How do you choose an airplane from a list of thousands?

"Huns Valen continues to make some of the most realistic aircraft in Second Life as far as flight engines and physical properties go. Many other aircraft makers concentrate solely on flash and fanciful high tech looks while using the same humdrum scripting. If you have yet to purchase an item from Huns Valen, I whole heartedly reccomend this one as a starter (as well as the incredible Cygnus Gyrocopter for only $100L !)"
- Snaguaro Raymaker on the VHI V-1 Nimbus Aerobatic Jet

"IT CAN'T GET MORE REALISTIC THAN THIS. And with HIGH REALISM AND LOW REALISM options for beginners. Excellent handling in the air, sounds are just fabulous, HUD is great....everything is just simply perfect ! :D Well done ! ! ! "
- Sidd Planer on the VHI V-1 Nimbus Aerobatic Jet

"I bought this in world. The sound effects are fantastic, especially the jet engines starting up and coming to full speed. Wait 'til you switch on the afterburners. Extremely realistic. The flight characteristics are really great and it is a joy to fly. I would give this a 5 star rating as well."
- Skye Tracer on the VHI V-1 Nimbus Aerobatic Jet

"The only question that remains is are we going to see a lot more of your work done here in SL.. 'Cause I sure as hell would like to..."
- Retribution Svoboda on the VHI F-16 Fighting Falcon

"Ah, even with the current technological constraints of what can be done in SL, I don't think anyone knows how to surpass the wall until you get up close to it and break down every little element while still keeping eyes on the grander pictures, powers of 10-style. Like what the V-1 exemplifies."
- Torley Linden on the VHI V-1 Nimbus intro video

Obviously, just typing 'airplane' into one of the several search engines for SL (such as the above) isn't going to cut it. Here are a few ideas you can use to narrow the list:

• Take a look at the physics system.
  Generally speaking, there are three types of airplane builder in Second Life:
  • Those who use freebie scripts out-of-the-box or with mild customizations;
  • Those who have better scripts, who may simulate one or two "realistic" effects, but who do not attempt to actually simulate aerodynamics beyond a few gimmicks, such as inertia or something referred to incorrectly as a stall;
  • Those who simulate aerodynamics, Newtonian physics, and so forth, integrating the entire chain of events as best as possible within the confines of LSL, whose airplanes exhibit realistic behavior because of that simulation, and not because of grafted-on effects. For example, such aircraft have no code whatsoever to handle a physical stall condition, but which stall anyway, because the simulation is actually elaborate enough that that happens naturally and with proper edge behavior. (Note that we are talking about a real stall, not a mush or a reflexive twitch downward of the nose caused by some hard-wired logic.)

  Valen Heavy Industries lays claim to having the best aircraft physics simulation in Second Life by virtue of being the only known example of #3. The VHI physics system has been in development since 2003 by Huns Valen, who is a licensed private pilot with HUNDREDS OF HOURS as PILOT IN COMMAND of REAL AIRPLANES. Huns is also a programmer by trade, and has spent many hours studying the mathematics and physics behind aircraft. The scripts you get with modern VHI aircraft are not patched-up freebies with a few effects grafted on for show. They are an honest attempt at truly simulating flight physics in Second Life.

• You should find out how it flies first.
  There are several ways the creator can go about making this possible. They can take you for a test flight, make a free demo available, or make a video available. Here's a demo video of one of my recent aircraft. Want to try it for yourself? Contact Huns Valen in SL. Any aircraft builder who doesn't do at least one of these things isn't worthy of your business.

• Take a look at the builder.
  Look at their shop (if they have one in-world), their XStreet pages, etc. How much effort did they put into these? Do they provide adequate information, or is it extremely basic? Do you see any PASSION in what they are doing, or are they just trying to drop something on the market? Based on that, how much attention do you suppose they paid to detail when they were building the vehicles they're selling? Are their aircraft considered a benchmark? I'll let you in on a little secret. I always discover that the first people to buy my airplanes are other airplane builders. It's been that way ever since my first airplane rolled off the assembly line in early 2004! Read on and you'll find out why.

• Take a close look at the feature list.
  Airplanes in Second Life range from "extremely simple scripting, moves in straight lines at constant speed no matter what you do with it, has no aerodynamic physics simulation whatsoever, type 'g' to retract the gear, low quality sound" to "highly realistic physics and system simulation, full featured menu-driven interface, CD-quality sound carefully synthesized from an actual aircraft engine, developed with high standards in mind." VHI is a good example of the latter. VHI spends more time on instruction manuals than some people spend on their scripts!

• Does it have sim border protection?
  All VHI aircraft released in or after 2007 feature X-Guard. This technology allows you to cross sims at 120 knots and actually survive border crossings in conditions that will kill you on other airplanes going 1/3 as fast.

• Does it come with an extremely versatile HUD?
  VHI aircraft released in or after Summer 2005 ship with a full-featured Nav-Tac HUD. This isn't just an instrument readout. It has a multi-mode radar and does multiple waypoint navigation. It interfaces with VHI aircraft to give you a systems and fuel consumption readout. It even has an intelligent flight assist that helps you get across sim borders safely while you're not flying. If VHI spends a hundred hours just developing and upgrading the HUD, what level of effort can you expect on the scripts? Compare this to airplanes that come with no HUD of any kind. You've probably flown birds that chat your throttle settings to you. Had enough of that yet? Welcome aboard. :)

• See any ripped or low-quality content?
  Have you ever looked at a flight instrument (or even a full panel, or the paint job, or whatever) and remarked, "Haven't I see that in X-Plane or Flight Simulator X?" Or how about: "Ah, this is that same sub-AM-radio-quality jet sample everyone on the planet uses. Great." You are not going to find any of that in anything VHI sells. The creative process behind sound and textures is not taken lightly. Sound is either foleyed by hand or bought from legitimate, licensed sources. Textures are hand-made as well. More effort than ripping? Certainly. Worth it? Absolutely.

  I hope this short list will help you decide. I hope that it's given you an idea of why my airplanes are worth considering, and what sort of questions you should have on your mind as you check out other peoples' airplanes (which I know you will, and which I encourage you to do.) I've written more on my design philosophy here. I understand that you have many choices and I appreciate your business. Please contact Huns Valen if you have any questions.