FS2002 Douglas DC-3 Buffalo Airways (2)
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Buffalo Airways of Hay River and Yellowknife, Canada, has been in the business of providing scheduled and chartered passenger and freight service in Canada for over 30 years. Buffalos fleet consists of 4 Douglas DC-4s, 2 Curtiss C-46 Commandos, 4 Canadair CL-215 Water Bombers, 4 PBY-5A Canso Water Bombers and 10 Douglas DC-3s. The oldest and most well-known are the DC-3s.
Travelling at 170 miles per hour, Buffalo Airways DC-3s can haul 7000 pounds of freight or 27 passengers to destinations throughout the Canadian North. They have flown from one end of Canada to the other, south into the United States and as far north as Greenland. They normally operate on wheels, but when it comes time to land on the snow-covered lakes of the Canadian North, some of the aircraft have the wheels removed to be replaced with skis.
C-GPNR
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Construction Number 13333
Plant Number 42-93423
The most commonly used DC-3 for scheduled freight service and also used for Medivac, C-GPNR entered active service on May 17, 1944. She started out as a member of the Royal Air Force and flew in the United Kingdom and Middle East until June 1946. Then the aircraft came to Canada to fly for the Royal Canadian Air Force. In October of 1980 Buffalo Airways received her in pristine condition and put her to work in the NWT.
C-GWIR
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Construction Number 9371
Plant Number 42-23509
C-GWIR is one of Buffalo's more traveled DC-3s. Delivered to the 8th Air Force on April 13, 1943, she remained there until March 1960. She then moved to the French Air Force until 1963. Over the next 12 years, she was based and operated in many different parts of the world. C-GWIR moved to Algiers, Tucson AZ, Calgary AB, Winnipeg MB, and finally the NWT. She was a valuable asset to NWT Air until 1981 when she moved to Buffalo Airways. To this day, most of the markings in this aircraft are still in French.
For more on these aircraft and the company go to www.buffaloairways.com, from which the above information is sourced. In thirty years of operation, the ownership of Buffalo Airways has remained unchanged since the company's inception. The company belongs to "Buffalo Joe" and Sharon McBryan of Hay River.
Look here too for some fascinating first-hand tales of the NWT: www.douglasdc3.com/buff/buffalo.htm
Based on Jan Visser's legendary DC-3 model for FS2000, updated for FS2002, these models include transparent cabin windows, nightlighting, lit 3D interior with opening cargo doors/pax door, boarding ladder, cargo both inside and outside the aircraft (freight version) and other details. Flight Dynamics are by Erik Ellis, Jan Visser, Roy Chaffin, Ian Ropper, & Bill Rambow. Includes FS2002 lights fix by Paul Pridmore. Paintwork and Buffalo Airways DC-3 panel by Mark Beaumont. Also includes flightplans CYHY/CYZF/CYHY with map.
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INSTALLATION
Either:
Unzip DC3BUFFA.ZIP directly to your main FS2002 folder. The folder 'Douglas DC-3 Buffalo Airways (2)' will be installed in your FS2002/AIRCRAFT folder.
Gauges (yes, there is a panel with these ladies!) will go to FS2002/GAUGES.
Flight plans will go to FS2002/FLIGHTS/MYFLTS (Hay River to Yellowknife.pln, Yellowknife to Hay River.pln).
The smoke file will go to FS2002/EFFECTS.
Or:
Unzip to a temporary folder and move the respective folders to your FS2002 directory manually. This way you can ensure that no file is unwittingly overwritten. If you are concerned that the gauges in this package will overwrite existing gauges, this is recommended.
Whichever way you do it, your new aircraft will appear in your FS2002 aircraft selection menu under the manufacturer 'Douglas' type 'DC-3', variations 'Buffalo Airways C-GPNR (cargo)' and 'Buffalo Airways C-GWIR (pax)'
Note: As these two aircraft are based on different models, I had to make a choice when it came to light configuration. The only difference is that on the cargo version, the rear light should be lower: it is correct on the passenger aircraft. If this bothers you, then you will need to create a separate aircraft folder for the cargo version (if you need help with this, please ask) and change the new folder's AIRCRAFT.CFG lights section to the following:
No DC-3 sounds are included, but it is highly recommended that you replace the default file, which aliases to the C182, with realistic sounds. If this is not your first DC-3, then you may already have some; but otherwise, recommended are both those found on Trevor "Mr. DC3" Morson's site at www.douglasdc3.com (a must-visit site, particularly for this aircraft, in any case) or by sound guru Mike Hambly: search for the file DAKSND1.ZIP.
