Realism; AKA: My Strange Obsession

[Hero540 0]

Hey guys!

 

I moved. It has been hectic. It has been horrible. It has been incredibly stressful. And I didn't even move out of town. It was an in town move, less than 5 miles from my old apartment. Anyways, me and the soon to be wife have bought our own home now, and I'm happy to say I have unpacked my Toshiba Qosmio and its gloriousness (which includes FSX!) and I have been able to squash the flying bug a few times. 

 

 

But, my flights have only been mostly setting tweaking and fun little jaunts. Now that I'm more unpacked and better able to actually sit and make some more purposeful flights, I wanted to get back into Air Hauler and my strange useage of Air Hauler /FsPassengers X to pretend I'm running an Air Taxi service rather than a cargo service. 

 

However, I have this strange desire to be as realistic as I possibly can. To the point where I've been researching Part 135 rules and regulations and hiring AI pilots but not actually using them to fly jobs but rather to simulate a ground crew (receptionists, mechanics loaders, ect) and have some questions that I desperately want answers for, but are a bit too specific for even the almighty Google. So I figured I would turn to this awesome community of aviators who are in the know! 

 

Basically, from my understanding and limited information available on the net, most Air Taxi operators are running smaller turbojets like Gulfstreams and Citations and they run the more wealthy and elite passengers across half the US to allow this wealthy pax the ability to avoid the hustle, bustle, and crowds associated with more mainstream air carriers and larger airport hubs.

 

That's not my style. I am capable of flying anything up to and including the 737 in FSX, but I found I don't enjoy flying the tubes as much as I do the Cessna's and the smaller bush-type planes. I love VFR flying, and so I recently started another company out of 7S2 (Stark's Twin Oaks in Hillsboro, Oregon using OBRX's awesome version of the field).

 

My main flyer is Carenado's Cessna 337 Skymaster, and I've also got a Cessna 185 and a Beechcraft Baron 58.

 

So finally I want to get to my question: In all my internet research almost all Air Taxi companies and even the smaller cargo runners are always using Turboprops or even jets in mainland USA. It seems my types of planes are basically for the bush fliers in Alaska, Canada, Africa, or maybe Australia. 

 

So how realistic is it to have a passenger/cargo service using smaller bush planes flying shorter hops in Mainland US? I can't spend too long on my flights, so I almost never leave the state I'm in on any of my flights. I'm afraid it's just not very realistic. So does anyone have any insight into this?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

--Lee

[allardjd 1,853]

It's my impression that low-end GA charters are not very common, except into remote areas for sportsmen, sometimes with float planes or amphibs into lakes and rivers.  Even for those, many of the operators are going to prefer something with a turbo-prop for the added reliability and power.  Hunters and fishermen are not known to travel light.  If they can afford a charter to get where they want to hunt and fish, they can also be expected to have all sorts of expensive sporting gear and will not be happy at the idea of having to leave the bulk of it behind.  The usual piston GA types that rely on the - Fill-the-Seats; Fill-the-Tanks; Fly; Pick any Two method - are not going to be a good fit in that market either.  Explaining MTOW limits of a piston single to three lard-assed hunters with 150 lbs. of gear each is probably not going to produce happy campers on either side of the charter operator's office counter.  If you don't have something like a turbo-Otter or a Quest Kodiak out on the ramp, they are going to go away disappointed and you'll miss the fare.

 

People who can afford to travel by air charter probably are not going to be very happy about schlepping along at 140 knots or less in the middle altitudes, getting bounced around by the convective turbulence.  I doubt that short-distance air charters are in much demand anyway.  Any time saved is probably eaten up at the other end by rental car hoops to jump through and that sort of thing. 

 

Flying light GA in the RW, I learned that about 100 NM was the break-even distance for time.  Anything less and the drive to the airport, hauling the plane out, getting airborne, tying down at the other end and getting a ride to where you are really going pretty much eats up the time saved.  At longer distances, flying begins to save time.

 

We can pretend in FS and in AirHauler that there really is a market for single-engine, piston charters, or even piston twins, but I suspect that in the RW, except in the islands where distances are short but driving is not an option, that kind of thing doesn't happen much.

