Oh Happy Day!

No, it's not a happy day because DCS just announced officially the UH-1H module for World. Yes, yes, it's a Huey, an iconic bird, a plane of fame...blah blah blah. Will I buy it and fly it? Yes of course even though I still believe it's a complete waste of development time and energy as, just like the P-51, it has no place in the sim's current configuration. You want to make the case for future regions and OPFOR object libraries? Great. So why not wait until there is a region for SE Asia before building a Vietnam-era UH-1? Or a WWII region and object library before building a P-51? To continue pumping out these museum pieces for a sim that only provides a modern battlefield right now makes absolutely no sense. Especially when you take into account that there are some really gorgeous models already in the game begging for a cockpit and flight model. I mean, could you imagine the reception an F-16 or Tornado would get? Or if you seriously wanted to produce a top-notch helicopter, one need only look at the AI models already in game to choose a beauty that would have fit right in. But alas...

My ranting aside, it is a happy day for one very specific reason regarding the announcement of the UH-1. It's the little line in the announcement that reads as follows:

"The UH-1H will also be the first DCS aircraft to offer multiple player positions, including pilot, co-pilot, and door gunner."

This means that DCS:Holy Grail has been found. As we move forward from this point, the possibilities abound from the lowly 2-seat trainer affording the noob an opportunity to have the more experienced aviator fly with and help them make adjustments as needed on the fly to aircraft like the F-15E allowing for shared workload between pilot and WSO, or...dare I say? (Dare, dare!) The Apache with both pilot and Co-pilot/Gunner stations. So like I said, it really is a happy day. No one will ever be able to talk me off my position on the rationale behind making the H-model Huey, but I sure am grateful they did.