SurClaro Flight Simulator Resources

Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2002 9:24 pm Post subject: Flying helicoptors

i can never seem to get the hang of flying helis, i will be going along just fine and then something crazy will happen and i will have to save my ass by switching to a trusty fixed wing, can someone please explain the fundamentals of flying a helicoptor in FS

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2002 1:45 am Post subject: helis

I'm with ya on this one. It is tough and tricky. I'm still learning too. I'm finding the main trick is working the throttle and fore and aft joystick together and softly or small movements. Then a twist here and there to see where the hell I should be going helps. that's when I start getting into trouble.

There's a donwload you can get either here or maybe at Flightsim.com. it installs a really nice helipad at Meigs in Chicago. It lights up at night too! it comes also with a preplanned flight if you choose to run it. You start at Meigs in terrible weather. Take off and then land on the helipad out in the water just a few hundred yards away. It's hard to do. I haven't made it yet! Bob

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2002 4:30 pm Post subject:

Flying Helos is easy. i have the Boeing Chinook CH47 installed and i fly that all over. there is a lot of torque to deal with but is still easy

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2002 7:27 pm Post subject:

You're a better man than I am, Bobbych! Surprised

I'm still trying my hand with the Bell which came with FS2k2. Getting better at it, slowly.

Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2002 6:43 pm Post subject:

It took me about two weeks to learn to fly the Bell 206 somehow. It is the best to start with less realistic flight model and gradually raise the bar. Or if you're persistent, start with the realistic model. It takes time but you see from the start what you are doing wrong.

What bothers me, is the flight model on many add-on choppers. They are really lame, I don't believe they fly like that. It depends a lot how easy it is to fly a chopper, meaning the flight model.

Working on UH-1 Huey now, greatest chopper in the world. Hoping to find a good Blackhawk. Wink

Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2003 12:19 am Post subject: Helicopter Control

Hello to All,

Although not an expert in helis, but can control a heli in a perfect hover, I feel to give away some tips on Heli control.

Heli Flying Requires:
+Nerves of Steel
+Good Joystick
+Lots of Time to practice
+Patience

First you need a very good, high precision joystick, preferably with a twisting stick for rudder control in aircraft and (not sure what its called in helis). I use a Logitech Forcefeedback joystick myself.

Helicopters are very sensitive to joystick movement especially when realism is on the highest setting. So make sure that the joystick is calibrated properly before flying a heli.

When you increase the throttle and the Heli starts to hover, you will notice that it tends to bank to the right or left, and even turn. You have to try to keep it straight by banking in the opposite direction and at the same time use rudder control to stop turning.

Try only to make slight movements. Sudden movements will make you lose control and panic!

Practice the following:

1. First try increasing the throttle until the heli ALMOST takes off. The heli starts to turn. Use Rudder to keep the heli straight.

2. After that try increasing the throttle more. As soon as the heli takes off, you will have to use all the functionality of your joystick Smile

including the throttle to keep it the same height. Practice hovering and until you master the hover, do not try anything else.

3. While taking off is a choice...Landing is a must! Decrease the throttle slowly, bit by bit, and start descending. If you think you are descending very fast, do not panic, but increase slowly the throttle until the heli stops or slows its descent.

4. Once you master the hover, you can try flying forwards and turning. Helis feel similar to an aircraft while in forward flight, but when changing direction, you need to help with the rudder.

Remember that perfect makes practice (or was it the other way round)...Anyway, good luck and don't hesitate to email me if you need to ask some questions.

Kevin
carbonke@fretworkonline.com

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 2:10 pm Post subject:

hey ... i dont have a joystick i use my keyoard and i cant get the heli into the air Confused

i want a joystick i just need it cheap if asnyone can tell me where i can get a cheap joystick cheers

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:54 pm Post subject:

Helis----

I can't lecture because I'm not very good at flying them either but, I can just about, the trick is to very slowly add throttle and make very tiny little movements with the joystick (or keyboard) tgo move forwards, you'll only have to push the joystick forwards slightly,

Hope that helps,
Matt

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 2:57 am Post subject:

I found out there are severe differences between simhelis. I recently loaded one down here, it was an EH-101 (CH-149), that behaved in a surprisingly stabile way. No, it is not just because of the gear. I have some experience with the Sky King (from FS Carrier Ops) wich has also a gear, but behaves very similar to the default Bell.