 

John

[Quickmarch 488]

Hiya Hero,

 

Check out:

 

http://saltspringair.com/schedule/

http://www.pacificcoastalbc.calls.net/

http://www.harbourair.com/

http://www.kenmoreair.com/

http://www.hyackair.com/

http://www.seairseaplanes.com/

 

Just add water and stir. Beavers, Otters and Twotters. Some even burn Jet-A

 

The Pacific Northwest is a charter and scheduled light aircraft mecca. I live on a boat in Maple Bay, Vancouver Island and three of these companies pick up passengers within 100 feet of my home. Imagine getting on a Beaver or an Otter with a guaranteed (WX permitting) arrival time in downtown Vancouver before 9am. All this for $100. The ferry charges about $70 for car and driver and I challenge anyone to find a day's parking in Vancouver for less than $20. Never mind the five hour transit time.

 

You don't even need to go anywhere near Northern BC and Alaska where the airplane is often the only way to get around. 

 

Check out Buffalo Air - http://www.buffaloairways.com

 

For the well-heeled, there's a bunch of heli operators, too. Mostly airport to airport.

[DaveLeafNiles 0]

To add to what Quickmarch has said anytime I'm in Victoria, BC the inner harbor is buzzing with scheduled commuter and charter float flights that service Vancouver Island and the PNW.  I found an interesting commuter airline in Hawaii http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mokulele_Airlines operating Caravans that seems pretty cool.  Here is a link to Seaport, a smallish commuter line that's been quite successful in PNW and now expanded to elsewhere http://seaportair.com/  They fly a 100 craft fleet of Caravans and Pilatus machines.  I guess what I'm suggesting is that you could easily model your start-up based on these, flying non-turbo prop instead.  For my AH company I usually 'buy' several Lockheed Model 12's for cargo and 'pretend' I'm also carrying pax since those aircraft are not turbo, have decent speed and were designed as airline feeders ^.^  Not perfect but fun nonetheless.

 

Are you running a pax hauling program alongside AH?

 

 

Kind regards,

Dave

[Andrew Godden 945]

Lee,

 

I spent 31 years of my professional life moving around the country and the shortest moves where often the hardest.

 

As far as the local US operators go, I am not that current.  However, I thought the likes of ABX Air, FedEx, and others, used "feeder" operators, particularly for intra state and short haul.  Typically some of these "feeders" operate the Cessna 208B and I know this steps up into the turboprop category, but it would seem logical that a high capacity piston engine aircraft would also be in the mix somewhere.

 

For pax air taxi services, the Beechcraft B60 'Duke', Cessna 340, and Piper PA46-350P 'Malibu Mirage' are good options.  Of course, Carenado produce excellent versions of the latter two and RealAir Simulations produce an excellent version of the 'Duke'.

 

Cheers

Andrew

(another self-confessed, obsessed addict) 

[Hero540 0]

An outstanding amount of information, Gentlemen! Thank you so much. 

 

I guess maybe I shouldn't be too horribly concerned with realism as much as I am, and maybe focus on finding a good balance. My flights are about 100-200 nm in length, so based on what John said about real world general aviation, I feel better, but I had to laugh very hard at his points about the lard-ass hunters, lol! 

 

@Quickmarch: I'm jealous. I would love to be so close to some operators of charter airlines like that. I'd be over on their property annoying them everyday with questions and just staring in awe and some of those beautiful machines. Also, thank you very much for the links! I'll be honest and say I haven't viewed them yet, as there's a bunch of them, but I will definitely be taking a look at them. 

 

@Dave: I like the look of the Lockheed 12. I've personally never heard of the airplane until now, but it reminds me of a Beechcraft D-18. I am also a fan of the more vintage prop liners and even some older jets. If I do have an urge to fly tubes, I usually take up Captain Sims' 737-200F and run cargo around, but really I enjoy the low and slow with DC-3's and the like. As for my pax program, yes I do run FSPassengers X along side my Air Hauler program. 

