Air Hauler or Cargo Pilot.. And some good planes to go with them

[Wolflikespie 39]

Hi all,

 

I've been flying with ORBX's SAK and have really enjoyed it, but I want some "purpose" in my flying and I'm anxious to explore the area. I noticed there are two cargo addons for fsx and I was hoping for some feedback on them and which one would be better for Alaskan bush flying.. Maybe some jet hauling later. In addition, any GA and bush aircraft that anyone could also recommend would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[Nathan3219 113]

I would recommend Air Hauler. It's perfect to start a cargo company in Alaska. AH will allow you to pick your airport, large or small, and then start flying jobs to neighboring airports. Just get it. Very addictive.

 

Others will have to chime in on good bush plane addons.

[snowingairlines 20]

I second the Air Hauler recommendation. The best bush cargo plane has to be the c208 by Carenado.

[VeryBumpy 272]

I have Air Hauler and it is fun but not perfect. It becomes bit of a grind and pretty repetitive after a while. But that might be do to my conservative play style. I should just let loose and go for it and borrow tons of money and see how well I can manage some huge airliner firm.

 

From what I understand, Cargo Pilot is much less feature rich than AH so don't think it'd be worth a purchase unless you find it really cheap.

[Portia911 9]

Air Hauler is newer and better than Cargo Pilot - and a fantastic add-on for FSX. It definitely gives you 'purpose' for your flights and prompts you to fly to new places you'd not otherwise know about.

 

For bush-flying in SAK, you could grab the default Maule (although it doesn't have much hauling capacity). A better option all round is the Carenado C185! You get wheeled, floats and amphibious versions and it hauls 1350lb. Also well-suited to this role/ location is the RealAir Scout/ Citabria/ Decathlon package (but it only hauls ~ 500 lbs). Aerosoft's DHC-2 Beaver is another all-surface option - perfectly suited for SAK.

 

With AH, you can chose the scale of your operation - and the rate at which you progress from bug-smashers, to twins, turbo-props or jets. You can also expand geographically (and bolt-on Tongass Fjords, Pacific Fjords and PNW to your SAK scenery as you go!). And if that doesn't give you enough variety, chose an earlier time period and run a second company with 1930s aircraft.

[LHookins 3,102]

I've been flying FSEconomy (it's free, http://www.fseconomy.com ) and the Grumman Goose. I've found it to be quite compelling.

 

There's a bit of multiplayer aspect to the game but you can mostly ignore it if you wish. For example, you can either rent planes until you have enough to buy one yourself, or find one you like and request a loan (or lease-to-buy) from an existing player. Most FBO's at airports are owned by players, and they set fuel prices and repair markups and influence what jobs are available at their airport. If you don't want to have any interaction with other people you don't have to, but there's a feeling of a living world in either case because of the other people involved.

 

For a typical flight, I'll log on to their web server and check an airport for jobs going to and from that airport. If I see several where I can load up and fly out, dropping off and picking up passengers along the way and end up back where I started, I'll select the jobs. Then I select a plane from the rentals available, or if necessary find one nearby. Usually I'll use my leased aircraft, but not always. I'll decide where to fuel up depending on prices and availability. Then I go to the flight planner and figure out a route (in Alaska that's usually using the GPS as there aren't enough navaids to matter).

 

Then I shut down the browser, open the FSE client program (a mini browser, actually), start FSX (I could fly FS9 or XP as well), put my aircraft at the right airport, and in the FSX add-on menu for FSE click on Start Flight. This loads the passengers/cargo on the plane and sets the fuel. Fly the route, and at each stop set the parking brake (to inform the FSE client you've landed, slightly different for FS9) and the flight gets recorded on the FSE server. Then select Start Flight and take off again.

 

At the end the pop-up box says my plane is no longer rented, and the flight is done. I shut down FSX and go to the FSE website and check the logs to see how much money I've made and put the excess in the bank to earn interest. I have to pay for ramp fees and occasional booking fees, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, and fuel.

 

I can fly anything from a Piper Cub to a C130 depending on what load I'm carrying, although the Goose with 9 passengers is about the right size to make money. The emphasis is on GA flying, and there aren't a lot of airliner type jobs, but there are some. There is an incredible variety of aircraft available, and a spreadsheet to tell you where to download payware or freeware versions of each for FSX, FS9 and XP. This has made me consider buying a payware aircraft I'd never normally think about just to use it in FSE.

 

I'd be interested in hearing how Air Hauler and Cargo Pilot compare.

 

Hook

[bic 44]

It seems Cargo Pilot came before Air Hauler.  Maybe they are by the same developers and they came up with more and better ideas for Air Hauler.

 

Yes, it can be a grind if you want to grow.  There are still some quirks like reputation if you don't fly much and work your AI instead.  Mine is 0% now.

 

I use the default Caravan in the Caribbean based in TJIG and it's a blast.  Though some of the distances get to be long with the 208.  Can't beat the weather as every approach is just about visual.

[xplanery 250]

I too would recommend Aerosoft Beaver, I've found it to be just perfect plane for some bush flying with Air Hauler. For some twin engine fun Aerosoft Twin Otter is a good choice also, although now they are working on new version of it which might be worth waiting for instead of buying the current version.

