Y’all this is also being released tomorrow:
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I’m so keen. I will probably see what area people start flying in and try to figure out how to cobble together a reasonably affordable scenery for that area.
I know I will take a lot of enjoyment from reading people’s AARs from the same area I fly in - in particular with real world weather etc. so we might all be grounded by the same storm etc.
I like the idea of bush flying, small planes, start from $0 scratch stuff - short flights fit my life better and it’ll be nice to practice standard six pack flying. I need to learn the 727 at some point but I’m thinking that’s my Xmas flight goal so I’ll have time to do some small plane stuff before that.
Exciting!
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Just spent a couple hours with my newly acquired Carenado DO228. What a gem. I’m sure Carenado got some stuff wrong, but it feels great. Nice, old school cockpit with lots of scuffs and stories to tell. The sounds are fantastic.
Went with the cold and dark challenge and managed to stumble my way through it…
Super cool that Carenado included a switch on the pedestal to engage the RXP GTN 750 if you have it installed…awesome…!
Beat up overhead panel…
Wonderful ground handling with nice body sway and this thing will stop on a dime if you put the props into reverse… BUT IT IS LOUD! LIKE REALLY LOUD!!
Love the 2D pop up flight director panel…almost an exact replica of the one on the old Citation II I used to fly and nearly the same as the Citation V I used to fly…
Off we go. Gear up. Gear up. Ummm…gear UP. No…gear is not coming up.
A little airborne Google-fu and I found out you have to have the start switch guards (yellow) placed back over the switches to raise the gear…so there ya’ go…
All cleaned up…!
ITT seems a little low maybe (?) and I swear when I went full flaps and landing gear that I needed 100% torque to maintain blue line. Going to half flaps made that crazy drag go away…so not sure about all that…
Planning to drop in to Newport Municipal (KONP) on the coast of Oregon. I wanted to see if the RNAV approaches worked…and they do! Including the pseudo-glideslope…yes…!
Gonna have to tear those seats out. This won’t be an Air Hauler bird I can get right off the bat…I’ll have to work up to it…
Great short field performance. I didn’t try for a minimum landing distance, but as soon as you engage reverse this thing really drops speed. Will be a great bush plane…
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So this was the starting options that Air Hauler 2 for FSX/P3D offered…I’m guessing we will get something similar for X-Plane, but with different aircraft on offer. Remember, reputation is what you have to build in order to get things like bank loans and things of that nature. If they offer the option, I will probably be selling the default aircraft (wonder if it will be the Cessna 172SP or maybe the Baron) and pick up something else that I import into the game.
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So here is some data from AH2P3D (not the new XP version) that might help at least start with the research. Personally - flying in the PNW I’d like to have two things. Actually, as a real life pilot, I like a couple other things too, but for the sim flying I like to have an ILS and runway lights. In real life, I love myself a 24 hour control tower (helps to get clearances faster). Here are the airports in Washington and Oregon that meet the ILS and runway lights criteria, sorted by length of their longest runway. Not included in the columns is the landing fee (ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars based on the airport…) I did not include California since I figured most people are interested in the PNW. I’m not sure what length in meters means…I hear it is some new age measurement of length that the rest of the world uses. I’m sure it will die out…
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Fairchild AFB (KSKA) is actually one of the best bargains for the combination of runway length (13,899’…!!), opening cost (65K) and monthly rental ($6,205). With an ILS to both ends of the runway (including a CAT-II), RNAV approaches, and TACAN approaches, it could handle MACH aircraft as large as we could find them (I know one of you will eventually want an AN-225).
Only problem. Hmm…it’s a military base. Well, I guess we are going to have to take it by force guys. We may have to borrow the army assembled to storm Area 51 last year…they seemed to have it all figured out.
McChord AFB is a close second with SIDs, STARs, ILS (CAT II), and 10,108’ of sweet, sweet concrete all at the bargain price of $80K opening and 8K monthly rental. The military bases are definitely a bargain. It does beg the question how many porn DVDs and cans of dip you can fit into a Cessna 208, but hey…revenue is revenue.
IF we exclude military bases. Well, costs skyrocket. Though the opening costs are brutal (235K), Moses Lake (KMWH) sports five runways with an ILS, RNAV, VOR and NDB approaches. You have to love the diversity of all those approaches…and finding an NDB approach these days in the lower 48 is like spotting a snipe on the first day of hunting season.
