Author Topic: Alaska Power Project  (Read 394124 times)

Doug

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Alaska Power Project
« on: July 25, 2015, 08:25:20 PM »
We are starting a new section, the Alaska Power Project. Many people have asked questions about how we go about building a section like this. So we will give you a "hole in the fence" to look through so you can watch the construction. Of course, this project is a long way from "prime time." We will encounter new problems, but along with them, new solutions.  If you are one of those interested in watching such a process grow, you are welcome to join us and look over our shoulder.  You will find the link for the new project at the bottom of the SCENERY page in the beta section ... the "APP" you will find there is a link to the developing page.

The Construction Log will tell you what we are doing and the zip (if you are brave enough to try it) will reflect the last entry in the Construction Log.  For those not "installing" it, we'll have progress picture links you can click on to see what has been done.  (There is nothing in the zip that will hurt you, but something you may be looking at simply will not be finished). If you have ideas or suggestions along the way, let us know in this thread, we would be happy to hear from you.

For those not interested in construction, we will let you know with the NOTAMs when the project is finished and ready for downloading.

Thomas and Doug
« Last Edit: July 26, 2015, 02:30:19 PM by Doug »

Doug

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Re: Alaska Power Project
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2015, 02:24:49 PM »
Ran into the first interesting problem. We had intended to put in all of the hydroelectric plants, the ones that are there now and the proposed ones. I went to Ruth Lake, a proposed site ... small problem ... the lake doesn't know there is a dam there! :-)  So the water level is where it would be BEFORE a dam was built ... what to do? Well  instead of building a finished plant ... the proposed plants will all be under construction (so the lake has not yet filled). You can see the first of these at Ruth Lake Hydro which is almost finished. (You don't have to download the zip for the project, you can see the progress with the screen shots listed on the table. (Go to the Scenery Page, go to the beta area at the bottom of the Scenery page and click on the APP link.   Most of the vehicles at the site are in motion as are the cranes.

corbu1

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Re: Alaska Power Project
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2015, 03:50:37 PM »
Beautiful Project!!!
I like the idea of doing some plants under construction....this is like simulating the real world. Not all buildings are finished out there. There's always something to build up. Other sites have to be maintained.

Also construction sites give heli guys the possibilty of being a part of the construction team with slingloading goods and construction materials at the site...... :) :)

Just checked the latest screenshots of Ruth Lake construction site. It looks beautiful!!
« Last Edit: July 26, 2015, 03:59:07 PM by corbu1 »


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Doug

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Re: Alaska Power Project
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2015, 04:08:26 PM »
Should be PLENTY opportunity for helis at the construction sites. If you look at Ruth Lake, there's a pad on the wharf at the receiving dock and another one on the construction site floor up by the dam. That one is going to be very difficult. I placed it where it would likely be when all is finished and landscaped. Float planes will have fun too because there is always a resovoir.

What I personally miss for the construction sites is the landscaping. Imagine Ruth Lake hydro. Beautiful road going up to it. Trees planted along the outfall stream...a recreation area near where the Brad's is, maybe a small lodge? It would really be beautiful finished...but alas, it is a construction site...and they are not typically pretty.

We will have dispatches for these. I don't know much about the heli side if this, carrying things around, etc. but if someone has ideas for a dispatch for construction, I'll help make it happen.

Doug

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Re: Alaska Power Project
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2015, 01:32:14 PM »
Update on Ruth Lake ... Helipad on the wharf didn't work,  you "hit the ground" 20 feet above that wharf object. So Moved the helipad over to the construction office and added windsock on the roof. Put in an electrical transmission station near the hydro power house and added pylons back past Brad's BBQ. At the last one, there is a construction crew building the latest pylon.  Helicopters are going to have to be careful landing at these helipads, with all the construction cranes around and light poles.  Should be a challenge.  Will work on the ADEX for it next, then this one is finished. 

NOTAM: be sure, if you are RE-DOWNLOADING to take out the old files for this project in your Scenery Library before you add the new ones. During beta runs, we sometimes change file names and you will get duplicate objects and conflicts if you don't do this. Be Safe, REPLACE!

D

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Re: Alaska Power Project
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2015, 03:41:22 PM »
Excellent job Doug & RTMM team for another project on the works... and thanks for introducing more challenging scenarios for us rotorheads  ;D

Here's a RW demo on what Klaus might have meant on a precision maneuver called "slingloading" on a powerline construction site.. ;) 8) :o

https://youtu.be/LWXawT5RGZs


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John

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Re: Alaska Power Project
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2015, 05:59:31 PM »
Damn....talk about precision....I have trouble getting one up and down in 1 piece  :o 8)

John

Doug

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Re: Alaska Power Project
« Reply #7 on: July 29, 2015, 07:26:54 PM »
Hi ... update.

I pulled the Swan Lake Hydro, that I "thought" was Ruth Lake, out of the APP project and made it stand alone with Bradley Lake Hydro and Big Falls Hydro ... made an extra table on the page for those.  So now I've gone back and done the REAL Ruth Lake.  Very interesting. There is a small hill where you see the dam in the attached pic, I used digital dynamite and blew it up (the stream was leaving the lake, going UP and over the hill and back down ...  but not any more!). Then put the dam where the hill was.  This facility also has a material receiving dock down at the shoreline and a connecting access road with trucks ... loaded going to the dam, empty coming back. You can also land on the "lakeside" of the dam ... a little dock is there. For now, you would walk though the water tunnel to the other side (but don't try it! :-).

