The lack of helicopter support in MSFS is a disappointment to every fan of rotorcraft. While Microsoft and Asobo have confirmed that helis are coming in the future, this is planned for 2022, so it will take some time until we finally see official support for them. That is, officially, because a team of independent developers has just released a first version of their Airbus H135!
Under development by Media Hype Train, who also brought us the excellent Icon A5 performance mod, the H135 is still in a very early development stage but is already available to try. The team is releasing it at this point to get valuable community feedback, so you can expect things to improve. In fact, Media Hype Train warns that this current version doesn’t yet represent the level of quality that they’re trying to achieve. Because of that, make sure to level your constructive feedback on the team’s Discord channel.
In fact, there are currently many issues that are being worked on. The flight model needs plenty of work and performance is nowhere near the real-world specs. This is to be expected at this point, since the developers are first working out how to fundamentally make this work with all the current limitations.
The graphical model is also in an early stage, as well as the avionics, but the idea is to create completely custom panels.
All the details can be found here. There are some useful tips that you should keep in mind right now, especially concerning landings, which can be a challenge. Overall, this is an interesting project to follow and a good example of how third-party developers can be ingenious and create something completely unexpected. Let’s see how the H135 will continue to evolve in the coming months!
