My New Ride -- CH47D

[Nels_Anderson]

Miltech Simulations just released the CH47D Chinook helicopter for MSFS, so I had to give it a try. I haven't read the manual yet so have not tried any of the interesting options like carrying loads, but  did a couple of short flights just to try it out. Amazingly stable with handling noticeably different from other helicopters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

On 3/9/2024 at 12:23 PM, Nels_Anderson said:

Amazingly stable with handling noticeably different from other helicopters.

Great pics, and so glad they kept a "real" cockpit with steam gauges.

I have not flown the CH-47 in real, but I can speak to another tandem-rotor, the CH-46 (which was produced first).

Having a longitudinal CG range between the two rotors, these are very very stable.

Lifting into a hover, the nose lifts up first, then you have to apply slight fwd collective to lift the aft wheels off in a level attitude.

 

[Nels_Anderson]

I'm enjoying it so far. One surprise is how fast it is! 150 knots vs about 115 for the JetRanger and about 90 for the Guimbal Cabri. It does fly differently, and being so stable it's actually easier for the most part though I'm still learning to fly it well...having trouble controlling level altitude and making good turns. I'm probably doing it wrong but it seems to want to take off much like a plane...apply power and it rolls forward a little and then lifts off still moving forward. Very different having wheels and being able to ground taxi.

 

I still need to read the manual...I have another project going that's keeping me busy so my flying time has been short the past few days.

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

58 minutes ago, Nels_Anderson said:

apply power and it rolls forward a little and then lifts off still moving forward. Very different having wheels and being able to ground taxi.

Even though this model has a tendency to roll fwd with power, that is not realistic.

Yes a wheeled helo will roll, but only with fwd collective and small pwr input.

Try working on every TO being to a stable hover first, and then transition to fwd flight.

Force it to be a helicopter, and hone your hover skills at the same time.

[Nels_Anderson]

Right, I figured it was probably me holding the controls wrong. Since helicopter controls don't center it's a bit of a challenge to find just the right spot when power is first applied!

[Nels_Anderson]

Took the Chinook out for another trip today, mostly to try out the external load feature. Delivered a boat from Southampton UK to an adjacent island...

 

 

 

Now there's something you cannot do in most other aircraft

[PhrogPhlyer]

Nicely done!

Did you give a try a some basic hovering, to get the feel?

[Nels_Anderson]

Yes, plenty of basic hovering involved in this. To do the pickup you have to hover at the right altitude and within a specific radius for 5 seconds. I'm still a bit shaky at it, but got it done