Helicopter Reviews

Aircraft Review : 902X-NTR No Tail Rotor by vSkyLabs In most Helicopter accidents there are usually two major causes, first are gearbox failures (the most common), the second major issue is tailstrikes, or damage to tail-rotors in failures. The rear blades are very, very vulnerable to ground strikes (even with a lower guard), and when manoeuvring in tight areas these blades can be inefficient as well. So from early Helicopter development they have tried to create a better concept in anti-torque control. This aspect had been tested as early as 1945 in the British Cierva W.9. During 1957, also a Spanish prototype was designed and built by Aerotecnica, that design flew …

Aircraft Update: SA 315B Lama by Philip Ubben and Khamsin Studio By Stuart McGregor I recently had the opportunity to try out the SA315B Lama by Philip Ubben and Khasim Studio during the beta run of X-Plane 12, and I am delighted to share my thoughts and experiences in this review. In all honesty, I find the Lama to be an unusual-looking aircraft by today’s standards, with its bulging bubble canopy and open tubular fuselage exposing all its workings, and in a strange way, it reminds me of an insect that has had its wings pulled off. However, don’t be fooled by its rustic appearance, as it has some amazing characteristics and charm. Designed by the French Sud…

Aircraft Review : Schweizer S300CBi Helicopter X-Plane 12 by Dreamfoil Creations Without doubt the biggest pioneer in X-Plane Helicopters is Dreamfoil Creations. The list is too long to mention here of over a decade of development, but the Eurocopter AS350 B3+ and Bell 407 are brilliant examples of his work... not to mention the brilliant plugins like DreamEngine sounds. Then Dreamfoil went quiet about three years ago, disappeared off the X-Plane Simulator radar. There was another brilliant project released for X-Plane 11 by Dreamfoil Creations and that was a small gem of a ultra-light Schweizer S300CBi two-seater helicopter, now both DreamFoil a…

Aircraft Review : Robinson R66 Turbine XP12 v3.0 by vSkyLabs The Robinson R66 Turbine is a light helicopter produced by Robinson Helicopter Company in Torrance, California, USA. They produce three light helicopter models, including the R22, R44, and R66 models. The R22 is available to all X-Plane 12 users, as it is part of the default fleet that comes with the simulator. The R44 Raven ll comes from vSkyLabs, as does this model, the bigger brother R66 Turbine. The R66 is slightly faster and a far smoother machine than the piston-powered Robinson R44 from which it is derived. The RR300 engine is more compact and lighter than the Lycoming …

Aircraft Review - AgustaWestland AW109SP by X-Trident The helicopter category is one of the most competitive in features and innovation than any other area in the X-Plane 12 Simulator. To a point it is brutal, as developers are consistently upping the standards to higher and higher levels. Can you go even higher? even to the next level? We are all about to find out with the release of X-Trident's next project... in the AgustaWestland AW 109SP. The AgustaWestland AW109, originally the Agusta A109, is a lightweight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter designed and initially produced by the Italian rotorcraft manufacturer A…

Aircraft Review : JRX Design Bell 407 v1.30 for X-Plane 11 and 12 A derivative of the Bell 206L-4 LongRanger, Bell 407 is a four-blade, single-engine, civil utility helicopter that uses the four-blade, soft-in-plane design rotor with the composite hub developed for the United States Army's OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, instead of the two-blade, semi-rigid, teetering rotor of the 206L-4. So the breed line is from the famous "Jetranger", but the 407 is the far bigger and powerful relation to the family. The Bell 407's fuselage is 8 inches (20 cm) wider, increasing internal cabin space, and includes 35% larger main cabin windows. The more powerful Rolls-Ro…

Aircraft Update : Robinson R44 Raven ll to X-Plane 12 by vSkyLabs The Robinson R44 is a four-seat light helicopter produced by Robinson Helicopter Company at Zamperini Field in Torrance, California since 1992. Based on the company's two-seat Robinson R22, the R44 features hydraulically assisted flight controls. It was first flown on 31 March 1990 and received FAA certification in December 1992, with the first R44 delivery in February 1993. The R44 has been the world's best-selling general aviation (GA) helicopter every year since 1999. It is one of the most-produced GA aircraft of the 21st century, with 5,941 deliveries from 2001 to 2020. "Raven" m…

Updated Aircraft Review : Eurocopter EC130 B4 v1.2 X-Plane 12 by HSF The Bell 206 JetRanger changed helicopter operations forever. Before this light rotor craft came on to the scene, then Helicopters were used mainly for Military, Oil or Government operations. But the Bell 206 was reliable and cheap enough to operate in commercial areas. Hence the load of television stations that became the "eyes in the sky", also Fire Police and Customs used the aircraft for their own particular services, but more so was the commercial aspect of personal transport, or the use of helicopters in the field of consumer usage. Not only for heliport to airport transfers, but the fl…