Down in Oregon, we start to see some good deals - Medford (KMFR) with 8,800’ of runway, ILS, VOR, LOC, RNAV approaches - opening cost 160K and a monthly rental of $17,018.
If you give up the green needle ILS approach requirement, the numbers come down significantly. Truth be known - with RNAV LPV approaches pretty close to ILS minimums, you can probably get away without an ILS, but I do love me some straight up ground based NAVAIDS.
Crossing the border into Canada - it is hard to argue with the value of Comox (CYQQ) with 10,000’ of runway, opening cost of $80K and a monthly rental of a mere $13,309. I’m not an expert on it, but it appears to be a joint use airport so you might only get shot on a certain side of the airport. Looks like it has ILS, RNAV, TACAN, and NDB approaches.
So there you have an hour of 2AM Air Hauler analysis.
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For giggles I wanted to see how the old Cessna 185F Skywagon would perform in case I end up starting out with that in AH2XP. I also wanted to take a look at Medford, OR and it looks like a pretty nice field…! Certainly enough runway length to allow for larger aircraft…
I headed out and departed the area to the south, just looking for a little po-dunk airstrip where I could test out the C-185F. I found my adventure just over the border - Round Mountain Ranch Airport (CA09), located on the side of a hill. According to AirNav - 1500’ x 50’. When I got in the vicinity, I started looking and soon found where X-Plane had placed it, which was a little bit offset from what the actual ORBX satellite imagery was showing. And it had trees on it…but the ortho did not. So I landed on the ortho instead…!
The 185F is a dream to fly. Throaty…powerful, but old fashioned steam gauges and not a much of fluff. No GPS, just VOR needles and some looking out the window.
So this is where I landed…you can see my plane at the end of where the ortho runway is…there was even an autogen building that matched the building on the ortho. X-Plane put the dirt runway up the hillside a bit more. My landing area was flatter and had no trees…
Here is a comparison with the Google satellite imagery…you can see the lake, the building, and the road crossing the dirt strip…
Next I wanted to see what kind of performance I could get out of the 185F. I loaded it full to max takeoff weight to see how it would handle the short strip and 3,000’ altitude. It took all of the 1,500’ runway…but we staggered into the air…
I forgot how much fun this kind of stuff is…!
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Nice!
Which 185 is that?
I take it you don’t recommend it…?
Haha…it’s the old Carenado one and it works great. I need to check it out in VR though to see if all is working OK.
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Please do!
Will look it up.
It should be this one…but you also have to buy the bush expansion…
@BeachAV8R, I got stuck browsing old Carenado crates… That 185 looks great with floats, skis and tundras.
It states XP 10.5, but so does their Agtruck, which I do believe I’ve seen you fly recently?
I remember getting their SU-26 for XP 10… I wonder if that can be made to fly VR in 11? 
I’m hopping in the 185F in VR right now. Will report back…
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I’m over excited for AH2 now…well done
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I like Moses Lake and McChord because they are relatively near a population center … which should accommodate a nice variety of relatively short haul flights 
It is possible to move after? I maybe starting at a military airfield helps keep costs down during those early days
Also, curious about how multiple pilots in one company could work but this statement caught my attention on the AH2XP page:
“You can also ‘go global’ and create your own Virtual Airline and recruit other AH2 pilots to fly for you with
attractive payouts, or you can join another pilot’s booming airline and fly for that alongside your own company.”
That would allow us to all start individually, yet collectively contribute to a central structure? I don’t want to make this into a management headache for @BeachAV8R
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DHL use to, and maybe still does, maintain steady parcel traffic between Newark airport and Manhattan using [a] Bell 206[s]. Is there a way this type of currier traffic can work with AH? Are helipads incorporated?
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I did not see any indications in any of the screenshots on their page. It looks like a port of the P3D/FSX version so maybe if they are supported in that version?
I do think you can use helicopters in Air Hauler - but I’ve been searching the AH2 forum for a bit trying to ascertain if missions will be generated to helipads and I’m not seeing anything that indicates that is possible. That feature may have been added for AH2XP though…so we might have to wait and see.
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Ooh…I like the idea of this!
Question - how does AH work with the huge number of add-on modules available for XP?
I’ve got a small selection of purchased GA aircraft and a King Air…will AH have a set purchase price and suitable missions for those or do I need to buy selected models like the Kodiak to play it?