So a bit more information on building a plane using a factory. As I said, I’m in Portland, OR (KPDX) and there was an extensive list of aircraft parts from 172s all the way up to MD82s. I’ve decided to go ahead and build a Kodiak Quest since that would be my next “stepping stone” aircraft anyway. If my factory were to ONLY build a Kodiak, it would not be worth the expenditure ($800K factory startup + parts and shipping) - you could simply buy or lease a Kodiak for less money than that. But I want the experience and “quest” of finding the parts for a “Quest”…haha…
Plus, down the line, I can still use the MAX factory in Pullman to build even bigger planes where it does become more cost effective/attractive.
So I bought three Kodiak parts (Cockpit, Tail Section, and Undercarriage) for a combined price of $58,512.
I wasn’t sure what would happen after I bought them, but thankfully it pops up with a “Ship Part to Base” box - I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to figure out a way to actually transport the parts in my plane. That both frees me up to continue flying and making money and avoids the pitfall of not having a plane big enough to move parts (chicken and the egg syndrome). Shipping costs are completely reasonable - $450 to $1500 for the parts I was buying.
So those three parts are on the way to Pullman. According to the AH2 manual, I will need:
- Cockpit
- Fuselage
- Tail Section
- Port Wing
- Starboard Wing
- Undercarriage
- Engine(s)
So I’m already well on my way to completing construction. Apparently the parts are randomized around the world - I’m not sure which airports carry what parts, but I’m going to assume that it is the bigger airports (Seattle, Portland, etc…) that might have good parts inventories since some small airports have no commodities.
This is an interesting feature and adds another dimension to the Air Hauler 2 career mode.