Aircraft Review : Hungarocopter HC-02 by vSkyLabs The project was born in 2007, and as the experimental stage progressed with more continuous and sophisticated solutions, the main and innovative component constructions were further developed into the first ultralight helicopter designed and manufactured totally in Hungary by Hungaro Copter Limited of Verpelét, an affiliate of the Hungarian SteelRiders company. The result was the HC-01, basically a single pilot airframe with a four-cylinder, four stroke 135 hp (101 kW) Subaru EJ22 engine. The HC-01 is very much like the VS-300, the first ever practical flying rig helicopter built by Ogor Sikorski in…

Aircraft Review : Dynali H3 Project - VSKYLABS 'Test-Pilot' Series Most recent releases from VSKYLABS in their "Test Pilot" series have been ultra-light helicopters, and here is another one in the Dynali H3 after the Cicaré-8, Guimbal Cabri G2 Heli and the Mini-500 Project, so there is now definitely a pattern going on here... The Dynali is a Belgian ultralight two-seat helicopter with a side-by-side seating configuration. It is authorised in several European countries under the ultralight helicopter category to comply with the European Class 6 microlight helicopter rules, in particular the French Class 6 Microlight Category, at a gross weight of 450 kg (992…

Aircraft Release : Schweizer S300CBi Helicopter by Dreamfoil Creations You would think the design of the Schweizer 300CBi two-seater helicopter is only a few decades old, but actually the design is decades old in many, many decades as the prototype of this machine first flew as far back 2nd October 1956. In other words only weeks before I was born, and that is nearly sixty years ago. That aircraft was the Hughes Model 269, and only by 9th April 1959 did the 269 actually receive certification. By mid-1963 about 20 aircraft were being by Hughes produced a month and by the spring of 1964, 314 of the 269's had been built. Hughes had very quickly successfully capt…

Aircraft Review : CowanSim H125 (AS350 B3e) The Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil (or Squirrel), now Airbus Helicopters H125, is a single-engine light utility helicopter originally designed and manufactured in France by Aérospatiale and Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters). In North America, the AS350 is marketed as the AStar. The Eurocopter EC130 is a derivative of the AS350 airframe and is considered by the manufacturer to be part of the Écureuil single-engine family. This CowanSim AS350 is not the first AS350 in X-Plane of the aircraft, that goes to the Dreamfoil Creations and Nemeth Designs Ecureuil AS350 B3+ back in 2013. This Dreamfoil ai…

Aircraft Review : CowanSim 500E by CowanSim There is no doubt that CowanSim has invigorated the helicopter scene within the X-Plane Simulator. A seriously neglected area for years in that X-Plane's mainstay developer in Dreamfoil Creations went very quiet, and that vSkyLab's does only small and very fringe ultra-light machines. So the centre of good helicopters has for years been quite barren. First JRXDesign with their excellent Gazelle SA 341B and SA 342J started the ball rolling again, but it was CowanSim with their very accessible B222B+UT aircraft that has delivered machines for everyone... here is now very quickly in a few months another action packed r…

Aircraft Review : Bell 47G-2A1 by FlyInside The Aircraft The aircraft under review is FlyInside’s Bell 47G-2A1. The version in question is the latest update 1.71, released on the 25th of February 2022. The B47 is a single-engine multipurpose light helicopter, manufactured by the Bell Helicopter Corporation, and first flew in the mid-1940s. It has a Lycoming VO-435 piston engine, and in real life, several engine variants were available over time, and the model from FlyInside is based on the A1 variant. The aircraft has twin blade main and tail rotors and is designed to typically carry three people. One in the left pilot seat, with space for two passen…

Aircraft Review : CowanSim 206 L3 When the CowanSim 206L3 popped up I actually ignored it... done that? But then no update showed up either... very odd? But with a closer look at the title I noticed it said L3, and not B3? L3, "oh, it is a different version of the JetRanger", And so it is. The 206L LongRanger is a stretched variant of the original Bell 206 "JetRanger" with seating for seven. The fuselage is stretched a total of 30 inches (760 mm), and the variant adds in two rear-facing seats between the front and rear seats. Since 1975, Bell has produced more than 1,700 LongRangers across all the variant types. In 1981, a military v…

Update Review : Sikorski UH-60 Blackhawk v2.0 by BFDG (Brazilian Flightsim Development Group) In July 2014 I reviewed the Sikorski UH-60 Blackhawk by Brazilian Flightsim Development Group and the final verdict was not good, in fact it was not great at all. It felt under developed and the flight model was very poor, if unflyable. To many users it was a Blackhawk to fly in X-Plane, but as a serious helio it was not and the Blackhawk and X-Plane deserved better. It did have a few updates but nothing than a complete rework of the performance was going to fix the embedded issues, and so here is that update to v2.0 and this new version also includes X-Plane11 compat…

Aircraft Review : CowanSim 206 B3 The Cowan Simulations 206 B3 is the Bell 206, a two-bladed, single and twin-engined (TwinRanger) helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter at its Mirabel, Quebec, Canadian plant. The 206 is also known by it's more common name of the "JetRanger". Bell had developed the D-250 design into the Bell 206 aircraft, redesignated as YOH-4A in 1962. Proceeded to produce five prototype aircraft for the Army's test and evaluation phase Light Observation Helicopter (LOH) proposal. The first prototype flew on December 8, 1962. The YOH-4A also came to be known as "The Ugly Duckling" in comparison to the other contending aircraft…

