Mars Helicopter Version 002

A detailed mesh design made up of 10 parts totaling 45 prim land impact on the standard (high detail) version. It is copy/modifiable so you may change textures etc.

The helicopter has 6 seating positions plus 2 standing (on the rails). Only the avatar sitting in the pilot seat may actually fly the aircraft.

All doors open/close when clicked plus there's logic around flying with open doors or when people are seated in the rear doorways.

To sit in the pilots seat just be the first to get on board (default just click. The helicopter owner may set the pilot as just themselves, anyone in the group associated with the aircraft or just anyone.

Once the pilot is on board others may sit and are allocated seats. If you don't like a seat and wish to move just click it again and you will be moved to another available seat (if there is one).

The pilot gets a detailed menu & passengers a simple one providing a HUD & this instruction notecard if required.

Pilot Menu
------------
This context sensitive menu is automatically displayed as the pilot sits in the aircraft and at any time the pilot may call up the menu by clicking the aircraft (except doors).

Start Engines - needs to be clicked before any manual flying

Stop Engines - shuts down rotors to a very slow rotation (due to the well oiled gearbox & wind)

Take Off - goes to takeoff thrust & shortly displays the controls as IM to the pilot when they have control

Land - automatically descends to land aircraft & switches engines to idle

Low Power / Turbo Power / Std Power - adjusts power delivered for flying.
Engines always start on Std Power and be warned Turbo Power may be a little difficult to handle at first.

Auto Pilot - goes to the Auto Pilot Menu

Go Home - immediately terminates the flight returning the helicopter to the designated home position

Light On/Off - down facing spotlight (note a cockpit light comes on when the pilot sits and
running lights come on when flying)

Instructions - gives this notecard

Give HUD - Gives a display HUD (not mandatory for flying but can be helpful tracking orientation, speed, altitude etc)

Owner only commands:
Set Home - sets the home location. Note you can set an initial home position by putting a position in the helicopter's main description (format: region<x,y,z>)

Owner Only/Group/All - pilot access (note: anyone may be a passenger)

Flying coordinates are stored internally using global coordinates so the helicopter tracks properly over multiple regions. Although best attempts are made to keep the helicopter from being derezzed/occupants ejected when entering unowned/restricted parcels it can still happen. Therefore like all responsible pilots you should plan your flight plan with this in mind.

Flying Controls
-----------------
This may vary depending on your viewer/operating system.

Control keys based on Windows keyboards:
PgUp / PgDn - Climb / Descend
Cursor Up / Down - Forward/Backward
Cursor Left / Right - Banked turns whilst flying
Shift Cursor Left / Right - Unbanked turn (maneuvering in tight spaces)
Left Click - Free view / Controlled camera view (tracks aircraft and will automatically
adjust depending on the control keys pressed at the time)

Auto Pilot Menu
------------------
Some of the Pilot Menu options are repeated here for convenience. Plus

Play Autopilot - plays a pre-recorded route / flight plan (if you see "No waypoints found" then the owner has not set one up yet).

Pause Autopilot - Pauses play (helicopter stops mid air)

Resume Autopilot - Continues the autopilot flight plan.

Owner only commands:
Start Record - overwrite & start recording a new flight plan

Stop Record - stops recording and reports the number of (1 sec) way-points collected

Note when a flight plan is replayed the vehicle moves using key frames and not vehicle controls. It is not physical at this time. Doors may not be opened or closed due to SL limitations.

Also be aware that although waypoints may be recorded across region boundaries, currently Playback starting in a region other than the region where the first waypoint was recorded is not permitted. So my recommendation for multi region autopilot flights they should start and finish in the same region (or you use home).

The Go Home/return from restricted space uses a similar procedure to autopilot namely llSetKeyframedMotion. This gives smooth movement whilst in operation but can end slightly off point. Also the Go Home function may be used to complete a Autopilot recording session.

See item in Second Life