Finally, Helicopters!

Updated and went to the intro on helos and was sorely disappointed in the demo. Looked at my settings and they were set correctly on realistic and tried a flight from the World map and what a difference. This is the first time I have ever flown a Sim Helo that felt right!

 

The little gumball flew similar to an R22. At altitude you even have to watch your control inputs to keep rotor speed in the green. The ground effects are stunning! Flying in to an elevated landing with effects half in and half out of the disk is very realistic. Finally a helo that needs correct rudder control!

 

So I did a flight around NYC. Fun landings to be had everywhere. I did notice the grass was mismatched in elevation by a few feet in central park so that landing was... firm.

 

Things are further than they appear in the cockpit so you need to get in tight. If you set the controls to real, flying a helo may seem daunting at first. It is one thing to know that every input effects every other. After about 2 hours of real flight (not my first aircraft training) I finally got a handle on it. It is like juggling, you can't think about it intellectually, you just do it,

 

 

 

 

Hovercontrol produced some great choppers for fs2004...... . I spent many years flying around Hawaii and the moutains of BC in the Aérospatiale Gazelle in fs2004........ Edited November 13, 2022 by daspinall

I had a flight in the Bell last night and is was OK! ASOBO did well, now they need to get cracking on the scenery so chopper pilots can enjoy the eye candy too........ Choppers are nothing like flying planes and take a lot of practice and patience to learn.... Hovering is a great skill to learn and auto-rotation..... but they take a long time to master!!! A lot of plank pilots automatically think they don't work correctly because the controls are far too sensitive compared to what they are used to flying in planes.... Hovercontrol is where many of us learned to fly sim choppers..... Edited November 14, 2022 by daspinall

Hovercontrol is missed, no doubt!

 

Maybe with the rise of rotors in MSFS-2022 maybe they'll resurrect the site?

I'm sure we will see more chopper designers come on board now we have a new sim...

I have used helicopters in FS ever since they were introduced up to FSX and always with the highest realistic settings, but I never knew the tailroter/rudder control to be this difficult to control. Unless I have tailrotor assistance on the helicopter is basically unusable because it's so unstable in yaw.

Helicopters seem to be VERY sensitive to the control inputs you offer the simulation. And along with that, there is a HUGE difference between someone who uses a quality and expensive rudder pedals, that have lots of precision and a large amount of pedal travel... Vs someone using joystick's "twist" function to accomplish the same thing.

 

No, I'm not gonna tell you to spend $400 on new pedals. Instead, I'll tell you to get whatever rudder controls YOU can reasonably afford, and then experiment. Experiment with the controls settings in the game. Sensitivity curves, dead zones, that kind of thing. Try different things.

Then go out and fly a bunch. Then a bunch more. Try hovering exercises. Then go back to tweeking the controls settings.

 

At first, you'll probably get a bit frustrated. Then a bit more frustrated. Then you'll start to get used to it a bit. And then, things will start to come together. And after a while, you will have developed your muscle memory enough from flying many helicopters in FS, that you won't be as dependent on hardware or software, you'll be just "flying"!

 

That said, there are a few hardware tweeks you can make yourself for pennies, to inexpensive hardware. In helicopter simulation one of the biggest, is to reduce or eliminate the effect of springs on the joystick, because that spring pressure is unrealistic for helicopter use. Some people use dampners from R/C cars or actual motorcycles. Often this involves giving a big extension to the joystick too, cutting the stick and adding a steel pipe to add maybe half a meter, so that it sits right on the floor but reaches above your thighs... the effect is to give you a LOT of precision for your inputs, and also nearly eliminates the "spring return" effect, because you have a lot more leverage. Casmo TV has a youtube channel where he shows how he did this to his TM T.16000m, he was a former military helicopter pilot mostly flying the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, but also the AH-64D Apache Longbow, and now flies B-737's.

 

Another is to make your own collective, or extensively modify a PC racing simulation "usb handbrake" for such purposes. And finally, some will buy an old inexpensive set of rudder pedals, and remove the centering spring. Maybe they'll invest in upgrading the sensors for more precision.

 

I couldnt fly without pedals, thats fer sure! A lot of pedal is put in before pulling collective to lift off. As the aircraft gets light, you can see if it skids left or right before lifting. When you transition to climb out you need a lot of rudder. Depending on altitude and how aggressive you climb out, you might need all of it.

 

The first time I tried to hover I lasted about 30seconds before pilot induced oscillations scared the feces out of me and I said to the instructor to take it back! Over the next three flights that time crept up til he said to transition out to 500 and run a circuit. The first transition yawed the R22 90 degrees before I got enough rudder in.

 

Unlike planes, you feed in small cyclic inputs and don't wait for the result. If you wait for the result you will be out of synch and will be responding to the last input with the wrong new control. Once you get the hang of the torque you will be doing wingovers between buildings in the city!

 

I never tried hovercontrol software. Never flew helo in the older sims.

back at the beginning of the year, I bought the Thrustmaster TPR Pedals... I never had any issues controlling the Bell that was not my doing..... Like Herc79 said it's a heavy investment but well worth it.... My issue was too much input on the controls on the first flight..... that's because I've not flown choppers in over ten years, only planks... I thought at the time I was a tad crazy throwing over £400 on pedals... But once connected to the sim I knew and felt right away it was a good investment..... They are a solid build and will last a lifetime if kept well...

 

Edited November 24, 2022 by daspinall

ASOBO did well, now they need to get cracking on the scenery so chopper pilots can enjoy the eye candy too...

 

I recommend a tour around Bora Bora. After seeing the screenshot I had a nose around and it is beautiful. Had a quick tour myself on a boring 20 minute video of some sights. Impressive power on the little Gumball as one of the landings on top of witches hat (probably not what the locals call it) allowed the helo to power both into and out of the lithosphere! There are a few mismatches in the overlay.

 

Those TM pedals look great and I have been thinking about updating! I am still running the old Cessna Pedals about 12 years old now. Older version of these.