Abacus Civil Air Patrol: Search & Rescue

By Brian Smith (30 September 2006)

I have great news! Abacus has released a product called Civil Air Patrol: Search & Rescue, and it has everything you need to have loads of fun with flight simulator. Abacus a few years ago published Civil Air Patrol (visit the CAP web site at www.cap.gov) that gave users a number of aircraft to fly in CAP colors. This new product, however, adds some fun new technologies to Flight Simulator that weren't there before. Like FSAddon's FSCargo, CAP: Search and Rescue gives you the chance to set up flights with specific objectives to complete. But unlike FSCargo, the fun can be shared and has so much flexibility, there are literally thousands of combinations of adventures to be had.

OK, I know, get to it. What does it do, and what is it? After downloading and installing the software, you will find an icon on your desktop. Double-clicking the icon brings up the CAP mission tool (left).

The first thing you do is select the airport you want to fly from. You can pick any airport on any continent. Unlike other products, you are not limited here to start and end locations that have previously been setup by the software. Type in the airport code. The tool will display the airport in the large window to the right with the nearby airfields, VORs, NDBs, etc. Now for some fun. Decide what you want to search for below the airfield display.

   

There are all kinds of SAR tragedies to choose from. Maybe a downed aircraft, a sinking boat, a life raft with or without people, people in the water, a cabin in the woods, a car accident...and on and on. And you decide if they have a means of alerting you. They can set off orange smoke, or you might see black smoke from a fire, or they might shoot a flare in the air on a parachute when you fly over. Again, the possibilities are all there. And it gives you more. You can choose whether they have a location beacon. There are several types, EPIRBs, ELTs, etc. But here they are all called Electronic Locator Transmitters (ELTs) for simplicity's sake. You can choose one of three frequencies based on whether it is a military, water, or airborne/land SAR. You can choose one of four sounds for the transmitter to make when you reach it.

Ready for more options? You can choose to make the locator less accurate if you like. It will get you close to the scene but not right to it if you choose. Or you can choose to have no locator at all. That's where the search patterns come in handy. You can layout various SAR patterns. All the major patterns are here: square, circle, creeping, sector, parallel, etc. You can choose how long each leg is, and set the spacing. Or just select random, and it will choose a random pattern for you (right).

Now you can save the scenery, the flight plan, and read the summary. It reads like an SAR alert. You can print out the mission request and a tracking sheet and then hit exit. Oh, by the way, did I mention you can share these files with a friend who also has the program? Set him up a rescue in the mountains and send him the flight plan, scenery and summary. A nice touch for a lot of the virtual airlines out there who do search and rescue.

       

OK. Now you have a mission. Abacus has included three planes to fly. There is a Cessna 182T with the new Garmin 1000 glass cockpit, a Cessna 182T with older "steam" gauges, and the Maule MX-260. Each has a choice of old or new CAP color schemes.

If there is any weakness in the package, it is the aircraft. They are fine. They are good quality, they are just not great. The panels and the old Cessna paint look a little too old. The Cessna Garmin 1000 is the best of the three panels. All of them come with virtual cockpits. But honestly, the heart of this package is the adventure tool and the gauges, not the aircraft, but I am getting ahead of myself. Let's take a quick look at the interiors, so you can judge them for yourself:

First, the Cessna Garmin 1000. The glass gauges are excellent. I really like having the glass cockpit in a GA plane, but I don't want to spend the cash required to obtain some of the gauge packages on the market, so I was really pleased to see this. However, the panel in the 2D version in which the gauge is placed is a little on the FS2000 side. The VC is excellent. Since that is where I spend most of my time now when flying, I really don't think it is a concern that the 2D is where it is technologically.

   

Next, the Cessna Steam Gauge cockpit. Frankly, I prefer the default Cessna Cockpit, but in VC mode, the cockpit is just fine. Now I just need to get one of those TrackIR things that I keep reading about from Andrew Herd so I can enjoy the VCs to the fullest.

   

Finally, the Maule MX-260 has the same issues. I like the VCs, but I have seen better. Also, again the 2D panel leaves something to be desired. The Maule is probably the best plane in the package for visibility in the VC. Both sides of this baby are solid glass. The down side is, in the VC, the trim around the doors looks a little cartoonish. It might have been better to leave them plain gray, but these doors do have a distinct riveted look in real life, so it is a tough call. Of the 2D cockpits, I also like the Maule's best.

   

But really, the important part of this package isn't the aircraft. If you don't like the 2D panels, you can substitute the defaults, or some payware or freeware panel. The key to this package is the gauges.

There are four new gauges and they are really a lot of fun. At the heart of this is SAR, search & rescue. You need an autopilot to fly those search patterns, and honestly, I just don't think the default autopilot will do. But it's not just an autopilot. It also serves as a GPS unit. If you want to hand fly the mission, and not use the AP, the gauges tells you if you have deviated from the correct course with an arrowhead indicator (right).