The Materials Receiving Dock also has a helipad and a place for a float plane (at Brad's BBQ). Both facilities are lit up for night operations.  If you are flying a heli into these be darned careful. There are high light poles and cranes. There are also electrical transmission towers.  There is a windsock near each and fuel at the Brad's dock for the float planes. If you heli needs fuel, hover over the Brad's and you'll get an ariel fill-up.

Ruth Lake Hydro is a "proposed" site. So on the proposed ones, they will all be under construction. For the plants already operating, there will only be maintenance vehicles, etc.  This is a little different than dropping in a cabin and a couple of trees and picnic tables ... really takes some time and a lot of "starting over." To get things correct. Although we may make some changes, Ruth Lake is operational.  Dorothy Lake, an operational plant is coming from Thomas soon.

Again, if you have downloaded the Alaska Power Project zip before ... PLEASE take those files out of your scenery library before you add anything from this new zip. File names change and you'll have all sorts of bad things happen if you don't do this. Remember you can click on the pics to enlarge them.

Doug

PS ... and that video of the placement of those transmission towers was absolutely amazing. I've never seen that before.
« Last Edit: July 29, 2015, 08:01:17 PM by Doug »

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Re: Alaska Power Project
« Reply #8 on: July 29, 2015, 08:25:17 PM »
That looks great, Doug.
Jsapair

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Re: Alaska Power Project
« Reply #9 on: July 29, 2015, 11:11:00 PM »
Splendid project screenies Doug! 8)

A bit off-topic here: That video obviously exhibits the skill of SA-64 Skycrane pilots with 4,000 HP of thrust for heavy lifting! To those wondering, there's a rear-facing observer/engineer that controls the slingload hoist and coordinates with the pilot on the desired position, altitude and orientation of the hanging load relative to its target. Probably their field boss is spotting from the smaller MD500 hovering nearby to put pressure on the Skycrane crew to get the job done right and on time with no costly or disastrous mistakes.. Talking about job pressure and finesse going hand-in-hand multiplied by the number of these towers they have to install ;)


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Doug

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Re: Alaska Power Project
« Reply #10 on: July 30, 2015, 07:53:09 AM »
But when you are DARNED GOOD at what you do...piece of cake! I'm a chem E so what do I know, but if I had engineered that it would have had four funnels in the four posts so if you are not precise, you could still get it to match up. I'd like to see the clasping mechanism up close to see how it works, maybe just gravity holding it till they can bolt it? I look at the electrical transmission towers we are putting in (with the click of a mouse) with a new sense of awe. Thank you for adding the video, nice addition to the thread.

Doug

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Re: Alaska Power Project
« Reply #11 on: July 30, 2015, 01:07:11 PM »
Thomas has created the Lake Dorothy Hydro (complex).  This is a very interesting and complex scenery location with many pieces. He has also added a very informative "doc" for it (that you can download and look at from the table for Lake Dorothy (Look for the new "DOC" button).  This is a "real" facility.

This is a beautiful place to visit, the kind of place you would like to spend a couple of days at just hanging out and looking at the scenery and enjoying the facility lakes and outfalls, etc. 

We are still looking at file formats and how we are going to do things.  If you want to try this (remember it is beta!) you just put the Alaska Power Project folder into your scenery library and activate it.  Later, when we update the zip, you just remove that folder and add the new one that comes down in the zip. 

Attached are pictures, but they do not do this location the justice it deserves, you'll have to see it yourself.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2015, 01:09:37 PM by Doug »

corbu1

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Re: Alaska Power Project
« Reply #12 on: July 30, 2015, 02:24:17 PM »
This is an amazing project!
Thank you working on it for the RTMM folks!

All I saw so far looks great!
The pictures of the lake dorothy site are awesome.
I'm a bit busy the next two days.... But on sunday I can start exploring these sites.

Did I understand the intention of the project correct so as powerlines will also built into the landscape?
If so, can some of these powerlines be prepared for heli maintenance action?


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Doug

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Re: Alaska Power Project
« Reply #13 on: July 30, 2015, 03:19:49 PM »
We are putting transmission towers leaving some if the plants, but of course, not the whole line. We only have an " object" of the tower, so no pieces of it.  I'm not sure what we would need to place to make something like that for you. We will explore nearly anything, at least try.

I'm working on the proposed Thayer Creek project near Angoon. This is a comparatively tiny facility, a 10 foot dam upstream, buried 42" PVC pipeline parallel to the creek, to below a falls where the small little powerhouse will reside by the creek, total cost about $1,000,000. This us a good location because salmon cannot get up the falls, so putting it here would not interfere with their habitat. Problem is, in the sim, Thayer Creek goes up the sides of the hills, etc...it isn't in a basin. So I'm going to have to build the basin for the creek. This is about a 10 mile long project. Then I'll have to make an abrupt change in height to create the falls. They do mention in the proposal that some heli work will be necessary, so a pad near the powerhouse. The trail up to the dam will be ATV accessible only. Not very exciting as a result product but it will be fun to build. This will have about 6 miles of transmission lines to Angoon, maybe something maintenance wise in that stretch?

These locations are helicopter intensive. Thayer Creek won't have any place to land a float plane. So it is a very different kind of project for us.

corbu1

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Re: Alaska Power Project
« Reply #14 on: July 30, 2015, 04:48:25 PM »
Doug,
Regarding the powerlines, do you remember kildalapass scenery?
Ther's this nice helipad on the powerlines for nice heli approaches. I was thinking in that direction.
Powerlines maintenance is mostly done with small helis of the MD500 series, because these birds can be flown very precise and are small enough for use in remote areas.

On the ground nearby there could be some vehicles, peoples, construction materials etc. and a helipad.
We have a fueltruck with a landable platform. That would be great placed there.
What do you think?


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