Another hint:
If you really cannot get the hang of it, there are some models of an italian designer who made them behave like fixed wing aircrafts. I just tested one (will report about both in my FS2002 Forum Thread "Test flights") called Aerospatiale Alouette 2. You use the throttle like usual (I almost crashed into the gate when I slightly opened the throttle like I'd do in a normal heli), cannnot hover and will stall (in this case at about 25kt). Even AP works (I tried it with shortcuts and it worked fine).

I confess, I am fighting every time I try to land because of this ... ground effect. As long as I am not experienced enough (actually about 15 hours with large pauses) I still turn of the winds when flying a heli. And I really cannot cope with autorotation. If Alert! lite simulates a spontaneous engine failure, I am lost, betrayed and sold...

Rhythmo

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 5:00 am Post subject:

One important thing haven't seen mentioned is Frame Rate. Unless you a a pretty decent decent frame rate ( >15) you are going to have trouble flying heis.

Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 1:38 am Post subject:

...right, and ya joystic, of course. Stearing the rudder via keyboard (and stearing the whole heli via keyboard) is a thing you shouldn't even think of. It is much easier to get the cat in the fridge, in other words: as good as impossible.

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2004 10:18 pm Post subject:

I must admit there is already some very good infomation here. However, try to find a helo with Landing gear. Skids require perfect skill. With wheels, one can land some helos at almost any foreward speed, or backwards, though I have not been able to land sideways yet. Very Happy

Still, with gear, you will be able to practice landing with abit of a safety net.

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 1:25 pm Post subject:

Yyyyyes,. but...(sniff)... It is correct what you say. That's why I switched to the Sea King very quickly, but, well, this Evil or Very Mad

ground effect! I just managed to "taxi", even with the default Jetranger. But when trying to get airborne even in calm air conditions, and even with wheels I mess it up because shortly after being airborn, with approximately 5 or 6 ft AGL. the hell -a- copter starts turning. Yes, I really lift the pitch verrrry smooooth. Yes, all my controll inputs are very smooth, too. But when I try to compensate to the turn moment with the rudder (I use a MS Sidewinder Pro wich features rudder control by turning the joystick shaft) it is either to smooth or the heli turns to the other side. Fighting this and struggleing to stabilize it, I loose speed and therefore total control(wich is a beginner fault, I guess, but, Evil or Very Mad

, I AM a heli beginner!) The only rescue I found to recover the craft is to max up the pitch and kick the nose down. This encreases speed and hight and the helo becomes stabile. Yeeees, I know, a real heli pilot would call me insane to do so or laugh out his lungs...

Okay, I tried to reconfigure the sensitivity of the rudder axis of my joystick to enable even smoother controll inputs. But by doing this, I ruin the rudder settings for all my fixed wingers (I fly with Autorudder turned off because my real world glyder planes did not have this feature Very Happy

and my teachers kicked me to fly coordinated turns). There must be another way to do it, because I don't want to reconfigure my joystick over and over again.
The real bad thing is: You cannot return alive if you cannot land even if you can fly. I can get those Evil or Very Mad

helis airborn, and have more ore less good and stabile climbs, cruises and descends (depending on the model as I said before: the default Jetranger is not as stabile as the EH-149, for example) without causing the engine to overrove (I use Alert! wich makes that possible if you don't watch the gauges). But again at about 5 to 6 ft AGL, especially when trying to hover if I have no gear, the same problems come over me again. It's just like a ritual: I try to make it about half an hour, then I am feed up with it, deactivate Alert! and let the heli fall from about 8ft AGL hoping the default gear (or slide) endurance is high enough to accept it without breaking. Finally back on mother earth, the heli is located lightyears away from the point that I intended to land at. (And the KLM crew was not too happy realizing my rotor blades just added some holes to their 747 rudder... Embarassed

)

To finish it:
I learned that smooth controll inputs are the key. But I cannot cope with this Evil or Very Mad

ground effect. What is your answer to this ground effect problem? I'd be grateful for any advices...

Rhythmo

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2004 2:34 am Post subject:

Eeeah, you won't tell me you got no answer to it, will you?! Come on!

The Rhythmosaur

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2004 4:41 am Post subject:

well, turn down the realism a bit. then you will get the hang of it. I find that realism of medium, with the crash to low is a real good place to learn on. You should try that for a while. Or you can go to low realism, get real good, then medium, (with low crash) then high. When you get to the point where you can land smoothly in hard realism, then turn the crash up to hard. It will take some time, but will cut down the frustration.