Yes, I love the Huey. But no, I don’t think we need 3 of those for every sim out there. Blackbird Simulations is working on one, Taog’s Hangar is (was) revamping the freeware one to payware standards and another undisclosed developer is working on another one.
Three Hueys, you read it right. And, as much as I love the helicopter, it’s probably a bit too much and it would be nice to have a bit more variety. And so, I started talking to a couple of these developers about that and discussing options.
Fortunately, developers trust me with this sort of information, and I can help them prevent any clashes between releases. I don’t have to say who’s doing what, but I can alert them if they start working on something that someone else is already working on.
Taog’s Hangar eventually (and fortunately) listened to me and my proposal to flip the Huey and start working on a Bell 210 instead.
The 210 is not exactly a well-known model but it’s a rather cool one. It’s basically a refurbished UH-1H Huey (AKA Bell 205) but with some Bell 212 components such as the tail boom, rotor hub, and blades, transmission, among other things.
It’s also equipped with a more powerful engine and can seat up to 15. You can say it’s a Huey on steroids.
Taog’s Hangar started this pivoting work a few weeks ago and the 210 is already flying in the virtual skunkworks airfield of the developer. And before you ask, no, there’s no date of release yet.
Taog's Hangar is also working on some customization options such as the one you can see above. You can select between the short and the long nose with just a push of a button. Or a flip of a switch or whatever the interface will be. Anyway, it will be easy to switch between noses.
I don’t know about you but, despite the similarities with the Huey, I think the 210 is quite a nice addition to our virtual hangars and there’s always the cool factor of not being a helicopter that you see on any other sims either. If my memory serves me well, I think the last time I saw one was on FSX a long, long time ago.
I can’t wait to give it a try!
