Piloting a Helo??????

[ozzy72]

Heres one for all the chopper pilots . I've decided to try my hand with helos , I can take off and move around and 1 out of 5 times I can (skid) it to a landing. However I can't land where I want to and can't hover at all .
So my question is this, Is there a tutorieal that I can d/l that will give me the basics? Took a look at hovercontrol, but didn't find any tutorieals.

I'm using the saitek X45 controlers if that matters.

[ozzy72]

Go over to http://members.shaw.ca/hoversafe/Hoversafe.htm and work through their tutorials and all will be well

[Fozzer]

Go over to http://members.shaw.ca/hoversafe/Hoversafe.htm and work through their tutorials and all will be well

Hi Mark.. ...!
..you forgot to add the words " Trust Me", after that statement.... ...!
I watch the trainee helicopter pillocks pilots at my local airfield rotating in ever decreasing circles in their whirly-birds, bending the skids in a ferocious landing, and walking away with a red face, hoping that no-one has witnessed their vain attempts... ...!

...very similar to what happens in the Flight Simulator.. ...!
LOL...LOL..LOL...!

Cheers all... ...!

Paul...this idea of sticking a vertical propellor on an aeroplane will never catch on... ...!
...trust me... ...!
LOL...!

[stevewilson]

Thanks ozzy.

[Graycat8524]

Heya Steve,

Proper Collective Control is the key for me.  During landing I reduce the Collective and "balance" a nose-up attitude with a good rate of descent speed (this keeps your forward velocity down below 20 kts.).  Right before I touch down I increase (or "Bump") the Collective slightly to reduce my rate of descent and I pull up on the control a bit more to decrease my forward velocity.  

It takes a lot of practice to do it just right.  You think that you have had some spectacular crashes?  Hah!! I've got you waaaay beat on crashes!!

I have made a Helicopter Autopilot minipanel for all of my choppers which only has two gauges on it.  I got the gauges (Helicopter Autopilot by Antti Pankkonen and Hover Gauge by Arne Bartels) from the AS-332 Hong Kong Flying Service Helicopter by Dirk E. Fassbender.  You can get the download here:

http://www.simviation.com/fs2004helicopters7.htm

The Helicopter Autopilot gauge works just like an aircraft autopilot in that you can effectively fly your chopper on autopilot.  It also helps on those "long hauls".

The Helicopter Hover gauge will hover your helicopter if your forward velocity is less than 40 kts.  You can "adjust" your hover by moving the joystick slightly so that you can place your helicopter right above the big "H" on the helicopter landing pad.  You can also "adjust" the hover altitude down to 10 ft. (the lowest altitude that the gauge will allow), disengage the Hover Gauge, and with a gentile "push" on the Collective you can land with a minimum of fuss.

[Boss_BlueAngels]

Well, as of today I can officially tell you flying the real thing is a million times harder than flying the ones on the sim!! I went on an intro flight in a Schweizer 269L this afternoon... wohoo!

Anyway, start out in the Robinson... that one is WAY easier to control than the 206... with the R-22 I can land that thing almost anywhere I want... still takes some practice, but after knowing how the real thing operates, I'm doing MUCH better....  

The only thing I can suggest is don't try to correct every little problem when you see it... try and anticipate things.  And make SMALL corrections... the helicopter in flight sim is really sensative to small corrections, but the real thing is even more so.  All I had to do to turn the thing was move the stick about 1/2 centemeter to get a nice turn going...  treat the one on the computer like that. lol

[stevewilson]

Thanks for the advice Gray cat, I'm sure its going to take a lot of time practice .

Hay Boss: Congrates on you intro flight .  I've got, well I don't know how many hours as a passanger, and three forced landings, but never in the left seat.

[krazyj]

hey ya'll


yeah practice is a key word here... I've spent countless hours on mastering this skill now I fly AS365N2 or N3 or what ever I can get my hands on.. have several choppers in my "fleet"

dont fly choppers in real life but I have taken some turns at the wheel hehe and it is very sensitive.

but hey as they say practice makes perfect.... but who the hell has the patience

[Chris_F]

The keys are:

Practice, practice, practice,
Low zoom (wide field of view) in VC,
High frame rate (turn down those eye candy settings),
Pracitce, practice, practice,
Anticipate corrections,
Make small control movements.

Want to practice?  Find the oil rig off the Texas Gulf Coast (Corpus Cristi?) and save a flight while hovering off of it in the R22.  Then try landing on the platform.  Every time you crash (and you will) you'll restart hovering off the platform again.  Just keep at it until you can land the thing on the platform every so often (I'm at about 50/50 right now).

[A/SGT.Mav316]

Helicopters are a challenge to fly. But once you get the hang of it they are a blasts! Simulate landing on a specific spot!

Then when your done with flying helicopters, take on the next challenge! The Harrier GR.7 jusmp jet! Those are real hard to fly! They literally do operate like Helicopters and jets at the same time!

But beleive me once you get used to flying copters you'll be downloading everykind you can find! I remember the first time I flew a FS Helicopter. Getting off the ground was no problem. Landing was real bouncy and flat spins were always inevitable!  :-/!

A couple of hints

1. keep your controller straight up to keep the main blades level. increase throttle to get lift.

2. Push your controller forward slightly to dip the nose and pick up a little airspeed to get her moving.

3. Always remember to watch the airspeed, if you stay at level flight your airspeed will drop to zero. This is a critical area where the helicopter can go into a unrecoverable flat spin.

4. in the event that you do go into a flat spin, by miracle I find that if you give you produce full throttle on the cyclic and pull back on your controller the helicopter sometimes recovers! (Depending on how high you are)

5. when landing slow decrease your cyclic and slightly pull back on the controller to lift the nose. Watch your airspeed. as you come close to the ground give yourself a little throttle to produce a little lift to slow your decent. Then as you get close to the ground slowly reduce your throttle to bring her in!

[Calb]

Steve,

I'm curious -- you say the lessons don't work in FS2004 -- does that mean you can't find them in the videos or flights menus or they just won't run?

If you're using WinXP, the .FLT, FSR and WX files must be put in C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents\Flight Simulator Files or they won't show up anywhere.

Cal

[stevewilson]

Calb,  Thanks for the info.  I placed the files as you said, then went and looked in both flying lession and the learning center and still didn't find them.

Is there another place I should look.

[MIKE JG]

Don't give up on www.hovercontrol.com.  There is a lot of great info on that site as well as a full training course.  You can even get online "dual" from an instructor there.  Search their site for "settings".  If you adjust a couple of things in FS9 it makes flying the helos much more realistic and even a little bit easier IMHO.  Good luck.  Helos rock.

[Calb]

Steve,

They show up in the "Flights/Select Flight" menu and in the "Options/Flight Videos" menu

Cal

[stevewilson]

Thanks Clab,  Found them where you said, however I must not have them installed correctly as I can't select them.