Welcome all to the 164th flying event with Gunpilot and a host of other intrepid aviators who turn up each week for the kind of exciting (and challenging) flights that only Gunpilot delivers.
If you have just discovered these flight events for the first time, welcome aboard and you will be made to feel very much at home with the rest of the pilots on the flight.
The only Request we make is that you arrive on the tarmac in the aircraft designated for the flight, and you join in the banter on the supplied COMMS RADIO which can be found in Gunpilot’s Discord server (click on this link to take you directly to Gunpilot’s server GUNPILOT's Server ).
This week we break out of the mould of fixed wing aircraft and jump into the world of Rotary aircraft. The choice of helicopter for this flight is the Bell 407, which is a standard helicopter in the MSFS2020 fleet of aircraft. If you have not flown the Bell 407 before don’t be fazed, it is a very docile and easy aircraft to fly and 10 minutes in it should be enough to make you feel quite at home in it.
We will be departing late afternoon from Luton airport and making our way through the countryside, landing at some famous English landmarks along the way before we hit “The Big Smoke” at Heathrow Airport. From there we will make our way into London central, taking in all the great photogramitory that is built into the sim.
This inaugral helicopter flight will, while still throwing up a myriad of challenges, not be too taxing on your aviation skill sets, but nevertheless a fun time should be had by all.
The one factor you will be faced with that will make it very interesting is that we should hit London central just after last light so night flying will be necessary. This should not pose any huge difficulties, even while landing at different landmarks, as the Bell 407 has excellent and very bright landing lights and Taxi light which will provide you with all the visibility required to successfully land your heli.
The other factor (twist) to this event will be that we are flying in December which, in London, is notorious for it snowing , sometimes quite heavily. And finally, there will be some very thin fog conditions along the way as well just to add to the overall atmosphere and fun.
And just when you thought it could not get any better, there will be a couple of landing zones where we will see who can put thier helicopter down the smoothest. To facilitate this, the following link will get you the Hallidave Landing Monitor FOR FREE to download and put into your Community folder GitHub - hallidave/landing-monitor: An in-game landing rate monitor for the Microsoft Flight Simulator toolbar. .
*Again, a packaged up WEATHER file has been developed and included along with the flight plan, negating any need for anyone to dial in weather settings, as well as ensuring that all pilots are experiencing exactly the same weather conditions. The Weather Preset file is located in #gunpilots-events (click GUNPILOT’s Server to be taken there). Extract file into your Community Folder prior to launching your sim for the flight.
When: FRIDAY 19th January 2024 @ 2300UTC
Where: London
Flight Duration: Approx 2 to 2.5hrs (depending on numbers attending)
Aircraft: Bell 407 Helicopter (pick a livery other than the default or you may look like a Bonanza)
Server: SOUTH EAST ASIA
Discord Server: GUNPILOT’s Server . Click on this link and you will be sent a very welcoming INVITE that will enable you to fully participate in the radio chatter with all the other pilots in the flight
Voice Chat accessed by clicking on Comms Radio
(GUNPILOT’s Server ). If you are going to fly with us, ensure to join into the chatter on Comms Radio. If you don’t then you will miss out on a number of challenges that are given over the radio and you will have no idea what is going down.
London Peasouper x Night Heli Tour.pln (7.2 KB)