Oddball fleets?

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

I continue to explore the aircraft available both free and payware looking  for FUN planes to haul Acargo around.

 

One realization from doing this is that mixed fleet sizes give some interesting options for cargo job generation. Having a half dozen piper cubs or in my case BD5-J s with tiny cargo holds and ranges set to 10 miles generate a carp ton of short run small fish orders...which my Sherpa Hauler can load up around 12 jobs per leg, and dump at a couple nearby airfields and make up for a LOT of AI screw ups in ShortsSherpa order. Great hauler plane btw.

 

But, the BD5s are Too fun to fly, so ofc I made a jiggered .cfg file to turn it into an at least profitable hauler. with some fuel weight adjustments it can quite comfortably increase it's payload from 220-580 or so pounds...about a Cub's worth at far higher speed and fun factor...at about the same price  as a cub in AH...win win win...and hella cheep to repair and insure, or buy outright.

 

Other fun oddball planes I have been enjoying are (lets just cut to it...Every plane I fly now has either had fuel adjusted, minimum/max weights adjusted if I find good online reference justfying it, and cargo stations added where I believe there is space or even refitting ammo bays or external  tanks to become cargo pods by making cargo stations out of them...seriously, I am Shameless LOL ) (and I digress) an F-104 starfighter which can easilly be fixed to hold around 2500 lbs of gold bullion in it's refitted ammo trays...it holds about an Ottter's worth but at 650 mph and no short field landings .

 

I finally found a decent freeware P-38J, fell in love with it once it was ahem' fixed to hold 5500 lbs of cargo in those custom fiberglass retro-looking external fuel tank simulatin' cargo pods slung under it...which normally hold around 2000lbs of fuel so it's not that much of a stretch of the imagination, Just please don't haul sheep in them...tyvm.  I bought JF's payware p-38  because flying this bird in game was so fun...the payware version is amazing. 5 stars so far.

 

So, just wondering if anyone else is doing similar? What odd planes are you have the most fun flying, even if they aren't your best money makers in game.

 

/cheers.

[allardjd 1,853]

- C-123 Provider and C-119 Flying Boxcar, both built as a trash haulers anyway.

 

- Cargo Bronco, a concept version of the OV-10 that North American tried to convince the US military they needed. They didn't want it and it was never built but someone built it for FS.

 

- Piaggio P-180, near-Lear speed and height, but much more economical.

 

Agree 100% that the Sherpa is a great AH asset as long as the distance isn't too great.  It's got the funniest retractable gear since the Cessna singles (and C-337/357).

 

The idea of minor, non-structural mods to convert an AC for freight and save some weight for the cargo is certainly not controversial - freight outfits do that all the time, starting with pax seats. 

 

Strap-on cargo containers can be found on all kinds of things, particularly Caravans and the Quest Kodiak.  I once saw a pair of under-wing baggage pods on a Long-EZ in real life, probably more suitable for a change of clothes and a jacket than cargo, but hey, it's the same concept.

 

I generally don't go as far down that road as you, preferring things that are real-world plausible.  Nobody flies stuff 10 miles unless it's to or from an island and no one would ever consider using anything remotely like a P-38 or F-104 for cargo work. 

 

I don't mean that as criticism - that's one of the beautiful things about MSFS and AH - everyone has the flexibility to do his own thing if it increases the fun factor and something different is not wrong just because it's different.  Vive la difference....

 

John

 

 

[DaveLeafNiles 0]

For me it would be the A2A Piper Cub as I love how she flies and for hard to get into fields she's tops.  Just don't expect to carry much, especially if Screamin' Heidi has been eating lots of ice cream.  Pretty versatile with skis, floats and tundra tyres too.  The other aircraft I love to fly in AH is G.A.S's Lockheed Model 12 'Electra Junior' (my forum avatar) because I love vintage machines.  Not overly oddball, but I don't think many people sim fly the 12.

 

Kind regards,

Dave

[Gunner 69]

My odd plane was the F15 Iris freebie. It can haul 14000+ lbs and it was dirt cheep, about $ 5 mil, if i remember well. I had a whole fleet of F15-s and always had to chuckle imagining the pilot standing in sunglasses till his knees.

