FSX Bell 206B JetRanger III

Owen Hewitt's Bell 206, originally released for FS2004, has been one of the most popular helicopter add-ons ever released. Now, you can fly this famous add-on in FSX. The FSX native conversion of Owen's 206 includes 18 different model configurations, reflective glass and liveries, new rotor blur style, bump and spec maps, and much more. DirectX 10 compatible. By Brandon Filer, George A. Arana.

In 2005, Owen Hewitt released his scratch built FS2004 Bell 206B JetRanger III. Over the years, it became a favorite of many helicopter enthusiasts. However, when FSX came along, past FS2004 owners were left with an obsolete model that didn't quite display right in the new simulator. Recently, we contacted Owen offering to do an FSX native upgrade to the model. He kindly accepted the offer and as soon as the files reached us, we went to work to bring this popular release to FSX. Eagle Rotorcraft Simulations is proud to present Owen Hewitt's Bell 206B JetRanger III for Microsoft Flight Simulator X.

Basic animations that you would find on many helicopter add-ons have been simulated, as well as some that are not so common. They include:

• Main rotor cyclic/collective movement.
• Tail rotor pitch change.
• All doors open, including the baggage compartment.
• Rotors flex upwards then lifting the collective for takeoff.

We have added a few new visual goodies to this FSX version of the Bell 206. These include:

• Window glass and fuselage parts now reflect using a custom envmap by Enigma Simulations.
• New 3D rotor blur which flexes upwards when raising the collective.
• Rotor blades now droop when in the still state.
• Bump and specular maps used to take advantage of the new FSX visuals.
• DirectX 10 Compatible. Includes VC shadows when using DX10 Preview.

Installation:

To make installing the Bell 206B JetRanger III as quick and easy as possible, we have included an installer exe file which you can use to go through the installation process. Simply run the exe file from the download and follow each step of the installation that the exe presents to you. When you reach the step in the installation dialog that lets you browse for a directory, ensure that the correct FSX main directory (folder) is listed. If not, click 'Browse,' locate the directory, and proceed to the next step.

Credits:

Brandon Filer Exterior model upgrade, textures, flight dynamics, PDF User Manual.
George A. Arana Interior model upgrade, liveries, modified sound CFG.
Owen Hewitt Original GMax model, textures.
Scott Swanberg Flight dynamics tweaking.
Enigma Simulations Reflection texture.
Thanks to Owen Hewitt for sharing the original GMax source files with ERS. We are very happy to see a new life given to this classic add-on.