Cowan Simulation releases the Bell 206B3 for Microsoft Flight Simulator

As promised earlier this month, Cowan Simulation released today his first helicopter for Microsoft Flight Simulator: the Bell 206B3! The iconic JetRanger makes his second appearance in MSFS just a few days after FlyInside released their own version of this helicopter.

This first project from Cowan Simulation for MSFS comes after years of experience building helicopters for X-Plane, so the developer is not exactly new to this. However, this first effort comes with a few caveats that you should be aware of.

CowanSim notes that there’s currently a limitation in the simulator that prevents the Bell 206B3 from using hardware binding for the throttle. Furthermore, there is a bug in the turn coordinator, but the developer notes that it should be fixed soon. Either way, this looks more like an early-access product than a fully-featured one, so expect plenty of updates over the coming weeks and months. In fact, CowanSim promises just that!

What seems to set this helicopter apart are the visuals, which look significantly better than FlyInside’s version, at least judging from the official promotional images. Cowan Simulation also offers a vast number of liveries (75 in total) and a Wwise sound pack.

The Bell 206B3 is now available for MSFS, priced at $32.99 on Cowan Simulation’s website. As noted above, some features are missing, but the developer promises free future updates to make everything functional.

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