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Simcopter
Apart from the occasional pleasure flight, the only way I can enjoy my love of helicopters is by playing Simcopter, a great computer game. It combines a fairly simple helicopter simulation with a strategy element. The player has to decide which of the missions that come through the radio to undertake. |
These include medical evacuations, VIP transport, rescue missions, or just traffic observation. You don't have to do anything either. You can fly around causing accidents and flying under bridges if you want. The more points you accrue from carrying out missions, the more money you have to upgrade your helicopter. You start with a Schwiezer 300, move on to a Jet Ranger, MD 500, and so on up to a MD 502 Explorer which is supposed to be the best one. Simcopter has a large following on the Internet and there is a Simcopter Web-Ring and some great web-sties. |
The Helicopters of Simcopter
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You start the game with a Schweizer. It is a small, slow flimsy helicopter. As soon as you can afford it, upgrade to the Jet Ranger. In real life I have seen one of these at Helijet where I had my pleasure flight. Theirs has quite open framework. I think I also saw one of these on a skiing holiday in Italy.I will scan the photo of it one day! |
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The Jet Ranger is much more useful in Simcopter. It can carry more passengers and is faster than the Schweizer, but it feels clumsy to me. In real life you see a lot of these. I think I read somewhere that they are the most successful commercial helicopter. |
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The MD 500. I think this used to be known as the Hughes 500. It is the helicopter in Magnum. Also very popular in real life. I think it started off as a military helicopter. In Simcopter this is one of my favourites. It is nice and nimble! |
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My favourite in the game. Nimble and quite fast. It doesn't have the passenger capacity as the more expensive copters but I prefer to be able to whizz around! The difference between this and the MD 500 is the NOTAR - no tail rotor - technology. Instead of having a propeller on the rear its exhausts are mounted on the tail. This increases power (I think) and cuts down on noise. The 520 was the world's quietest helicopter when it was launched. This makes it popular for use in built-up areas. |
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In Simcopter this helicopter is painted in camouflage colours. It looks like a Bell Huey or UH-1, as used in the Vietnam war. It isn't though, and it doesn't have any special powers like guns*. It is a bit of a workhorse though and can carry loads of passengers. In real life there are loads of these around. I think I saw one recently but I can't remember where.
*If you want guns you have to find the Apache! |
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This is another transporter helicopter. The thing I like most about this one in the game is its colour scheme! It is painted turquoise and orange and looks like a real search and rescue aircraft. Very popular helicopter in real life (Baywatch for example). I think there is one that flies over my house every Saturday at 6pm. It's either one of these or an Agusta... |
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I don't particularly like this helicopter in the game. It doesn't have any unique qualities that the others don't have. I'm not sure about how popular these are. |
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The Explorer is made out to be the best helicopter in the game. It is the fastest and has quite good passenger capacity but I prefer the nimbler 500 and 520. In real life this is a mover and shaker. My local police authority has one and they are being taken on by other police forces around the country. Like the 520 they use the NOTAR technology which cuts noise down by 50% apparently. |
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