[Wolflikespie 39]

Thanks for the opinions guys. If anyone has both AH and FSE, are they basically the same or does AH have a lot of features that warrants the price tag? Leaning towards FSE since it's free but I'd be interested in AH if it is worth the money.

[WotanUK 289]

FSCaptain will simulate passenger / cargo flights and has a free trial.

 

In the interests of completeness FSPassengers is also available and will simulate cargo / passenger operation.  It however is not actively developed / supported

[Dagger 1]

Just want to add my 2 cents. When I got back into fsx a couple of years ago I read great things about FSEconomy so I started there. Great program to start out with but it does tend to get boring after a while. Nothing to take away from it, since first it's free, and secondly it has a great community.

 

So I decided to get Air hauler and since then my fsx experience has changed dramatically.

 

I use a combination of Ideal flight (which saves your plane's location at every airport you land in!) Air hauler, AS2012, accu sim among a few addons, and fly with 2 bases (Switzerland, Brazil and will open another in Canada) using 2 Carenado 208b cargo and 2 Ka350 (with Collins panels) and hopefully soon with the Dash 8). I swap between flying manually between Europe and Brazil to change up the scenery, but beware, this will only lead to spending countless hours flying!

 

The difference is not even comparable. Air hauler is a complete cargo company simulator, complete with payroll and maintenance expenses.

 

The best thing about this program is you can use your favorite airports as home bases right from the get go, using your fav planes, and hiring AI to fly for you (it will track all flights even when you exit the program!)

 

It will keep tabs on your flight, and it will penalize you for bad flying by docking part of your fee and take a hit in reputation(which affects available work and AI)

 

There are some issues with it (mainly the reputation system and some odd Ai behaviors), but they are small issues which take nothing away from the addictive immersion which will keep you coming back to it for every flight.

 

It should work with every single scenery and plane addon.

 

Easily one of the best addons which has kept me completely interested in continuing to fly in FSX!

[Virtualviking 0]

 

I use a combination of Ideal flight (which saves your plane's location at every airport you land in!) Air hauler, AS2012, accu sim among a few addons, ...

 

 

How do you combine Ideal Flight and Air Hauler?

[Dagger 1]

 

How do you combine Ideal Flight and Air Hauler?

Well I had IF10 for a few months before I purchased AH so I'll outline the steps (if anyone can add anything please do!)

 

1 start AH, IF10 and AS2012,

2 in AH select your next flights

3 within IF select you plane and location (all plane locations should be saved, so you just need to select the drop down for the airport), select destination, wait for IF10 to generate the flight plan (including estimated fuel )

4 import flight plan to AS2012, and double check within AH to ensure your job can be completed in the time required and check your fuel requirements (I usually average the estimates between AH and AF10)

5 when you are ready to fly, select the fly now option in IF10, wait till the plane is at the gate/parking space.

6 start AH flight(must use wideFS option ) which will start the AH script within FSX (you will get the messages in game)

7 AF and AH will monitor your flight

8 After landing and shutting down, end flight using IF10 drop down menu in FSX, then end flight within AH

9 AH will give you a post flight debrief, including any fees collected and expenses incurred, and IF10 will give you an in depth post flight evaluation (it monitors just about all aspects of your flying, including checklists) and you will loose points for even forgetting to set your lights properly, so I always have a copy of the checklist next to me.

 

I am ready to try more complicated FP (once I build my next monster rig) and might switch over to FSCommander, EFB, Plan G or wait for what might be the next "best" thing for FSX...pfpx.com/

 

But right now I love flying low and slow with these planes, so IF10 is great to generate a direct VFR GPS route (but you can use VOR/VOR and combinations of), with some approach waypoints (IF will usually generate 5 approach WPs after the TOD) .

 

There are some small issues, although nothing game breaking, with IF10 (one issue I have is you cant use AS2012 METAR to generate flight, so you have to read them, and select the appropriate RW within IF10) , but for use with Air Hauler, its a great combination.

[Q_flyer 766]

I have Air Hauler and it is fun but not perfect. It becomes bit of a grind and pretty repetitive after a while.

+1

 

The biggest thing lacking, is any visible effect on FSX; eg.. if we could see the cargo placed onto the ramp before we load it etc, it would be better (even "Freight Dogs" offered this, back in 2004).

 

So basically Air Hauler as a program, can be fun for a while, managing your business, fleet, hubs and routes; but I honestly don't think it adds much to FSX flying; It just dumps you at Airport A and you fly to Airport B (it doesn't even care how you get there).

 

The last time I got into Air Hauler I didn't even use it with FSX, just hired lots of aircrafts and pilots and used it solely as a 'management simulation', and it's actually not bad at that role .......... but does it spice up FSX flying; in my opinion, no.

[airernie 263]

The last time I got into Air Hauler I didn't even use it with FSX, just hired lots of aircrafts and pilots and used it solely as a 'management simulation', and it's actually not bad at that role .......... but does it spice up FSX flying; in my opinion, no.

 

I would agree.  I found the first few self-piloted flights somewhat enjoyable, but eventually switched over to AI pilots and aircraft and became a "manager.  However, even that has become somewhat tedious and I haven't opened it in  the past two weeks.

 

Hmmm.. Which means that I probably have some base rental and insurance payments just waiting for me.

 

Ernie