TacFlight has released its rendition of the Bell OH-58D Kiowa Helicopter for Microsoft Flight Simulator.
The Bell OH-58 is a light, single-engine military helicopter introduced in the 1960s and is primarily used for armed reconnaissance, observation, and light attack missions. The OH-58D variant was introduced in the 1980s and included major upgrades such as the Mast-Mounted Sight (MMS) system.
TacFlight’s rendition of the OH-58D features an accurate and highly detailed interior and exterior 3D model, 4K PBR textures, a realistic flight model, custom aircraft systems, a realistic avionics suite, custom pilot book EFB, custom load-outs, removable and openable doors, detailed realistic night lighting, custom effects and more.
You can purchase the TacFlight Bell OH-58D Kiowa Helicopter from JustFlight for £23.99 here.
Features
Model
- Accurate and Realistic 3D Representation: Detailed model of both interior and exterior, meticulously crafted for a true-to-life experience
- Individually Removable and Openable Doors: Customise the aircraft’s look with open or closed-door configurations.
- Customisable load-out: Fill pylons with weapons of choice, accurate to real-world loadouts available for aircraft – Important: weapons serve only visual purpose due to MSFS limitations in that area.
- MPLH Skids Variant and IRCM: Optional skid or IRCM configuration and adds variety to aircraft style and function.
- 4K PBR Textures: High-resolution textures for incredible visual fidelity.
- MSFS Native Rain Effects: Dynamic rain effects on windows respond to in-game weather for added immersion.
- Detailed Night Lighting: Optimised lighting for night-time operations.
Cockpit
- Realistic 3D model: Immersive virtual representation of helicopter cockpit, done with high attention to detail of every instrument.
- Customisable Cockpit Props: Add authentic items like smoke grenades to enhance realism.
- Interactive Multifunction Keyboard (MFK): In-cockpit MFK enables pilots to input custom flight plans and other avionics data directly.
- Dashboard Vibration Animation: Vibrations add a tactile, realistic feel to the cockpit experience.
- Windshield Drawing Option: Draw a cross or custom shapes on the windshield – a playful nod to pilot traditions.
- Realistic night lighting: All instruments are correctly backlit and flood light is also available for nighttime operations.
- Painter Tool for Livery Creation: Design custom liveries directly in-game using the Painter Tool.
Aircraft Systems
- Custom Navigation System: Complete with moving map (Rotorcraft Mapping System) for intuitive navigation. All flight planning can be made in-game, either manually via MFK or using Pilot Book with easy to use map to arrange your own flight plan.
- Realistic Avionics Suite: Faithfully replicated avionics, including various pages available in either MFD.
- All of the instruments are built as components “talking” to each other to provide a realistic simulation of the aircraft’s computer.
- Implemented MFD pages include Virtual Situation Display, Horizontal Situation Display, flight planning subpages, RMS, utility pages and many more
- Integration with in-cockpit keyboard for Data input
- Night and Day operation MFD colour
- Ability to display NAV data in MGRS or Lat Lon standard
- Realistic Start-Up Procedure: Detailed start-up protocol enhances the true-to-life experience.
- Flight Dynamics: Realistic flight behaviour, based on available aircraft parameters
- MMS Camera: Fixed forward position camera, made using in-game synthetic vision technology
Pilot Book (serves the purpose of EPB)
- Interactive In-Game Pilot Book: Manage aircraft configuration, load-outs, navigation data, checklists, and more directly from the book.
- Persistent State for Configurations: Save and recall custom configurations seamlessly, even across flights.
58D Painter
- New MSFS Toolbar Menu: Access the 58D Painter directly from a convenient toolbar in MSFS.
- In-Game Livery Creation and Editing: Design and customise liveries specifically for the TacFlight 58D helicopter in real-time.
- Web-sourced emblems: Use any image from online sources, and put them onto your helicopter to create unique aircraft.
- Export Liveries: Share custom liveries easily with other users by exporting directly from the tool as JSON.
