Search and rescue with planes places target on impossible surface

Bug Reporting Hub User Interface & Activities
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1

ISSUE DESCRIPTION

After unlocking search and rescue missions, most of the ones where you use a plane feature the person on a surface you either

  1. Can’t land on
    or
  2. Can’t take off from

For instance, the surface will be too short to land. If you can land, the surface will be full of craters and bumps and you cannot take off. These missions need some work or to be removed from the game. It’s clear they were designed with helicopters in mind and no thought given to airplanes.

[PC Only] Did you remove all your community mods/add-ons? If yes, are you still experiencing the issue?

Yes

FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

Almost every mission, but not every.

REPRODUCTION STEPS

Please list clear steps you took in order to help our test team reproduce the same issue:

  1. Play search and rescue missions and select ones that use an airplane.
  2. Find the target
  3. Attempt to land or subsequently take off.
  4. Note that sometimes it is literally impossible.

YOUR SETTINGS

What peripherals are you using, if relevant:
Logitech Flight Yoke System

[PC Only] Are you using Developer Mode or have you made any changes to it?
No

[PC, MSFS 2020 Only] Are you using DX11 or DX12?
N/A Playing 2024

[PC Only] What GPU (Graphics Card) do you use?
AMD 6800XT

[END OF FIRST USER REPORT]

:loudspeaker: For anyone who wants to contribute on this issue, Click on the button below to use this template:

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
•

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
•

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
•

1 Like
2

Softlock in Search & Rescue mission - #2 by kreckelmoos see my workaround there

1 Like
4

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
•

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
• No the helicopter missions they place the target on the side of a sheer cliff surrounded by trees so you cannot complete the mission there either.

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
•

5

2537590_20241201164919_1
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lol the latest one… This target wont even activate. Can’t use comms, can’t rescue him. SAR missions w/o winch are so bugged atm.

6

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
•

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
• When doing a search and rescue mission with helicopter, some targets are located where landing is impossible. I have to complete 10 rotorcraft SAR missions to do the hoist missions. Please, correct this issue.

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
•

7

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
•Yes

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
• Forget planes, there are sometimes literally impossible landing spots for helicopters too like on the side of a mountain. It is impossible to actually land in these places, so you just kind of have to touch the ground whilst hovering. In the boarding cut scene you will just crash and it takes you back to the landing part before realising you picked the target up and will then proceed.

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
•

8

Having done a few of these fixed wing rescue missions now, I can say that maybe 1/3 are possible, 1/3 are impossible, and 1/3 are theoretically possible, but you’d have to be insane to try.

Realistically, we should not be landing fixed wing planes on these missions. These should be search missions, not search and rescue. Find the missing perosn, radio their coordinates, rescuers go get them. It’s too dangerous to try to land, and in a realistic rescue situation, the person probably isn’t climbing into the back seat of a Cub anyway.

1 Like
9

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
• Yes. Also applies to helicopter S&R missions.

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
• Also applies to helicopter S&R missions in areas with heavy tree coverage or cliffsides. No safety checks in place to make sure there is a clear, mostly flat, area within range of the target to land.

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
• Im sure you can use your imagination

1 Like
10

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
• Same with helicopter SAR & hoist missions

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
• The first SAR hoist mission in Asia also has the problem, that there is no wind and the ocean is like a mirror. No reference points and with realistic settings the mission goal is unreachable.

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
• /

11

ISSUE DESCRIPTION

Description of the issue:
Airplane SAR missions generate locations that are unsuitable for landing, usually on a very steep slope or extremely bumpy terrain

Moreover, the concept of having to land a SAR plane in a dangerous location is kind of bizarre, it should only relay info to a helicopter or ground team, but I get the point and it’s fun, if we are able to land at all, my suggestion is to either make sure all locations are landabled, or have to option to reject the landing and return to base after relaying the position (maybe have the landing part giving bonus income?)

So far I’ve tried 8 missions, and I have only been able to land in 2 of them, and altough I’m not the master aviation I do have thousands of hours in flight sim, and about 4 thousand IRL and very high end peripherals, so even though I know what I’m doing, it’s very very difficult.

Another issue is some missions on the X-cub the target it’s at very high elevations, sometimes above 10k feet, which not only kills the engine performance for a bumpy takeoff even if the landing is successful, but also makes you have a very high TAS making things even harder

On top of that, even if you manage a perfect stalled 3 point landing on a more mellow slope, it’s usually bumpy to a point that the inevitable small jumps on the landing roll destroys the landing gear/tyre making it impossible to take-off

So no matter what you do, overall very frustrating experience even for a skilled pilot, I can’t even imagine what it would be for a regular gamer with a entry joystick or a controller

[PC Only] Did you remove all your community mods/add-ons? If yes, are you still experiencing the issue?
N/A

FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

How often does this occur for you (Example: Just once, every time on sim load, intermittently)?
Around 80% of missions

REPRODUCTION STEPS

Just fly some airplane SAR missions (I’ve been flying around chile)

Please list clear steps you took in order to help our test team reproduce the same issue:

  1. Boot the sim
  2. Pick a SAR mission
  3. Crash attemping to land
  4. Pay lots of money to repair the aircraft
  5. Crash it again
  6. Repeat

YOUR SETTINGS

If the issue still occurs with no mods and add-ons, please continue to report your issue. If not, please move this post to the User Support Hub.

What peripherals are you using, if relevant:
N/A

[PC Only] Are you using Developer Mode or have you made any changes to it?
N/A

[PC, MSFS 2020 Only] Are you using DX11 or DX12?
N/A

[PC Only] What GPU (Graphics Card) do you use?
N/A

[PC Only] What other relevant PC specs can you share?
N/A

MEDIA

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Very steep slope

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Landed .5km away on this seemingly good surface, but even this small bumps after a perfect stalled 3 pointer damages the landing gear on the landing roll, from this angle it’s easy to see how unreachable the target is, also at 10k feet there is virtually no power to taxi uphill on a soft surface, which wouldn’t be possible anyways because of the broken landing gear and tyre

[END OF FIRST USER REPORT]

:loudspeaker: For anyone who wants to contribute on this issue, Click on the button below to use this template:

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
•

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
•

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
•