Technically, the new CTH-200 -- the third in my new CTH line of helicopters -- has aproximately 9600 possible combinations of paint colours, decals, and paint finish. Admittedly, only some of those combinations look good -- a pink and orange helicopter with a jolly roger decal is probably not an attractive choice, for example. But the point is, the script lets you browse your options to find the look that's good for you. The same helicopter can be: search-and-rescue, police, army, heli-tour and more.

It's just about at the beta testing stage, so I expect it to be finished... sometime soon, depending on how the testing goes. Maybe the weekend? Stay tuned.

Be the first in your sim to own the first ever Terra Aeronautics helicopter: the CTH-100. Be at the Abbotts Aerodrome runway at noon Wednesday to get yours for L$1000.

• Paint script lets you pick two colours and a decal.
  
  
• Let anyone fly your helicopter. The lock script lets you choose who can fly: anyone, group members, or just you.
  
  
• Heads-up display (HUD) attachment puts the clickable instrument panel on your screen.
  
  
• Rotor damage detection means rotor strikes cause damage to your helicopter. (You can turn this off in the options menu.)
  
  
• Popup options menu.
  
  
• Smooth, easy flight model. If you can fly your avatar, you can fly this helicopter.
  
  
• Splash and sink if you hit the water... then click a single button to recover.
  

Isn't it weird that after over four years of making vehicles in Second Life, this is the first time I've built a helicopter? I suppose I might have avoided them in the past because a helicopter script -- a really good helicopter script -- is hard to make. It's not enough to just hover and slide forward and back. When real helicopters fly, they pitch and bank in response to thrust vectors. That's surprisingly difficult to reproduce in Second Life.

Another reason why I've avoided helicopters: SL is swamped with the things. If I make a helicopter, it has to fly better than anything out there. Many helicopters use "mouselook steering", which means that you switch to the first person view and the helicopter points in whatever direction you point your mouse. While that's nice for combat, it looks really odd -- real helicopters can't hover in one spot while tilting 45 degrees to look at the ground. The accuracy of mouselook control is nice, but it looks really dumb.

For mine, I opt to use keyboard controls -- controls that are familiar to anyone in SL as normal avatar flight controls. Even novice pilots should be able to hop in and fly away.



I'm tentatively calling this basic model the Terra CTH-100, following the obscure model numbers preferred by real life helicopter makers. I'm happy so far with the natural feel to the flight model, and it will include all of the features that make my other aircraft popular: the ability to let any other avatar fly it, an owner/group lock, a paint menu, decal-changer, and two very comfortable seats.

Expect to see the CTH-100 in a week or so at Abbotts Aerodrome and all other Terra Aeronautics locations across SL.