ORIGINAL: HK182
I've been reading complaints that FS One contains few airplanes. Does it not have over 30 models like the web site says? 30 sounds like alot of planes and helis to me, and I'm sure that more will be out in the near future. Also, to you guys that have tried it, how well does FS One simulate helis?
Yes, it has over 30 aircraft as indicated on the web site. There are 26 unique airplanes and 7 unique helicopters. There are also many variants of these. For example, there are heli variants that include training gear. There are variants of sailplanes that have electric power. There are also a wide range of variants that are scaled -- well over 60 scaled aircraft are included, ranging from a 3-inch wingspan Aerobird Xtreme to a full-scale (100%) Edge 540. Each of these flies differently, due to the mass, power, and aerodynamics scale differences that are accurately modeled. When variants are included, the total number of aircraft (airplanes and helis) in the sim is over 100. Rather than include variants, we simply state "over 30 models", but you can see that you'll get considerably more.
Besides just being fun to fly aircraft of different sizes, there are other benefits as well for scaled variants. For example, during the Toledo show, a guest was trying FS One and mentioned that he was wanting to learn to fly 3D aerobatics. He tried flying the Edge 540, but was having trouble hovering and doing torque rolls. We then selected a scaled aircraft (in this case it was a 72-inch wingspan Tribute) and he tried again. As he flew, I provided him some training comments and within about two minutes, he was able to fly the large Tribute pretty well. We then switched back to the normal scale Edge 540 and he did much, much better than before. It was actually quite amazing. A rather unique way to learn. Later that day, he came by with a friend, pointed to FS One, and said, "This is the sim that taught me how to hover." Quite a compliment.