Briefings

Augusta Westland AW139’s

We are pleased to release the AW139 AI packages that have been produced collaboratively between John, Brent and Giorgio.  The packages, for FS9 and FSX/P3Dv4, each feature 82 paints covering Italian and Japanese examples in a wide range of roles.

Not surprisingly, apart from long and short nose versions and whether they incorporate floatation bags or not, there is a wide range of internal and external configurations of the AW139 in existence, even for these two user countries alone. To cover them all to a good degree of accuracy it was necessary to create 16 FS9 and 16 FSX/P3DV4 models. The models will hopefully also give sufficient scope for re-painters to work with in producing further international examples. Here are just 10 of the models:

The scenery and flight plans from Brent and Giorgio were fragmented tasks also, that reflects the dispersed deployment of the helicopters. Brent has produced or updated 27 airports or heliports to accommodate the Japanese examples, while Giorgio has done the same with 7 airfields for the Italian contingent.

Such complexity wasn’t really anticipated at the outset when the first model was built was for Brent, representing the Japanese Coastguard. Within Brent’s packages of 27 airfields/heliports, that required Niigata to be built that incorporates the B350 Japanese Coast Guard aircraft also:

The 13 AW139’s of the Japanese Police were straight forward, all with the same paint scheme but 3 model variations.

What proved to be quite the task were the 12 Japanese Fire and Disaster Prevention examples. Not only were another 3 models required, but most of the helicopters have their own distinct paint schemes. This is just one of them:

Moving on to Italy, the mainstay was the HH-139A of the Italian Air Force. This is an unusual model, not just because of the long nose but because of the tall main gear sponsons. Unlike the other AW139 models where the gear retracts completely and rotates flat into the wells, the HH-139A gear only half retracts vertically without the rotation and remains partly visible:

Giorgio has placed some of these examples at Cervia Mil (LIPC), one of 7 sceneries produced by Giorgio:

Air Ambulance EC-KLC, made especially for Giorgio, has a very striking paint scheme. The model is likely to be a favourite of re-painters who might like to tackle examples in that role in other countries:

Finally, in addition to the 16 model variations, a further “generic” model is included that has no external equipment and a base green paint ready for re-painters to work with if none of the other models are suitable:

All of the aircraft and scenery files are in the download hangar. You will need, depending on your sim version:

John, Brent and Giorgio

September 2018