ok, made decision 
its going to be Bell 429 (freeware)
available via discord
jXt released freeware Bell 429 for MSFS • HeliSimmer.com
my first leg took me from Orly LFPO to small grass airport Pont-Sur-Yonne LFGO
wearing nice livery for this flight C150 Global Odyssey: The First Canadian Helicopter Circumnavigation of the World (c150go.ca)
Well, in for a penny… 
I have to admit that I don’t do much in helos in MSFS. But, as I had been intrigued by Taog’s UH-1H Huey, this seemed like a perfect excuse to pick her up.
And I wasn’t disappointed! Taog did a great job with this one.
My first leg was intended to be a shakedown cruise. I had really wanted to try to stick to the actual track system, understanding the challenges that can pose in the sim.
But, for artistic purposes, I decided to take off at dawn from Voloport La Defense, make my way over Paris (hey, got to see the sights) then try to pick up the tracks and follow them to Melun Villaroche (LFPM).
My, that’s a way up there!
Off we go.
The Seine at dawn.
Well, it wasn’t like I was not going to try it.
First time didn’t go so well.
Ah, Paris!
Even with the Sun rising, I knew that I’d never be able to follow the tracks easily, so I decided to dump into Orly for the day.
For leg 2 I had grand plans. Since I knew that the rail bed might be difficult to follow, I thought I’d kick it old school and try to come up with an old-fashioned low-level chart.
Which turned out to be more difficult than I thought. I found most of the aviation charts in Navigraph or LNM to be of too low detail for ground landmarks to be visible. And, without an easy way to mark distances in terms of time, it was beyond me to mark up a chart in a way that I could have easily done with a JOGAIR and a template back in 1991!
By the way, I found a cool video of a method that predates even my own on the web. Thought it might be interesting:
Still, I took a whack at it, following the railroad tracks as closely as I could. I figured that, even if I couldn’t do a proper chart, I could set a running clock and use it to keep track of my progress if I lost the rail bed.
Didn’t work! 
That bit of surprise ruined; I took off from the helipad at Orly a little later in the morning this time
and found the main rail yard on the southern curve of the Seine.
And again, we’re off!
As predicted, the rails were a bit tough to follow. Sometimes only the break in the trees or the raised/lowered bed itself was available to keep the tracks in sight.
A lot of lovely churches along the way as one might expect. I wish I knew if these were representative of the actual building or if they were just a generic placeholder.
A few felt different enough to feel like a custom building. Like this one, Eglise Saint Martin.
Or this, the Cathedrale Saint-Etienne.
The presence of the river certainly was making finding, following…and refinding the tracks easier. Shortly after passing Migennes however…
the river bent south, leaving me with only the Canal de Bourgogne.
One last hook south over Nuits-sur-Armancon would put me in the home stretch.
You know, if those raised poles that are shown on the ground were displayed, it would make this whole following the railroad thing a bit easier.
I guess they wouldn’t have had those in the old days, though.
Nothing exciting really happening here, I just thought it was a perfectly picturesque little French town. Verrey-sous-Salmaise.
I sense a weather draw in here as the, surprised I hadn’t encountered it earlier, summer mist/haze gradually descends to cover Dijon like…some, sort of spicy, condiment.
The only thing I can see clearly are the church steeples poking out.
Well, and the control tower. Thank God!
Without very much detail at the airport, I decided front row parking was in order.
What a report! Great pictures, lovely sights and a gorgeous livery!
Reminds me a bit of the (not as) old Dutch Tweety but much better looking. The twin Huey was a low point in the looks IMO, both the single engined model and the Venom look much more badass.
Leg three. I had given up all pretense of getting out the mucilage and glitter and making some old-fashioned strip charts like arts and crafts day in school.
I’m sure there is a solution to my plotting problem. I just haven’t found it yet. The downside of my predilection for steam gauges, however, is that I had to live with a small Navigraph window open while I was flying. I was still able to follow the rails for most of the flight. But the load time of the window, made it a bit of a pain to keep closing and opening every time I wanted to take a screen shot.
On the plus side, I did manage to set up way too many waypoints in order to more closely follow the tracks. At least if the rails disappeared on me, the magenta line would get me close.
