AH generates freight hauling jobs, more or less at random, but with an eye toward the base location(s) and aircraft type(s) owned by the company. The jobs are also affected by user preference settings for various attributes including distance and the kind of airports preferred. Much randomness remains but in the aggregate, jobs conform to the particulars of the user’s company location, equipment and his indicated preferences.
Jobs may be outward from a base, inward to a base, or between two non-base airports. Occasionally a job may be between two bases.
Jobs have an expiration time, always less than 72 hours from the time of generation – sometimes much less. Jobs are persistent, disappearing from the list only if completed or expired. The user is under no obligation to perform any specific job unless he accepts it. Once a job is accepted, it must be flown and delivered on time or consequences occur.
Job times are real-world times, as determined by the PC system time, not by the Flight Simulator time. Time of day may be changed in FS at will; accelerated time and pausing in FS may be used without penalty.
A new, optional feature pops up a sim-time setting utility in AH just prior
to launching FS at the beginning of a job. This permits the user to begin
his flight at any time of day. AH
jobs/flights always begin in a cold and dark cockpit.
AH flights are automatically saved by landing at any airport and shutting down the engine(s). An in-progress flight may be continued from that point at any time by resuming it in
AH, but the user should be aware that the RW clock is still ticking down toward the expiration time of the job(s) aboard. A cargo delivered late or to the wrong airport, perhaps because of bad weather, is handled in a fashion that mirrors the real world. Jobs flown by the owner/user are flown in FS and may use other add-ons such as weather engines, flight managers, etc.
 |
Aircraft
MTOW limits are enforced – if it’s overweight,
AH will not allow the
flight to be launched. You may have the local FBO remove some fuel,
however, for a fee. Careful flight planning is called for. Enroute
fuel stops are permitted, whether planned or ad-hoc.
Any FS aircraft may be used in AH. Add-on freeware or payware AC can
be imported and will be available for sale or lease. Any AC in the
list can be had at any time as a new AC at full price, or can be
leased. Used aircraft appear for purchase from time to time at
reduced price, but in less than pristine condition.
Sometimes they are a good deal, sometimes they are not. Caveat
emptor, or words to that affect, applies.
|
Aircraft may be leased by payment of a leasing fee up front plus an on-going monthly lease charge. The user may terminate the lease or exercise an option to buy at any time. The user is entirely responsible for the maintenance of leased AC.
How will you afford to buy or lease a large AC, you ask? Well, I’m glad you did ask. Loans are available, subject to certain limits, from the Royal Bank of … well, no matter. Available interest rates vary daily, but become fixed on the day you take the loan. Monthly interest payments on the outstanding balance are required, but payments on the principal amount are optional. Outstanding loans affect the availability of further credit so eventually the owner may elect to pay down the principal in order to be allowed to borrow ever more. It’s how real world businesses operate. Borrow the money to buy the asset, put the asset to work generating revenue and pay down the loan.
There are certain restrictions on aircraft leases and on bank loans at
certain times. Start-up companies must establish themselves and earn a
requisite amount of business stature before some options become available.
Loan amounts available are always subject to some limits, however, the more
sound the company, the higher the limits. As in the real world, sometimes
you must prove you don’t need a loan in order to qualify for one.
|
 |
|
Feeling lucky? Well then, visit the stock market in
AH. You may use
your company’s virtual cash to purchase virtual shares in real-world
companies at real-world market prices. AH
will access several
markets and provide the RW share prices for your speculative
pleasure. “Buy low, sell high”, is always the gist of free advice
from the experts and is worth every penny. Sorry, there’s no
AH
casino just yet, but this is the next best thing.
Companies in AH have a reputation attribute, expressed as a
percentage. Beginning at various levels depending upon the
difficulty setting chosen, reputation is enhanced by
certain things and diminished by certain other things. The
reputation attribute affects the appearance on the job list of
certain lucrative cargo types, the availability of loans and leases, the hiring
of AI pilots and…
What’s that you say? Yes, I did say AI pilots! Once the user reaches
a certain point in the game, hired minions become available at a
monthly salary. They may be assigned jobs to fly using the company
aircraft and the revenue will come rolling in… as will the bills for
fuel, landing fees, periodic inspections and repairs for damage from
the occasional bad landing or component or system failure.
|
|
 |
|
AI pilots have ratings. Ratings
affect the MTOW limit of AC they may fly – and their salary. As AI
pilots gain experience they receive promotions allowing them to fly
jobs in heavier aircraft. Their monthly salary increases
accordingly. The human owner/user too has a rating though it is
largely honorary, except in career mode. He receives no salary and has no limit on the AC
he may fly. He progresses to higher rating levels by the same means
as the AI pilots. In Career Mode, the owner/user is subject to the
same MTOW restrictions as the AI pilots and so must work his way up
to higher ratings in order to be permitted to fly the heavier AC
classes.