 

To simulate air taxi operations I will use Air Hauler to select a job. Say it's 500 lbs of ice going to seattle, for example. Because I fly the GA planes, and mainly the Skymasher, 500 lbs to me would translate to 5 passengers. If the first number is above what I can carry based on seating of the plane, I would not take the job. Once I have Air Hauler assign me the job and I get into the sim to fly it, I make sure REX has injected the proper weather, and then I start FSPassengers X but I make sure the weight and fuel settings in FSP is off, so Air Hauler's setting is used and also to not interfere with Air Hauler. Then I just load five passengers and fly to the destination as normal. It's quite awesome, especially with the passenger effects and then the possibly of more realistic and random failures with FSPassengers.  

 

 

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

Hi Hero, just wanted to suggest a nice plane to try if you haven't yet, the C124 Globemaster is a lovely classic semi-heavy with DC-3 era feel, but 737 hauling ability. Great freeware plane is available with an easy search.

 

I agree re: finding a balance. I personally am not striving for realism, but instead am building fleets with wide variety of flying fun, variety = ballance for me. I am runing 5 companies (4 casual to test ideas, and 1 career to implement ideas in my real fleet). I run Bd-5j's up through c5 galaxies, and I am trying to earn enough AH money to afford a Veeerrrryyy intriguing bird called a Boeing Pelican, which can haul 2.5 million lbs of cargo...I have flown it in FSX across the Pacific from Half moon Bay/San Francisco to Hilo, Hawaii...very very odd plane and I can't wait to see what kind of cargos AH will assign for it LOL...but it costs 229 million to lease...so I have a ways to go yet.

 

Fly safe, land greasy. o7

[Hero540 0]

Hi Hero, just wanted to suggest a nice plane to try if you haven't yet, the C124 Globemaster is a lovely classic semi-heavy with DC-3 era feel, but 737 hauling ability. Great freeware plane is available with an easy search.

 

I agree re: finding a balance. I personally am not striving for realism, but instead am building fleets with wide variety of flying fun, variety = ballance for me. I am runing 5 companies (4 casual to test ideas, and 1 career to implement ideas in my real fleet). I run Bd-5j's up through c5 galaxies, and I am trying to earn enough AH money to afford a Veeerrrryyy intriguing bird called a Boeing Pelican, which can haul 2.5 million lbs of cargo...I have flown it in FSX across the Pacific from Half moon Bay/San Francisco to Hilo, Hawaii...very very odd plane and I can't wait to see what kind of cargos AH will assign for it LOL...but it costs 229 million to lease...so I have a ways to go yet.

 

Fly safe, land greasy. o7

 

I like your ideas of combining the planes you enjoy into one big, really fun to fly fleet! I have heard of the Globemaster, but I never really looked into it any further. I just looked it up and did some research on it and I have to say, it's a very interesting looking bird. It's like a fat guppy with the wings and engines of a DC-6! I'll have to see if I can get one into my FSX to try out.

 

Part of my problem is that most freeware add-on planes, not matter how masterfully designed, I cannot simply use anymore, because I started to run my FSX in Direct X 10 preview mode with the necessary shader fixes in order to improve my framerates. The Direct X 10 fixes are outstanding, I have aircraft shadows on (both for aircraft and ground) and light bloom, and I still get about 50 frames in non intensive default scenery tech improved areas and about 25-30 in dense ORBX areas. Almost all my sliders are to the right. The downside of this, is that most freeware is built to be run in Direct X 9 mode. =(  

[remingtonbox 18]

I both agree and disagree with John, yes the market is small and a very specialized niche, but also, there are people willing to pay $XX.XX for me to take them in a 182 to places 100-200 miles away.

 

I just finished writing up the specifications for my companies 135 application, we have two and maybe three planes (C172, C182 and BE55) soon on it, so I have the rules pretty fresh in my head.

 

In my neck of the woods, Iowa, there are a fair amount of farmers with more money than time that want to purchase seed, machinery, whathaveyou from all over the midwest, so my company tries to capitalize on that.  

 

That being said, it is a VERY specialized niche and we fly maybe a couple times a week, in no way shape or form is light GA/light twin charter flying a way to make a living.

 

EDIT:  We do have a few operators that fly Piper Malibu's but by and large the attitude is "if it ain't turboprop/jet I ain't going"