Earlier this week (yesterday if you are reading this article on the day it was released), we published a file containing a 3D model of the H160 in several formats.

That model was sent to us by a person which told us he would like to give it to the community so that anyone that wanted to make the H160 could do it and have a head start with the model.

A few hours after the model was published, we had a community member question the origin of this model on our Facebook Group. That member found the model on a well-known 3D asset marketplace called TurboSquid, which was very similar to the one we were sent.

After some quick investigation, and realizing what happened, we took a few steps:

  • The file was removed from our servers, the database and our local computer
  • The person that sent us the file without disclosing its actual source was banned from our Facebook Group.
  • Social media posts we published about the file were taken down.
  • We are posting this article, in order to fully disclose what happened and warn those that have downloaded the file.

For those of you that have downloaded the file, PLEASE DO NOT USE IT OR DISTRIBUTE IT.

Meanwhile, the original author of the files (which we were planning on reaching out to today) contacted us asking for the removal of the file, which we promptly did even before reading his email. He should be aware of the full story now and we will also send him the link to this article.

We at HeliSimmer.com take these kinds of situations very seriously. We do not condone this type of behavior and we have the upmost respect for the work of those that put in a lot of hours into their craft. IT IS NOT OK TO STEAL SOMEONE’S WORK AND DISTRIBUTE IT. Period.

This type of situation, although, fortunately, extremely rare in the helicopter flight simulation community, is completely unacceptable and we will do everything in our power to make sure that we either manage to prevent or correct them, if they occur.

Credits: Pirate Flag of Jack source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pirate_Flag_of_Jack_Rackham.svg