 

Edit:Never hauled snakes though.

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

...

 

Edit:Never hauled snakes though.

 

Haha...the perfect cargo for those under wing cargo pods on the P-38 .

 

John, totally agree with you regarding the un-realism of using old vintage/priceless aircraft for hauling...which is a wonderful thing about VR letting us bend reality to suit our own sense of fun and challenge and allow extravagances like that.

 

In game I justify it (not that I need to...it is MY game...I ignore ATC at my whim...muhahahahaha'ahem...ahem, I just look both ways before crossing the runway) as "I'm a self indulgent CEO of a very successful fleet of 30 aircraft ranging from my first c-5a galaxy (just this morning...yaaayyyy!!) down through 4x C-17s, 4x C-141A's, 2 C-130's (for the Ooops, heavy load accepted for a destination that the c-17 and c-141 can't land), 6x c124 Globemasters, 5x A321 (the only bird of the fleet I hate flying...but AI's make bank in it due to it's speed)...and various smaller craft for trainees and rookies to gain hours in...so leasing the odd Custom Fun Bird "CFB" for personal Rep Hauling is completely affordable :)  ). Flying the old warbirds, and especially that tweeky F104 just adds to the challenge of the game...same with risking a cargo in fast little BD-5j's, which btw, are actually very good short field haulers, they slow down quite nicely but are just a bit twitchy on the controls...no doubt it can't match a cubs STOL capabilites, but I love retracts and flaps, and especially i like fast.

 

John, I love the C123 provider. It was my favorite plane to fly until the p-38's distracted me recently. It is one of the most gentle planes on landing...although I am finding the JF P-38 to be a wonderful Greaser as well...both planes are very responsive to trim and throttle on landings. The CASA C235 is a close second only because of it's very very tweeky ground handling. I had to add cargo stations to the versions I found as the stock birds didn't have but a "cargo" on center (with preloaded weight) and a pilot and crew station iirc.

 

The C-124 Globemaster is another very nice stately plane to fly. It is a lovely looking, flying, hauling, and landing plane so long as I set up my approach with plenty of room...still  getting used to the very heavies...and this is a good practice plane for it.

 

I do have a rule that I won't add it to my fleet if I can't land it. The C5A scares me (OMG...let this thing stall and it becomes the huge brick it looks like with very little chance of recovery if it happens on approach...I used to joke that the C5 is proof that the Skunkworks people had developed a lighter than air paint, and they applied it COPIOUSLY to the C5A) but I can do it...but I let my best AI use it for now.

 

BTW, I used to work on Avionics on C-141 and C-130's way back in my Air Force days up in McChord AFB, and was briefly assigned to Travis while our runway was being resurfaced so I got to crawl all over C5A's as well for 3 months. That job let me see every inch of those aircraft as every part had an instrument connected to it...which is why I have gravitated towards flying a fleet of them in VR...pretty darn cool.

 

Ty Air Hauler makers.

 

And TY to the artists that made the gorgeous Vplanes we enjoy.

 

o7

[brett 2,316]

Sounds like fun, I am still flying a fleet of four Aerosoft Beavers. Yawn.....

 

If I fly to fast I get anxiety.

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

I just leased my first Boeing Pelican...bizarre thing that it is.

 

http://simviation.com/1/search?submit=1&keywords=pelican&categoryId=&page=2&filename=

 

It can haul 2.4 million pounds of cargo, but as I feared I can't assign AI's to fly a job on Automatic Mode, it's MTOW is above their pay grades...I will have to either hand load the beast and Fly to Airport (ai) (a CPL can be assigned to fly a C5A galaxy to a STOL field and somehow they pull it off...I'll use a Training Captain though ) and then manually unload...or I'll have to autopilot the thing overseas at night set to Pause at 30 miles from destination, and then land it in the morning during my coffee.

 

oh, ya...pay per job varies from 6 million to 15.5 million per cargo. Nice. Should be able to haul at least one per day per Pelican (there are 10 Pelican suitable jobs on the board now for just the one in the fleet) ...assuming I get another, few of them.

[Hero540 0]

The Boeing Pelican, or the USNC Pelican from Halo?! They have both on that page, lol.

 

I'm gonna guess the Boeing.