VHI returns to Second Life in 2009 with a brand new airplane. If you've bought VHI aircraft before, you know it'll be loaded with features, original content, and a physics simulation engine that's second to none. What you might not know is that this one is capable of an honest 120 knots without killing you. This is the first vehicle to feature VHI X-Guard, a technology that greatly reduces glitching from bad region handoffs. The Avocet is designed specifically to operate as an amphibious seaplane. You can land on water or a hard surface, and taxi between land and water. Its high-lift design is perfect for operating out of short fields and tight spaces, and the spooling of the turbocharger will put a grin on your face.
Tired of having to relog because you flew over a sim border?
Well, who isn't? In tests with X-Guard enabled, the aircraft was able to cross tens of sim borders without issue. Failures were rare and related to problems with the simulators themselves. To give you an idea, there's an excellent chance you can fly from one side of the Nautilus continent to the other, doing 120 knots all the way, and not have to relog. (Well, okay. It can't save you from banlines.) If a sim is so far down the tubes that even just walking across the border by yourself is risky, or if you are experiencing high ping times or packet loss, X-Guard might not work. However, even in heavily loaded homestead sims where the controls were lagged, X-Guard still had enough room to work properly.
The airplane has four seats. Currently I'm seeing best results with 1-3 avatars seated. With 4 avatars seated, someone usually winds up getting dropped at a sim border. I think that over time, as the simulator handoff situation is improved by Linden Lab, it will be possible to carry 4 people without anyone dropping.
A first-class physics engine with years of development, designed by an actual pilot.
Real-world hours in the left seat have provided the experience necessary to hone the flight physics model to the highest standards. I fly as many different airplanes as I can get my hands on, so that I have the biggest cross section of different behaviors to consider. This airplane will show you aerodynamic effects that other aircraft don't even try to emulate. The included HUD is packed full of general aviation features, such as multiple waypoint navigation and avatar collision avoidance. It also features a tactical radar, avatar flight assist, logbook, et cetera.
Specifications
Low-wing seaplane. (Do these really exist? YES! Look up the Beriev 103 on Google.)
Makes use of sculpted prims. This is the first VHI release to use this technology. The
hull was designed specifically to be appropriate to a seaplane and features vanes
and a "step." If you want a nice gentle cruise around the United Sailing Sims, just
do a water landing and cruise around at a leisurely 6 knots.
Maximum speed in level flight is 120 knots. VHI X-Guard helps you cross sim borders
without having to slow down first.
Comes with a selection of different paint jobs, all of which are tintable. You buy the
airplane once, you get it in any color you like.
All scripts are compiled in Mono for the highest available performance. That includes
the Nav/Tac HUD. Feel free to use the HUD with your other vehicles, especially other
VHI aircraft.
Designed for short field operations and predictable, steady flight at low speeds.
High lift design includes winglets and full-length flaperons. Stall speed is the lowest
of any modern VVDE aircraft produced to date. Climbing at steep angles is no
problem (at high throttle settings.)
Focus on General Aviation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Aviation
The design of everything from the flight systems to this notecard revolves around
general aviation.
Turbo: At 110% throttle, the turbocharger kicks in. This is good for when you need
lots of power really quickly, such as when you're taking off or aborting a landing.
The turbo's bypass valve is open at 100% throttle and below, so until that point the
engine is functionally naturally aspirated. At 110%, with the valve switched and
the turbo spooled, you'll get a big surge in engine torque that you can use to climb
at a high rate of speed. (In other words, it's not just faster - the torque output is
greater, so it achieves maximum power more quickly.)
Four Seats with Co-Pilot Option: If you want, you can let a passenger ride along and
(optionally) allow them to take the controls. You can also automatically or manually
eject unwanted passengers. Please note that at the time of writing sim crossing is
not reliable with four passengers. Someone usually gets dropped sooner or later.
Three seems to work OK.
Auto-update system delivers free updates for the life of the product.
Features
All Original Content: Everything has been created from scratch, or bought from a
legitimate source. There are no ripped textures or sounds.
Superior Physics Simulation: Version 4.5 of Valen Vehicle Dynamics Engine, striving
to be the best flight sim system in SL since 2003. Lift, drag, gravity, thrust, stalling,
inertia, ground effect, and so on - it's all here. VHI has been a top player in SL flight
simulation for years, and this aircraft continues the tradition with VHI's fourth-
generation physics engine.
Superior Handling: Controls are mathematically smoothed to minimize jerkiness and
deliver a nice, predictable response. Aircraft can be controlled either in 3rd person or
mouselook. Controls are tuned to work well for both aerobatic and cross-country
flying. Water handling is flat, like a well-stabilized boat should be.
Superior Sound: VHI aircraft all come with some of the best sounds of any aircraft in
SL. This particular model's main engine sounds were synthesized from a real six-
cylinder aviation engine by VHI. All sounds have been created in crystal-clear
44.1KHz.
There are tons of options, and they are all configurable through a touch menu
system. Some are also configurable via chat, while the aircraft is in use.
Includes a multifunction head-up display (HUD) that includes flight computer
(waypoint-based navigation, including multi-waypoint flight plans) and tactical
functions. The HUD can be used with any vehicle, or while not using vehicles at all,
and features a jetpack function for when you're not using a vehicle.
VHI's chief test pilot is Meif Ling, who did a bang up job. Not only did he find bugs, but he also went over the airport listing in the Nav-Tac HUD and suggested allowing mouselook steering to be disabled.
Mambo is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.
Avocet Seaplane 