Or find it directly at: http://ftp.SurClaro.com/library/sendfile.php?DownloadID=12776.
Alternatively, if you have the MAAM R4D-6, those sounds will do nicely!
As this is my last upload for FS2002, I have taken the trouble to knock together a simple panel specific to these 'planes; based on a photograph from a Buffalo Airways aircraft. The panel has fairly modern avionics as do the real aircraft today (ahhh good ... no more fiddling with the Sperry, I hear you say) and so should be fairly straightforward to use. You can toggle the default GPS, a throttle quadrant and a local map/chart. I have mounted Ike Slack's GPSmap295 on the glareshield, as in the real aircraft. The documents for this great little GPS are in the ORIGINAL DOCS folder.
Ike's gauge doesn't darken down at night. It doesn't bother me personally, but if you would rather do without the gauge for this reason, open your PANEL.CFG file and look for the following line:
gauge62=gpsmap295!gps, 691,220,300
Change it to:
//gauge62=gpsmap295!gps, 691,220,300
The gauge itself will disappear from your set-up but the image of the GPS will remain (Buffalo carry this instrument) in the OFF position.
The original panel upload was updated on July 24 in response to feedback.
Whilst on the subject, there is a texture anomaly on the tail of the cargo aircraft at night. Can't be helped, I'm afraid, it was in the original model and was never corrected. Sorry.
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OPERATION:
C-GPNR: to move the steps, close the cargo doors and move the pilots to the cockpit, hit SHIFT/L. This will also turn on your navigation lights. Don't fly without them, or you'll find you have cargo flying in space! Hit SHIFT/L again to reverse the process.
C-GWIR: to open and close the door and position the boarding ladder, use the "/" key. To move the pilots to and from the cockpit and turn your navigation lights on and off respectively, hit "SHIFT/L".
Landing lights are independently controlled using "L". Hit "CTRL/L" for landing lights. Smoke can be activated by hitting the "I" key.
Read the text file FLIGHT PLAN INFORMATION and refer to FLIGHT PLAN MAP to fly these aircraft on a real-world scheduled Buffalo Airways service.
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CREDITS:
Jan Visser, for the original aircraft; together with Bill Rambow, Roy Chaffin and others, Jan remains on the leading edge of development within FS. These repaints are based on the models of the TDM Freighter and PH-DDZ. Most of the wonderful textures are Jan's, together with interior fixtures and fittings etc., etc. I simply rounded up a buffalo or two and made sure the de-icing system was working.
The author of the smoke effect. I do not know who this is, but it is not a standard FS2002 effect.
Paul Pridmore for permission to use his FS2002 lights "fix" for the FS2000 model.
Ike Slack of Coyote Aviation Design for his great little GPSmap295 gauge, and to all other gauge makers whose gauges might be included here; there are no references.
Dirk Fassbender for permission to use his unique map gauge.
Curt Yardey for the time he spent on tweaking the AIRCRAFT.CFG parameters, particularly the lights, which changes are now in all my repaints.
Chris Alevritis for the static image of the throttle/prop/mix levers which I lifted from his lovely 1999 panel - which I used to fly religiously.
Jorge 'Eko' Salas for inspiration. Try his Dc-3 panel also if you have not done so, that shipped with my "Betsy" repaints and his "Iberia" DC-3.
Anyone else whose work might be here that I am unaware of. All files here, other than my repaint work, have been uploaded previously in the public domain as freeware. If anything is here that shouldn't be, please let me know and I'll replace it.
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Enjoy your Buffalo Airways DC-3s! You've got some interesting territory to explore ... and hopefully, these aircraft will appeal to those who have not flown DC-3s before because they are "in the past". These babies are active aircraft today and there's no sign that they won't continue to be for some time to come! Put your Boeings and Airbuses aside for a while, and fly low and slow; it's fun, you know.
This package may not be redistributed or further modified without prior consent from ALL the authors listed in the credits. Each has their own policy for distribution and modification, so please ensure all are contacted. They can all be traced through the major flight simulation sites.
