Is there any reason to find an army helicopter on a USFS helipad?

[Jonathan Bailey]

Hello, I have a virtual model railroad PC game. On my train layout there is a model of a US Army Huey that flies over the layout. It occasionally lands and takes off from a helipad of the US Forest Service ranger station with a lookout tower up on a forested mesa. There is a swath of forest as evidenced by a line of tree stumps that have been cut down to make a clear landing approach for these aircraft.

 

In the real world, would it be unusual to see military birds landing at a forest ranger station? Do military aircraft sometimes assist the forest service in certain operations as fire-fighting?

 

Could the National Guard or Army Reserves be doing weekend training?

 

I used an olive drab military helicopter because that looks most appropriate for work in the boonies. I don't have a bird specifically marked for forest service use. The other helis I have for my PC simulator game available are city police Bell Jet Rangers.

 

To add realism, I also have a fuel truck parked at a safe distance from the helipad with orange cones to mark its parking spot. I cannot model the grounding cables for the truck, however, but the fueling attendant is wearing a bright orange jumpsuit, probably fire-proof.

 

A safe distance for the truck from the helipad is about double the length of a turning main rotor blade on the Huey.

 

My virtual G-scale model helicopter is a pretended electric R/C bird that has true collective/cyclic pitch mechanisms, a single main rotor and is piloted by autonomous computer control with an on-board avionics system similar to GPS (or perhaps VOR??) for navigation. A science-fiction model bird to say the least.

[TomPPL]

Got any screenshots?

[Jonathan Bailey]

Got any screenshots?

Yes, please see my video of this animation posted on You Tube. The army heli is the first thing shown in the video at the following link:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srp0IifuD68

 

 

The first 25 minutes is a virtual air tour of the train layout with aerial camera views from the helicopter. At about 25 minutes, the helicopter comes in for an approach and landing. The landing may seem unnatural as the aircraft does not flare rearward on touchdown. That's because the "helicopter" is a really a "railroad train" according to the rules of the game software. The PC game thinks it's an engine (locomotive) so it cannot behave like an aircraft does in flight in some respects like hovering down vertically and lifting off vertically. The helicopter image comes down and takes off along a gradual grade angle which is an "invisible train track" which is the "trajectory" or flight path of the bird. The heli flies at 25 mph statute, ground speed, while airborne. It could fly much faster though but I wanted slow flight to give a good aerial shot.

[takefootoff]

Did you ever get around to designing a flight suit?

[Jonathan Bailey]

Did you ever get around to designing a flight suit?

No, the flight suits of the chopper crew were designed by the authors of the helicopter game content. I was in an army aviation attack helicopter unit that had Cobras and Hueys and the warrant officers who piloted them wore those olive drab jumpsuits but olive drab helmets as well, not white ones. I used a railroad worker figure in orange jumpsuit to mimic a civilian employee who might be refueling thirsty Hueys on important missions up in the boonies, perhaps with concierge service as a defense contractor. I got the privilege as an American soldier, a truck mechanic, to ride in the gunner seat of a Cobra while looking through the movable gun sight. Some crew chiefs in my unit at Ford Ord, CA with the 7th ID Light in 1992 who repaired them never even got to ride on those! They shook like a paint mixer when they slowed way down in the air which made my nerves twitch just a bit. I flew on a Huey in that unit too which didn't shake quite as bad. My impression then was that army helicopters were crude machines.

[takefootoff]

No no, I was referring to a post you made a while ago about flight suit design.

Edited May 17, 2018 by takefootoff

[Jonathan Bailey]

No no, I was referring to a post you made a while ago about flight suit design.

Oh, that must have been several years ago. I can't remember about my flight-suit post. I think it is no longer here.I used to post my flight sim shots and helicopters in custom paint schemes. Nowadays, PC railroad simulation is my bag. Still, I have an animated helicopter in that even. I can set up operational fixed wing planes, DeHavilland float planes, commercial jets, Boeing 747's as well, in my train sim as well as flying scenery. Helicopters are handy for taking aerial shots of what is on the ground. Low and slow flight. Can't do that in a fixed-wing airplane. Ideally, model R/C helicopters would make good flying aircraft over a model railroad layout because of the space limitations. They can get into tight places.

[takefootoff]

Avbug is a member on here, I urge you to PM him on any 747 questions you might have.

 

He is very knowledgeable and more than willing to help a visionary such as yourself.

[Jonathan Bailey]

Avbug is a member on here, I urge you to PM him on any 747 questions you might have.

 

He is very knowledgeable and more than willing to help a visionary such as yourself.

I'm flattered to hear that I have the gift of visions that look forward into Tomorrowland.