Helicopter flight characteristics

aeromed202

aeromed202

SOH-CM-2014
As I mentioned in an earlier thread I have been working on helicopter flight characteristics. I have noticed that too often people (including myself) comment on their troubles and dissatisfaction trying to fly some FS helicopters. I don't know how much of this is the game trying to approximate real world challenges or difficulties modelers encounter with FS, but some real ones also fly well so I thought I'd try my hand at improving things. I'm looking for some input here from a variety of pilots. I don't claim real world perfection but what I have I think makes the flying experience satisfying, as opposed to frustrating. So if you have found helicopters too snarky, sluggish, just too much trouble to enjoy, or you know what a real one handles like, or anywhere in between drop me a PM and I'll send files for the default Bell 206 for evaluation. I have others in the works but am still determining permissions and such. I use a Logitech Extreme3D Pro with each realism set to three clicks below hard (my accounting for another's idea of hard) and I don't know what other people have for hardware or settings so bear that in mind. Feel free to either post comments or PM me. Thanks for the interest.
 
Helicopter realism is much better in FSX, I am not sure whether the individual helicopters handle better or the sim engine has changed. I am currently testing some (not available) ones that are quite good indeed. Very precise controls are needed, I find the Hall Effect Thrustmaster up to the challenge. Pedals are better as well, but you can get away without.

FSX taught me enough about choppers that I was able to takeoff, land and hover a real one in the first lesson. Real helicopters have certain advantages in being able to feel the motion and see close ground textures and depth perception.

T
 
I think that flying helicopters in FS is somewhat limited, only in what Tom described above, about feeling the motion. I have flown several models in FS... some of which were very easy to manage and control, even with the realism sliders ramped to HARD. That's the case with my copy of "Blue Thunder", a modified Aerospatiale Alouette III from the movie of the same name. She's steady as a rock in a hover, and easily slowed down into one from a pretty good clip. Landings are easily attained with a "Landing Gauge" I got from the Hover Control website. On the other hand, my trusty Alphasim Westland Lynx is a real handful. One has to really be gentle with the cyclic and collective to get her into a controlled hover, and a smooth touchdown. That helicopter really cooks along... probably faster than any in my virtual hangars and slowing it down into a hover takes a lot of practice. Even more of a challenge is Virtavia's Black Shark. Takes off like a helicopter, but once you get it rolling, it flies more like a plane. You can do barrel rolls in the Black Shark. Landing is a little easier than in the Lynx... but still a little tricky and she likes to drift from side to side in a hover.

BB686:USA-flag:
 
Perhaps I didn't say what I had in mind clearly. I wasn't trying to make birds fly 'easier', that's relatively easy. I can load up inertia and damping, trim down input responsiveness and make one stable in a hurricane, but not much fun to fly. What I'm after is one that has characteristics closer to the real thing, which in certain models means more nimbleness and predictable handling, and in others a higher degree of simulated bulk. I'm looking for opinions to see if I'm on to something or just fixing what isn't broken.
 
aeromed202 said:
Perhaps I didn't say what I had in mind clearly. I wasn't trying to make birds fly 'easier', that's relatively easy. I can load up inertia and damping, trim down input responsiveness and make one stable in a hurricane, but not much fun to fly. What I'm after is one that has characteristics closer to the real thing, which in certain models means more nimbleness and predictable handling, and in others a higher degree of simulated bulk. I'm looking for opinions to see if I'm on to something or just fixing what isn't broken.
Click to expand...

Can I suggest a place for you to visit which may be of some help? Hovercontrol.com is the place for the helicopter specialist, their file downloads include a section with alternative configs that may fit your bill, or give you some good pointers as to how to achieve your goal.
 
Hovercontrol has an addon that supposedly improves (more realistic) the heli flight dynamics. I have pretty much gone to FSX for all my heli flying, but experiment about with different rotorcraft, some are much better than others. I do fly with all the sliders to 100%, for everything. A good chopper will be responsive to your slightest thought, just don't think too hard!

good luck! T
 
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