I knew there was a proscription against military vehicles, but they do have some of the best paint jobs, like this RCAF SAR bird. I figured SAR was peaceful enough!
I picked up the east-west rail line just north of the airfield. I was off to the races!
After passing the main rail interchange at Dole, the single track towards Lausanne heads off SE.
Not much to see as far as landmarks for this leg, except for miles of amazing French countryside. Here, I pass over the Doubs River, if I’m reading the map correctly.
As I leave the farmlands and enter the low forested foothills, I do manage to spot the Arc-et-Senans, a village and saltworks, (hmmm, nice saltworks!).
Which leads me to the rail’s end. It’s depicted as dotted on the map, but I can’t tell if it’s a tunnel or literally a rail head.
But I pick the track bed back up on the east side as it winds its way through the Jura mountains. Suddenly, the hills drop away to reveal the Swiss Plateau on the other side.
Magnificent!
A brief run to the south along the east side of the Jura’s and I come to Lake Leman.
With La Blecherette to my left.
Huh, might have parked a bit close to the gas pump! 
Ah glad some other folks are flying, I had been waiting to get going so it wasn’t a one-person travelogue. I have a long weekend, so I should be able to start logging some miles.
That’s never stopped me!
Enjoyable reports, thanks @Deacon211
I have flown the DCS Huey quite a bit and curious about this module, might need to get it - does it feel similar to the DCS Huey?
Honestly, I haven’t flown the DCS Huey in a good long time.
But I’d say it feels believable, maybe somewhat more stable than in DCS.
From what I’ve read, it seems to be compared favorably to other helos in MSFS by helo aficionados, FWIW.
I am working on getting started. I chose a poor time to rebuild my gaming rig and I am waiting for a few parts
Houston, we may have a problem…
I think I may have opened up a can of worms here when I jumped into this thread.
I had resolutely decided to not buy any new aircraft (or at least very few) until 2024 released and I saw how the aircraft carryover worked out.
But, with how much fun this trip has been and how much I’ve enjoyed the Huey, I may have developed something of a rotorhead addiction…
I blame @Fridge!
Leg 4. Lausanne to Milan. One of the most fun flights I’ve had in MSFS.
This is what the Alps did to my straight leg from Switzerland to Italy.
Hannibal…Respect.
And the consequence of my addiction. The Taog Alouette III. Kind of wished I had had this for the French legs, but c’est la guerre, Swiss Air
Force SAR livery by vhelich.
Lovely bird. But we have no time to sit here and admire our swashplate. Let’s go!
It’s a beautiful morning as I wake up the gargoyles perched upon the Cathedrale de Lausanne.
The railroad is easy enough to find as it runs along the north shore of the lake. My path will take me down that valley in the distance.
Chillon Castle guards the entry. Spectacular! (I’m going to be saying that a lot)
Up what I take to be the Rhone River valley. Truly an amazing sight as the perfectly flat valley floor stretches between remarkably precipitous mountains to either side.
Approaching Le Catogne in the distance, the valley breaks east bathing the cockpit in morning sunshine.
I haul the Alouette over to follow.
It’s an interesting journey from this vantage. It’s like all of civilization was sprinkled across a piece of paper and then both sides were lifted, sifting everything to the middle. I pass several airfields, all oriented along the valley axis.
Obvious, of course. But, fascinating nonetheless. Sion airport here.
Mt Sasseneire, perhaps. The perspective is quite something!
The valley tightens. Civilization dissolves away.
Until it comes to an end in the town of Brig. I can’t quite tell if this is a tunnel or the end of the road.
In either case, I’m on my own.
I pull up onto the next leg’s course and pick up the ravine that I intend to follow through the higher passes of the Alps.
The steep drop of the terrain is truly staggering. It seems to have blown even MSFS’s mind.
Like the Grinch, I get stuck only once as the valley widens but then ends in the dreaded box canyon. I only just manage to circle back around and gain enough altitude to find a way through.
I spot this chalet as I cross the last, and highest, ridge line in my path.
I think of this, I can’t help it.
You’re welcome.
In any case, that was the last of it. I find the road, then the rail, and then I’m on my way back down.
The way is still amazingly narrow. I would love to see this pass in real life.