You select the route from the menu; set it (it can scroll through all of your FS2004 flight plans). Set the AP buttons to AP and GPS, and it will fly to the Initial Search Point and begin flying the pattern. I know there are some of you out there who hate to have the autopilot running, and I am one of them. In this situation though, it can be vital. The AP acts as the pilot while you serve as the observer. Slide over to the right seat, switch to the VC and begin looking out the windows. Try to find that target.

If you have chosen an ELT for your target, the mission will be much quicker. If you have made it 100% accurate that is. Turn on the receiver, select the proper frequency, and turn up the volume. When the beacon comes in, you will hear that tone loud and clear. Then you can switch from the search pattern to following the signal strength needle on the receiver. After a while the signal can get to you, just like it does for real-life SAR pilots (ask any CAP or Coast Guard pilot who has heard one), and like in real life, you can turn the volume down, or mute it while still receiving the signal (right).

As you get closer to the target, the STRENGTH needle will move to the right. The DF needle will tell you which direction to fly. Pretty simple, right? Wrong. Abacus has done something great here! The higher you fly, the further away you receive the signal, but the less accurate it is. You can fly lower for more accuracy, but be prepared. In some Alaska SARs I flew, when I got behind a mountain, I lost the signal and had to climb again to find it. You still have to navigate through the terrain. Fly over it? Great, but try finding two hunters on the ground waving their arms to get your attention (yes, the people wave their arms if you set it up that way) at high altitudes. Nope, you are going to have to do it the hard way.

Finding this plane was made a little easier, thanks to the orange smoke. I guess he was alive long enough to set it off. Hope he still is. Time to call the Coast Guard or Air Force to come pick this guy up and get him to the hospital. Their job will be easier, thanks to the assistance of the CAP pilot.

   

As I said before, the gauges are the key to the flights. But there are more than the two I showed you. There is a communications radio and a more modern DF receiver. The radio allows you to communicate with CAP HQ. You tell them when you takeoff, enter the search pattern, and located the ELT. They respond with messages indicating that they are logging your flight. Nice to know you will get some credit for your work. The gauge lets you stay on ATC frequencies, while still giving the feeling of communication.

   

You can choose which gauges you want open, of course and where you want them positioned. They are pop-up windows. This brings me to another point. You can put the gauges in other planes! It's just a simple matter of adding them to the panel.cfg file. No additional software or technical knowledge is needed. I have added the gauges to helicopters and flown SAR as well. I wouldn't add them to a jetliner for practical reasons, but I suppose you could (right).

When I did a file search on the FlightSim.Com download section, I found all kinds of Civil Air Patrol repaints. The default Cessnas, Mike Stone's Gipsvan, and, among others, the Long Island Classics Aeronca L-16A (my personal favorite). Before I takeoff in the Aeronca, I buckle myself into the CAP mandated 5-point harness (no Cessna seatbelts for the CAP), open the door, and pull the door release pin. The door comes off, and I fly the patterns with a great view. Now if I could just get a TrackIR to complete the setup!

I don't know if you can tell from the effusive nature of this review that I truly love this product. The planes that are included do leave something to be desired, but for me, in no way detract from the product. This reminds me of Abacus other product, Flight Deck III. Well, I know they have a new version, Flight Deck IV out, but I bought version 3 at a box store that had better than good BUYs (hint hint) a few years back, and haven't bought the new version, so I am limiting these comments to the older version. I bought FD3 for the aircraft carriers and to get a copy of arrestor cables for FS2004, not to get the planes. The ones that were included at the time were OK, but there were better ones available as freeware. But I don't think anyone bought it just to get the planes.

The planes are good planes, the VCs are good, and the 2D panels are merely OK if not a spot on an otherwise 5 star product. But please don't let that in anyway discourage you. The package is excellent, and a great amount of fun! I have had the package now for several months and have put in several hundred hours flying missions, and I still have fun with it.

So if you have grown tired of flying big airliners, only to be involved at takeoff and landing, and hours of panel watching between, or if you have lost interest in serving as a backwoods postman, spend some time as one of the unsung heroes of the aviation world. It is educational and downright fun. The CAP has been complimentary of the package both as entertainment and a teaching tool.

When I have purchased just a plane or helicopter for $40 dollars or more once the bill is converted from Euros to U.S. Dollars, I have had another plane to sit in the hangar. Another plane, good or bad, to fly from one place to another. From one great scenery to another. But I never in the end felt I got any fun out of it. Maybe a nice view, some nice sounds, smooth gauges, what have you. It is neat, but not fun. Put some fun back in your flying. Without a doubt, Civil Air Patrol: Search and Rescue is the most fun I have had with Flight Simulator 2004.

Brian Smith
Back4smith@yahoo.com

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