Pilots, either the owner or the AI variety, may be moved from place
to place via commercial travel if necessary. A distance-based cost
is incurred. For AI pilots a RW time delay also is required. As a
concession to playability commercial travel to relocate the
owner/user is instantaneous, though still requires payment.
AH rigorously and separately tracks the location of each pilot,
aircraft and cargo. Continuity of location is enforced for each of
the three different entity types. If a plane is flown to A and then
needs to pick up a cargo at B, well, someone is going to have to fly
it there, either the owner or an AI pilot. Deadhead flights (without
a paying cargo aboard) are part and parcel of AH
though the astute
manager will use every opportunity to pick up a nearby cargo along
the way.
In addition to location AH also tracks AC condition (i.e. unrepaired
damage), cargo aboard and fuel remaining. Aircraft are subject to
periodic inspections and flight time is tracked by
AH for that
purpose.
A comprehensive Flight Report log is automatically generated and
maintained for each flight. It details the expected things, but is
divided into flight data and landing data. The flight data includes
detailed fuel usage information, which can be very useful for future
flight planning. The landing data includes touchdown speed and
pitch, heading, vertical velocity, cross-wind component and several
other related things to buttress or bruise your ego, depending on
how well you did.
The user may specify his own graphics file from any of several
supported formats for use as a company logo. The graphic will then
appear in the header of the Flight Report and on several other
screens, mainly on the financial report pages.
An AC may only be utilized by one pilot at a time. When he’s done
with it, another may use it. If the intended pilot is not at the
same location as the intended AC, well, – either Mohammed must go to
the mountain or the mountain must come to Mohammed. The AC must be
flown by someone to the location of the pilot who needs it or the
prospective pilot may travel – for a price, and in the case of AI
pilots, with a suitably realistic delay – to the aircraft.
AI jobs are “flown” outside FS and will even proceed when
AH and the
PC are shut down. When AH is re-started, the AI job activities are
re-calculated and updated. The user may utilize the PC, the Flight
Simulator and/or AH
for other activities concurrently with ongoing
AI jobs.
Insurance may be purchased covering aircraft against most of the
repair costs for damage, though not for system failures. If too many
claims are made for a certain AC it is black-listed by the insurance
company and becomes un-insurable.
Multiple instances of the same AC type may be owned in
AH. If the
user wishes to operate a fleet of 737s, not only is it possible to
do so but he will benefit from a further reduction in the cost of
repairs performed at bases due to the economies of operating
multiple AC of the same type.
Too-heavy cargoes may be moved in multiple trips. AI pilots may be
assigned multiple jobs and will plod through them in the order
assigned. Cargoes may be transferred from one AC to another at
intermediate locations, making feeder systems possible. Some cargoes
are fragile and can be damaged by anything but the most careful
flying but they pay more if they can be delivered intact. Even
normal cargoes may be damaged by a bad landing or extreme flying and
the revenue for the job suffers accordingly.
Landings are monitored and rated. An audible Ground Proximity
Warning System calls out AGL heights during approaches. A
user-adjustable, audible “Minimums” warning plays at the pre-set
height too. There is a pause-at-distance feature that will
automatically pause FS at a user-selected distance from the
destination airport during AH flights.
For jobs flown by the user/owner, complex job and flight planning is
available. Multiple cargoes may be carried on a single flight
(though not currently by AI pilots). Routing and loading may be whatever the
user wants it to be. It is quite possible, for instance, to plan up
and fly the following sequence in AH
… |
|
* Depart A for B with no cargo
* At B, pick up a cargo for E
* Fly from B to C and pick up another cargo for E and one for A
* Fly from C to D and refuel
* Fly to E and drop off the cargoes from B and C
* Fly to A and deliver the cargo from C |
…limited only by the user’s imagination, the availability of the cargoes and the capacity of the aircraft. This may well be the most powerful of all AH’s features.
There’s more. Time and space doesn’t permit listing every feature and detail, but these are the big pieces and some of the small ones. I hope this is enough of a taste to pique your interest.
For more information, visit AH’s web site at…
http://www.airhauler.net/ or Just
Flight at
http://www.justflight.com.
There’s a forum too for users, prospective users and the merely curious. Come and have a read or a chat. It’s an interesting place and is getting better all the time.
The Thinking Man's Freight Flying Simulation