Aircraft Review : Bell 47G-2A1 by FlyInside Through early morning fog I see Visions of the things to be The pains that are withheld for me I realize and I can see That suicide is painless It brings on many changes And I can take or leave it if I please The above lyrics are actually related to a Helicopter, a very famous one, in fact the silhouette of the machine signified the category that is covered by Vertical Takeoff aircraft. The song is "Suicide is Painless" from the film M*A*S*H by director Robert Altman, and the subsequent American Television Show that ran for seemingly decades but actually only for one (1972 - 1983). …

Aircraft Review : Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Bo 105 DBS-4 by JRX Design It has been a very strange few months. Aircraft that were very significant in past milestones for the X-Plane Simulator have been recently replaced with more modern versions. First it was the FlyJsim Q400 in it's new Q4XP guise, then along came the CRJ-700 from AD Simulations that echoed the very landmark CRJ-200 from JRollon and now here is another machine in the Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Bo 105 DBS-4 by JRX Design. This one echoed another very significant aircraft in the ND Art & Technology's BK-117. Tired now, but the BK-117 was simply sensational back in it's day, and the one mach…

Aircraft Review : NHRacer by NHAdrian FutureTech is coming. The dream of flying cars and the conceivability of "Blade Runner" Spinners is of science fiction. But the advent of Drones, even if on currently a small scale are creating a revolution. Now suddenly we have Uber and others already prophesying the futuristic notions, that yes even in a few years we will all be simply flying around up there as Deckards. There is a big difference between a "Flying Car" and a Drone. Flying cars have actual wings or rotor blades (Gyrocopter) and travel on normal roads, but can fly. Drones are altogether different, not even a helicopter, but are multi-bladed lifting machines and th…

Dreamfoil Creations and Nemeth Designs Ecureuil AS350 B3+ There has been a Service Pack (1) released for the AS359 B3+. Mostly the pack contains fine tuning and performance updates with other items including the crew now adding weight and the Co-Pilot will disappear if you view from his seat. There are few changes are for the joystick with the reverse axis (you don't do this?... you should) and joystick functions and I agree it feels far better with movements under my Saitek x52pro setup. A full list of the changelog is at the end of this Mini Review: The Eurocopter AS350 B3 (Plus) Ecureuil (Squirrel) is a single-engined light-utility…

Aircraft Review : Aérospatiale SA 315B Lama by Philip Ubben and Khamsin Studio Earlier in the year X-PlaneReviews reviewed the Aérospatiale SA 341B and SA 342J, or the "Gazelle" helicopter by JRXDesign, and that was an exceptional helicopter for the X-Plane Simulator... here we have the exclaimed predecessor in a variation of the Aérospatiale Alouette III . The SA 315B Lama was originally designed to meet a Nepalese Army Air Service and Indian Air Force requirements for a rotorcraft capable of undertaking operations at hot and high conditions. Both countries possessed extreme mountain ranges in the form of the Himalayas in which even relatively p…

Aircraft Release : Bell Civilian UH-1 by Nimbus Simulations When Nimbus Simulations released their excellent Bell UH-1 "Huey" in September 2019, they noted at the time they would be doing a "Civilian" version of the UH-1, and here it is. Plus it comes with a few nice configurations as well, a Basic seating version, Medical version, Crop spraying version, and an unexpected Fire Fighting version... all very nice to have in a single model. There is a separate Float (Water) variant also included. There was a lot of shouting initially that this new release is a full repurchase of the aircraft? If you don't have the earlier UH-1 Military "Huey" then yes …

Aircraft Review : SA 341B and SA 342J Gazelle by JRXDesign The Aérospatiale Gazelle (company designations SA 340, SA 341 and SA 342) is a French five-seat helicopter, that is commonly used for light transport, scouting and light attack duties. The Gazelle originated in a French Army requirement for a lightweight observation helicopter intended to replace the Aérospatiale Alouette III, which was known for their easy handling and excellent high altitude performance. Very early in it's development, the Gazelle attracted British interest, which resulted in a major joint development and production work share agreement between Sud Aviation (French) and Westland…

Aircraft Review : Boeing CH47-D Chinook by X-Trident There are many significantly important helicopters throughout aviation's history, From the early Sikorsky R-4, Fairy FB-1 Gyrodyne, Sikorsky S-55, Bell 45/H-13, to the 50's in the Bell UH-1 Iroquois and in later decades the S-61 Seaking, CH-53 Sea Stallion (S-65), UH-60 Black Hawk, CH-53E Super Stallion ... but in twin-rotor form there has been fewer significant designs... The Piasecki H-21 (Vertol) and the Boeing Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight is another, but think of any heavy Twin Rotor helicopter and really only one aircraft comes to mind... The Boeing CH-47 Chinook. The C…