After I wind my way back down, I come to another flat valley. This one will lead me to Milan.
I follow the valley floor until I come to the placid waters of Lake Maggiore and find this, Isola Bella.
Aptly named, I’d say! 
A little further south, then. The lake gives way to the Ticino River and I finally spot the control tower of the Milan Malpensa Airport.
I circle around, landing to the east, and practice my air taxiing to park at the base of the tower.
And there she is. This was one for the books! I apologize for the screenshot dump, but this had to have been one of the most scenic legs I have flown in MSFS to date.
Spectacular!
I looked quite hard at that one, how do you like it?
Well, I kind of suspect that, like most MSFS helos, it’s probably easier to fly than it was IRL.
But it does a fair job of hiding that fact. If you don’t mind that the craft isn’t constantly trying to go some way you don’t want it to, then it’s a heck of a lot of fun to go flying around in!
Both this and the Huey also have a pretty good option set with crew, skids, aerials, etc to cover a range of the respective helo’s configurations. So, you’re getting a broad range of options…if not deep.
EDIT: Sorry, had to edit this for tired typing.
great progress there and good choice of a helicopter.
she is on my will-never-buy-wishlist 
I am cheap
@Deacon211 that last AAR was some very fine reading. And viewing! I am coming off 3 weeks of vacation where I should have had every opportunity to participate. But each day has been busier than the previous.
Thanks! I love simming, but you should never let the simulated sunshine get in the way of enjoying the actual sunshine. 
That’s assuming that you were too busy enjoying your vacation to sim.
If you were “enjoying” the sunshine because you were re-tarring your roof, in Phoenix…then maybe sim sunshine is better!
Plus, it’s never too late to join!
I was living the dream! I haven’t turned on the PC or XBox in weeks.
Oi. Computer upgrades are both easier than I remember, and harder. Building the new system was relatively easy … but transferring things from the old machine to the other is a bit of a challenge. Microsoft helped me out, though, and all my MSFS profiles must be synced either to the Steam or Microsoft clouds upon starting MSFS, they were all there magically, which saved me from something I was not looking forward to.
I am starting late, but I should be starting in the next two days.
Ok. So I guess that I have questions? How do I take a screenshot in VR that isn’t a picture of both eyes? I also need to remember how to get LittleNavMap into MSFS through it’s web server thingy. And figure out what other Quality-of-Life things I am missing.
After filling out a lot of paperwork with the (virtual and imaginary) French authorities, I was able to get my Westland Scout up and out of Paris/Orly and on toward LFQB/Barberey. My plan is to follow one of the highway down to LFQB … and now that I review the screenshot below, I realize that it’s not very obvious which, you may guess, is a problem that I also ran into during the flight
Taking a look around an unfamiliar cockpit.
And just off the airfield.
And here’s my highway!
I was able to follow the highway for a while, but when it made a turn south, because I couldn’t view a map with the roads on it to verify, I assumed that I was following the wrong one. You can see this in the track on the map above as I was squiggling along until the purple like turned off south-ish, and I went chasing after the line on the in game VFR map (which, by the way, isn’t a fery useful VFR map).
I am assuming that the farm fields below are all dedicated to wheat growing in order to support the massive export of baguettes to the world. They all come from France, right? Shipped fresh every morning?
Incidentally the above shot shows my approach to Runway 5 at LFQB - a nice short grass strip next to the main runway. There is another grass strip going left-right across runway 5, parallel to the main runway.
And doing the shutdown procedures.
The Wasp/Scout is a nice little helicopter. I will be giving it some more love but I am … confused by the lack of radio navigation? Am I missing something?
Oh! And of course the British design an aircraft with the primary navigation instrument hidden behind the cyclic/stick! Still don’t see the radios
BTW: For those wondering about the LittleNavMap integration, I found this plugin that I will try out on the next leg: https://flightsim.to/file/43086/little-navmap-vr-panel
Great job!
I was eyeballing the Westland myself in my new helimania. It looks like a great ride!
I was reading on the msfs forum that the Wasp/Scout only has ADF. There’s apparently an old “coffee grinder” rotary selector and a frequency band selector above/below it…don’t know quite where. 
EDIT: Here we go…
