Freeware GMAX Converted Lockheed WP-3D NOAA Hurricane Hunter For Flight Simulator 2002. Includes panel (but you must have FS2002 PRO and the Concorde gauges in order to use the panel or the Virtual Cockpit Panel). By Rick Sasala

Features:
Full animation using GMAX. Full Virtual Cockpit with night lighting, Apu door that opens and closes, Main Exit with un-folding stairs, NoseWheel steering, Nosegear Landing Lights and Wing Taxi Lights that can be controlled seperately, Rotating Rear Doppler Radar and Lower Front Weather Radar that extends and retracts.

Description:
NOAA WP-3D Orions, participate in a wide variety of national and international meteorological, oceanographic and environmental research programs in addition to their widely known use in hurricane research and reconnaissance.

Features (Continued):
*****IMPORTANT***** If you can't get the Main Exit to open, APU door to open, you need to make sure that your keyboard Assignments are set up correctly. Go to Options/Controls/Assignments and select Event Category and then select General Aircraft Commands and make sure next to "Tail Hook up/down" it says (SHIFT + T), for the APU Door to open and close. For the Main Exit to open and close , it should say (SHIFT + E) next to "Select Exit". If you have your keyboard assignments set up differently, disreguard the above. If the Tailhook works on the Corsair, then the APU door will function properly. IF the Exits open and close on the default aircraft, then the Main Exit will work on this aircraft. If they don't work on this aircraft, then something is configured wrong or your pressing the wrong keys!!!!!!
  
APU Door                          (SHIFT + T)
Main Exit/Unfolding Stairs        (SHIFT + E + 1)
Engine Smoke                      ( I )
Front Lower Radar extend/retract  (/) Spoiler key 
Rear Doppler Radar                on by default, cannot be turned off.

***A note about the Rear Radar Dome...I used a beacon timer on this in order for it to rotate. You will notice that when your on a heading from 360 to 180 degrees, the Dome will spin clockwise. When your heading is 181 to 259 degrees the Dome will spin counterclockwise. This is due to the way MS has the Beacons programmed and it cannot be fixed by myself. If someone knows how to alter this, I'm all ears! Although it spins in the opposite direction at times, to me it doesn't really take away from the effect.
 
Light Controls:
Turn the White Strobes Lights on/off with "O". Use the Strobes during the day "O" only, Beacons and Nav lights at night ("L" to turn on all lights, then press "O" to turn off the Strobes. 

"L"................All Lights on/off
"Shift L"..........Panel Lights on/off
"CTRL L"...........Landing Lights on/off
"O"................White Strobe Lights on/off

****This aircraft is equipped with Wing Taxi Lights in addition to regular Nosegear Landing Lights. Both Wing Taxi and Nosegear Landing Lights come on when the Landing Lights are turned on (CTRL L or just L). To get just the Taxi lights on, first turn on all Lights "L", then turn off the Nosegear Landing Lights (CTRL + L). The Wing Taxi Lights will stay on and the Nosegear Landing Lights will go off (Nosegear Lights will also turn off when gear is raised). The Wing Taxi Lights can only be turned off with the "L" key. To get just the Landing Lights (Nosegear) on (No beacons,navs or strobes) turn off all lights "L", then press "CTRL L".

!!!Important Engine Operating Instructions!!!!
You should run the engines at "Low RPM" (CTRL + F1). You will notice at full throttle that the high speed props barely move. If you leave the props at Low RPM, the high speed props will appear to move normally and it is a little easier to taxi at "Low RPM" setting. You will still be able to climb to 30,000FT (service ceiling) with little or no loss of airspeed. If you start to lose to much airspeed, just shift the props into "High RPM" (CTRL + F4), until you reach your desired altitude and then just shift back to Low Rpm. This is all due to the way MS has animated the props i.e. they don't actually spin in a complete circle, they jerk back and forth creating the optical illusion of spinning.  

Installation:
Unzip to a temporary folder, then move the unzipped folder (WP-3D) to your FS2002\Aircraft folder. This aircraft will appear in your Aircraft Selection list under Lockheed, then select WP-3D. This is for ATC purposes. Move the contents of the Gauge folder (Unzipped files) to the main Gauge folder. Unzip the 3 files in the gauge folder and move the gauges to the Main gauge folder, then delete empty folder/s. Move the contents of the effects folder to the Main effects folder, then delete empty folder. If asked to overwrite gauges or effects, it's your call but shouldn't be necessary. I have included the default King Air sound .cfg but you should use whatever Turboprop sounds you like. There are numerous Turboprop sounds available for download. The panel will not work unless you have FS2002 Pro and the Concorde gauges (On FS2000 Disk #1 in the "game" folder (Concorde.gau)). Just right click Concorde.gau and extract Concorde.gau to your FS2002 gauge folder. You can also download the Concorde Gauges from:

http://www.avsim.com/flightdeck/Panels.html#747-200 
They are at the top of the page......

For the Fuel gauge, unzip the file rg_fstat.zip (located in the enclosed gauge folder) to a temp folder and move the gauge file RKG_fuelstat.gau to the FS2002 Main gauge folder. To learn how to operate the fuel gauge read the Readme file that is enclosed with the gauge. After you install this gauge, you can delete the RG_fstat folder as it is no longer needed.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF YOU HAVE WINDOWS XP AND THIS AIRCRAFT CRASHES YOUR COMPUTER WHEN YOU START UP FS2002, DELETE THE ABOVE FUEL GAUGE AS WINDOWS XP DOESN'T LIKE THIS GAUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  

***Virtual Cockpits note....By using (CTRL + ENTER) and (CTRL + BACKSPACE) you can move your view forward or backward. Although you can only go so far backwards until you run into the seat. 

Thanks:
NOAA website for all of the info   www.noaa.gov
Francisco Sanchez-Castaner for the DASH 7 gauges.
Larry Haines for the panel bitmap and gauges. He sent me this panel when I created the first version of my P-3 in 2000. If I used anyone elses gauges, it was not intentional. This panel and gauges are not mine!
Robert K. Guy for his RKG_fuelstat gauge 
Ben Beverly for getting me started!
Mike Crosthwaite for SDL Edit!
FreeFlight Design Forum (A wealth of information)! 
Abacus & Louis Sinclair/Tom Greenwalt for FS Design Studio
Felix/FFDS (for his patience and knowledge)
Konstantin Kukushkin for Aircraft Animator
Viking for his "Making an Aircraft" tutorial
David Eckert (daviator) For his FSC Pilot
Massimo Taccoli for the Pilot Textures from his f104gfsc file
FSD for some of the gauges.
Chris Cookson for Autocad .DXF Model Importer v1.0 for gmax  
...and Microsoft and Discreet for GMAX

If I forgot anyone....Sorry, my mind isn't what it use to be.

Disclaimer:
I have designed this version from scratch using FS Design Studio(tm)
Version 1.6B, Aircraft Animator Version 1.2E and GMAX Version1.1. This Aircraft will work in FS2002 only! I haven't tested it in CFS2. If this A/C dumps your computer, I am not responsible. I have tested this aircraft for months and have never had a lock-up or any other problem. My system configuration is WinME, PIII 700E with 384MB SDRAM, VooDoo3 3000 and GeForce2 MX400.


Copyright 2002 Rick Sasala.
Any Questions feel free to contact me! 
E-mail: drowberry@earthlink.net  
