Simviation Forums

hey guys and girls. i seem to have a small problem with my contorls when flying choppers.

Grab yourself (not literally) the FREE HC412 from

Mark:
Relax; that's totally normal. On full realism settings; the default 206 is a nightmare to hover. It's OK once you get going; but at slow speeds, it goes everywhere. If you're really interested in flying sim helicopters, I recommend going to Hovercontrol and reading up on the info presented there.

So whats the best way to stop the helicopter from going out of control after you take off and also while hovering???

Apply constant balancing rudder. You need a twist grip stick to fly helos successfully.

The best way is to forget the default Bell 206B and keep training with the default Robinson, or with any other excellent stuff that can be found on Hovercontrol.com.

The helos you'll find on this site will have a much more realistic flight model that will offer "normal" stability when speed decreases.

And for the rest, as I already said it's all a matter of training. It's normal that an helicopter keeps turning when you give some throttle, just like the light propeller aircrafts that bank to one side when you set full throttle.

Another good advice, if you have a steering whell with pedals connected at the same time with your joystick, is assigning the rudder axis to the pedals, and keeping the joystick for all the other axis.

I would definately suggest learning on some of the freeware out there.  The 412 got me to where I am (being a good heli pilot) and if youre looking for a good personal transport type of thing, the new Rotorway Exec is excellent.

Don't forget to set the realism settings in the top menu to easy to start with. If you've not got pedals or a twist stick, use '0' and 'enter' on the NUM keypad and practice. Don't 'lean' on the buttons, just a quick, light press and release should bring it back into line.

Once you're up and have some speed, don't even try to land on one spot like a helipad, you'll miss and crash! Treat landing as with a normal plane, just alot slower.

rudder pedals are best, but beware: they are kinda expensive

1. Anything that hovers easier than the default 206 with the GENERAL realism set at ONE notch below full is "dumbed down"

2. There is no such thing as a "more" stable helicopter -- they are NOT stable to begin with.

3. If you really want to learn to fly the FS helicopter realistically, visit http://members.shaw.ca/hoversafe/Hoversafe.htm and follow the lessons you'll find there. But beware... it will cost quite a bit of time and effort but if you do, you'll be one of a very small number of people who can actually fly it properly.

Most people firmly believe the default 206 is unrealistic simply because it isn't as easy to fly as a Cessna. This belief is based on having seen helicopters in movies, TV or real life. They look so smooth and docile as they gently touch down on the pad. Heck, anyone can do it, right? W-R-O-N-G .... at least not without a lot of training and practise. What you don't realize is this an unintentional deception. Those smooth looking landings are being performed by a competent helicopter pilot who is very closely controlling it because that is the only way a helicopter can be flown.

The average time it takes a student helicopter pilot to get to where he can manage a hover that doesn't constantly threaten the life of his instructor is 17-19 hours!!! And, make no mistake -- in real life, an R-22 is more difficult to hover than a B-206 and both are far easier than ANYTHING in FS.

So, for those of you who have difficulty hovering or controlling the FS helicopters -- don't despair -- you're not alone!!

Cal (CYXX)

Wise words! Yes, the simple fact is that ALL hele's are HARD! However, IMHO, a good place to start is with a twin rotor design like the Chinook. It's heavy and slow and you don't have to worry so much about 'rudder' because the twin rotors cancel out the rotational inertia.

its  a torque effect thing! its normal to all helicopter not unles it has a syncronizer, even real choppes have that effect.

note:chopper has lot of torque effect. even a c172 has torque effect low airspeed and high rpm of attack thats were you can notice it!