Here's a list of my complete DC-3 repaints for FS2002, available at SurClaro.com, SurClaro and Simviation.com:
Cathay Pacific 'Betsy' VR-HDB (2) CPABETSY.ZIP (includes panel by Jorge Salas)
Cathay Pacific 'Betsy' Cargo CPABETSY2.ZIP (only at www.swiremariners.com\cxkaitak.html)
Cathay Pacific 'Nikki' VR-HDA CPANIKKI.ZIP
Ansett MAL VH-MAL ('Betsy') DC3ANSOC.ZIP
Ansett PNG VH-MAL ('Betsy') DC3ANSNC.ZIP (Pratt & Whitney engines)
Airlines of NSW 'Viewmaster' (P&Ws) DC3ANSW.ZIP
Bush Pilots Airways VH-MAL ('Betsy') DC3BPA.ZIP
Air Queensland VH-MAL ('Betsy') DC3AQAC.ZIP
BBA Cargo VH-BAB DC3BBA.ZIP
BOAC G-AGHE DC3BOAC2.ZIP
Dan-Air G-AMPP DC3DAN.ZIP
American Airlines N21798 DC3AAFK.ZIP
Lambair CF-CBJ DC3LAMB.ZIP
Air Vietnam XV-NIA DC3VIET.ZIP, DC3VIET2.ZIP (includes flight plans)
Bahamas Airways VP-BBU DC3BAHAM.ZIP
Delta Air Lines NC28341 DC3DELTA.ZIP
Swiss Air Lines HB-IRN DC3SWISS.ZIP
C-47 BBMF ZA947, Aces High N147DC C47RAF2.ZIP
C-47 USAAF 41-18385 C47BETSY.ZIP
All the above will benefit from the recommended upgrade DC3AIR.ZIP. The following uploads already have this upgrade:
Ansett ANA 'Cargomaster' DC3ANSCA.ZIP
Airlines of NSW 'Viewmaster' (Wrights) DC3ANSW2.ZIP
BEA 'Pionair' G-AHCZ DC3BEAPI.ZIP
Qantas VH-EDC DC3QNTAS.ZIP
Cambrian Airways G-AGHM, G-AHCZ DC3CAMB2.ZIP, DC3CAMUP.ZIP
Air France 'Aeropostale' F-BAIF DC3AIRFR.ZIP
Mandated Airlines (PNG) VH-MAL DC3MANDA.ZIP
Air Atlantique G-AMRA DC3ATLAN.ZIP
Canadian Air Force RESCUE (CC-129) 12905 DC3CAFRS.ZIP
C-47 Canadian AF 'Canucks Unlimited' C47CAFCU.ZIP
Ozark Air Lines N763A DC3OZARK.ZIP
Nordair CF-HTH DC3NORDA.ZIP
Caribair N8011E DC3CARIB.ZIP
Buffalo Airways C-GPNR, C-GWIR DC3BUFFA.ZIP, DC3BUFF2.ZIP
These repaints started with a long-overdue paint of the legendary "Betsy" for my own use, later shared; this led to paints of her other liveries in her long career, and the others simply caught my eye or were interesting requests. These Buffalo aircraft are the last I shall be doing for FS2002. With FS2004 on the horizon, it's time to move on to other projects.
Like everyone else, I await Jan Visser's GMAX bird with keen anticipation. What with that and a default DC-3 in FS2004, all DC-3 fans have some excitement ahead! I have not yet decided whether to paint DC-3s for FS2004, but there may be one or two ...
As of yet, I have not had an opportunity to test any of the above repaints in FS2004, but one or two have been flown by others in the new sim. It seems, to date, that they fly well enough and that all animations work with the exception of the propellor axes and prop circles. There may be no way around this, regrettably (thanks, MS!) We must move on, I know; but like many others, FS2002 will remain on my hard drive for some time to come. I have too much invested in it, and I love these DC-3s. It will be some time before a collection as comprehensive as that above is produced for FS2004, but it will happen, of course.
To those who have asked for repaints I've never got to - Eastern, United, North East, Mohawk, Trans Canadian, BKS, Austrian, KLM, ARCO, Four Star, to name but a few - forgive me. I've simply run out of time, but I greatly appreciate your support and interest. I encourage you, however, to look closely at the Visser GMAX DC-3 when it arrives; it will spawn a host of repaints and I know Jan to have prepared quite a few himself already.
So until then, thank you for downloading my repaints for FS2002. I have made many new and very special friends through this work. Of the aircraft above, at least five of their original pilots have been in touch, and I have had more mail about the DC-3 than any other aircraft with which I've been involved.
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Visit my own site at:
www.swiremariners.com/cxkaitak.html
to find listings and downloads of Cathay Pacific aircraft and other add-ons for FS2002.
