs. and still be able to fly. However the weight will affect the dynamics of the aircraft as it is meant to do. The Dynamic Load Control program is not included in this download because of the rather large file you just downloaded. If you wish to use the program, visit www.yoboworks.com and download Jordan Moore's excellent Schweizer 300. The program is included in that download.
Some user's may experience some slight bouncing while first starting to taxi, it will not last long though. In order to keep the nose of the aircraft from tipping over during ground taxi, it is recommended to keep the Torque at 35% and applying forward cyclic gently and no faster than a fast walking pace.

History:
The Sikorsky H-34 was developed in 1950's in order to replace the H-19 for the Armed Services. The H-34 had many different roles throughout all the branches of service. Some of them including troop and equipment delivery, aerial mine delivery, medical evacuation and presidential transport just to name a few. The Army's version of the H-34 was called the CH-34A "Choctaw". The CH-34A Choctaw saw most of it's combat action during the Vietnam War. Although first created by Sikorsky, the H-34 soon became used world-wide and being produced by Westland Aircraft and Sud Est of France. This version of the CH-34A "Choctaw", is one of the earlier versions with the old style main landing gear configuration and the flat, side cockpit style windows.

Installation:
Simply place the unzipped CH34 folder inside your FS2002 aircraft folder. It should look something like C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\FS2002\aircraft. Wherever you installed FS2002. Yours may be different.
No need to install any gauges as this uses default FS2002 Standard or Pro gauges.



Special Thanks:
To Jordan Moore for the knowledge that he has shared with me while trying to complete this project and allowing me to be a member of and to help contribute to his website at www.yoboworks.com (Hovercontrol) for fellow rotor heads.
To Dwight "Blades" Booth at The LZ for always taking time out to respond to my questions about contact points and all the other silly questions I have ever asked him. You should already know the web site, but in case you don't, it's www.thelz.com
To Manuel Gonzalez for letting me use his awesome Huey sounds! Hear his work on all of The LZ's birds.
To gcurtis from the Visions of Vietnam web site, don't know you but thanks for your great website with many pictures of the H-34 and several other helicopters. If you have not visited www.popasmoke.com/ I suggest going there to see some awesome photos from the Vietnam War that user's have contributed.

Notice:
I have nit picked this helicopter to death and I am aware of certain faults that you may be displeased with so please don't e-mail me with your dislikes. However, feel free to contact me at the e-mail above if you want to know information about the design, dynaics, etc..
If you would like to have the .gmax file to make improvements to the helicopter, email me with your intentions and I will be glad to send it to you.

Legal stuff:
This aircraft may be uploaded to any site so long as all the files remain intact and of course full credit is given to the author. You may repaint and upload your repaint to any flight sim site either as textures only or as a complete package. I must warn you though that if you decide to change the base texture color, there will be certain parts that will remain green. So if you decide to paint the orange Navy version, it may look a little funny.