Landing a helicopter?

[griphos]

I just use my joystick and one of the levers from my CH Throttle Quadrant for the collective. Rudder pedals are essential for helos, imo. Of course, I think they are essential for airplanes too, but I fly a lot of classic and military aircraft in the sim, and like to slip in landings.

Glad the description of landing has been helpful. I concur with the advice to practice hovering, and particularly with the suggestion to focus on the end of the runway or a point in the middle distance. This is the same for airplanes as well. When landing, everything you need to know is shown down at the other end of the runway. Look there, never right in front of you.

 

[ChipShop]

Thanks for the suggestion. It's not that I'm interested in flying helicopters in general, it that I like flying the Pyro specifically because it meets my vfr/bush flying needs. Things like 0-300 cruising speed and a couple of other things that aren't generally found with helis.

Ok then rich, no worries!

In case you are interested, and might like to fly something else as well; only smaller than the Sea King......................

I've recently been flying the UKMIL Gazelle, and it's surprisingly responsive in it's controls, will hover quite nicely and is reasonably easy to land !

May be worth a try for you!? https://flyawaysimulation.com/downloads/files/13918/fsx-ukmil-gazelle-ah1-package/

If you do go for it, add this sound pack as well, as the one supplied is from a Bell helo. or something, and sounds quite wrong!


http://simviation.com/1/browse-Flight+Simulator+Sounds-112-4; these are real sounds I believe!

Cheers for now,

ChipShop

 

[falcon409]

ROFL!! Now that sounds familiar!

How do you guys work the collective and the throttle(s) ? I mean physically, controller wise?

Cheers,
Mark

Mark, I have a single CH Throttle setup (got tired of using the tab on my joystick) and a twist-grip joystick so I have throttle, collective and rudder control at my fingertips, makes Heli flight very easy.

 

[mal998]

Several years ago when MS was still supporting multiplayer a bunch of us got together quite often for fly-ins. Back then we flew everything under the sun including many of the helicopters which were available at that time. At one point we were doing Viet Nam ops which called for lots of helo time. I was taught to fly helicopters by Graham Viele (former helo mechanic), and Michael Davies (respsonsible for building many AS helicopters) and I remember at some point we came to the conclusion that it was easier and more realistic to fly helicopters in FSX if you pulled the control sliders to the left. As I recall, some of us felt that if the sliders were mid or right it created a problem with over-control in the sim. So for those who are interested in doing a bit of helo flying, it might be worth while to experiement with moving the sliders around. Thinking about it now, I sure do miss those days.

 

[expat]

Several years ago when MS was still supporting multiplayer a bunch of us got together quite often for fly-ins. Back then we flew everything under the sun including many of the helicopters which were available at that time. At one point we were doing Viet Nam ops which called for lots of helo time. I was taught to fly helicopters by Graham Viele (former helo mechanic), and Michael Davies (respsonsible for building many AS helicopters) and I remember at some point we came to the conclusion that it was easier and more realistic to fly helicopters in FSX if you pulled the control sliders to the left. As I recall, some of us felt that if the sliders were mid or right it created a problem with over-control in the sim. So for those who are interested in doing a bit of helo flying, it might be worth while to experiement with moving the sliders around. Thinking about it now, I sure do miss those days.

Remember my occasional joining you and that MP group with fond memories. Wish I could join one like it again.

Because of this thread, I can now land a helo for the first time in 10 years of FS! The "helitrim" gauge made a huge difference, and moving some sliders left. Also, the tip about using the cyclic for speed and collective for altitude, and the "flare" to level it to avoid the backward drift before set down. Even got that CH-46 I regretted buying out of the hangar and now doing moving carrier landings with no trouble. This is fun. Thanks all!

 

[fliger747]

Something to remember in a conventional single rotor helicopter is that the aircraft is supported from the motor hub, with the CG significantly below. There is an appreciable pendulum effect as one slows into a hover, which one must compensate for. Think of a yo yo or plumbob on a string, note how it will pitch up (swing fwd) as you bring it into a "hover". This is where the active compensation of an inherently unstable system comes in.

Accurate controls are necessary with zero null zone. From flying FSX choppers I taught myself enough that transferred to real choppers for both my instructors to say I was the best student they ever had. Because of the lack of seat of the pants feel, FS may be harder!

 

[Bone]

Accurate controls are necessary with zero null zone. From flying FSX choppers I taught myself enough that transferred to real choppers for both my instructors to say I was the best student they ever had. Because of the lack of seat of the pants feel, FS may be harder!

That's funny, Tom, I had the same experience when I went for some chopper lessons. My instructor's comment after a few lessons was 'I really don't see what you need me for, lol'. And I agree with you, flying FS choppers is a touch more tricky than real.

 

[fliger747]

Steve:

There are however more ways than I could have possibly imagined to kill yourself in a real chopper. So far I haven't found auto rotation to be all that realistic in FSX, at least for low inertia rotor systems. I did map an engine kill switch to the joystick.

Cheers: Tom

 

[griphos]

Have you tried it in the Dodo? Not that realistic still, but much better than the others I think.