What am I doing wrong?

O

OBIO

Retired SOH Admin
I know...that could be a rather long novel about the aaaaaaalllllllllllllll the things I am doing wrong...so let me narrow the topic down a bit. What am I doing wrong when I try to fly helos on FS9? I installed the Simshed Westland Wessex and Piglet's OH-23. I fire up the sim with those helos selected, hit the Control E combo to start the engines, wait for the helo to spool up, use the throttle on my joystick to up the RPMs and get enough lift to take off....and nothing! On the Wessex, the farther I advance my throttle, the slower the rotor goes.....it's like the pitch of the blades increases instead of the speed. On the OH-23, the engine and rotor will only get up to 46% RPM.

I had a similar problem with one of the really nice freeware Bell 212s...superbly modeled with tons of detail....but I could never get then thing off the ground.

OBIO
 
Nothing! You're doing a fine job.

Now that you bring up the subject, I have similar problems with choppers.
The Simshed Wessex is the only permanent 'egg-beater' on my sim(s) and actually manage
to get it off the ground on a good day. :icon_lol:

I usually give it a burst of about 80% throttle to get it on its way then reduce to 55 - 60 %.

So Yep. I'd like to know too, Obio.


(ps; keep up the good work)
 
Helos are designed with inbuilt inconsistency - what works on one is bound not work on another!
Their designers are forever requiring you to do a "partially realistic" startup sequence, mostly involving switching on the fuel.
It's that little red flap thing you open on the panel. Ctrl-E then often works.
If it's more complicated than that, and it often is... ****

But here's the quick 'n dirty way: go into slew mode, lift the beast a few feet into the air, and come out of slew.
On dropping to the ground, it will run like crazy.
You'll no doubt have a flat battery in time if there are Gen switches etc to operate, but at least you'll get in a quick flight.
Bon Voyage!
 
If you just want to fly around a bit, load the 172, start it up, then select the helo you want to fly, and you should be good to go with most freeware models.

The startup procedure for helos is a little drawn out. Often they use a turboprop airfile so you need to give the thing plenty of time to spool up then make sure your prop gov speed is at max ( I have a rocker switch on my joystick set to 'increase prop gov/decrease prop gov incrementally). If you don't do this before you try to take off it's the most likely cause of no power when you try to lift off.

If you want to do a cold dark startup reading the manual is a good idea. Control-E doesn't work on a lot of helo models.
 
nigel richards said:
The Simshed Wessex is the only permanent 'egg-beater' on my sim(s) and actually manage
to get it off the ground on a good day. :icon_lol:
Click to expand...

How 'bout landing it....? :icon_lol: Well, the Simshed Wessex is a gentle bird, and quite forgiving too. I have it, and a couple of ALPHASIM's choppers. They work suitably to my liking. Some of the "heelows" I've tried only get so far off the ground at a full collective and yes... I have had those that just sit there and whip up the dust... make a better fan than a helicopter. So you are not alone, OBIO.

BB686:USA-flag:
 
The problem is helicopter operation in FS9 is a huge compromise, at least the way MS approached it; as Wing_Z said, what works on one won't necessarily work on another!

Thankfully our hobby is full of very clever people, 5 of whom have already posted on this thread! :salute: But for helos the clever people mainly congregate over at Hovercontrol.com, might be worth checking there to see if anybody has tweaked these choppers to make them more usable/realistic; and always worth a check to see if Mr Barendregt has come up with anything applicable.
 
Now THIS is a really interesting thread. I have quite a few helos on my FS9 sim. I know exactly what OBIO's talking about, having experienced it with any turbine-powered helicopter but not, for some reason, with piston-powered helos. I try to do a by-the-book startup, going from a cold cockpit, and hit the red "fuel control" switch (which for some reason, on many of these helicopters, also starts the engine(s)) before cranking; I also hit ctrl-alt-F4 to ensure there is enough fuel flow. The twin-engined 412s are especially interesting, I've started fuel flow and used my starters separately and individually on each engine, got the engines to run, then when advancing the throttle had both engines "choke" at about 40% of lift. Advancing the throttles actually causes the engines to run more slowly, or stop. What's worked for me has been to hit the start switches again at this point, after backing off to "0" on the collective, but not shutting down. A verrrrryyyyyyy slow application of collective after that will get the engines to spool up to normal. For some reason it seems the designers want you to wait for a while until the RPM builds to a sufficient point to support flight, I guess. Don't be fooled, by the way, when you hear the engine spool up - check your gauges, you may be hearing just one finally catching - if you have separate engine start enabled, restart the second engine at this point and see what happens.
 
Some designers also play around with the following initial settings which can be one of several reason they won't lift off.

Rotor clutch = shift + .
Rotor brake = shift + B
Governor = shift + ,
 
From past experience, the majority of the time, it's what Wing_Z describes that works more often than not. If you go through the the normal start procedures, clicking every switch in the correct order, eventually you would get to the "start switch" (it's the one he describes as having a red cover). Using an auto start, in whatever form (I have mine mapped to a joystick button) sometimes bypasses the actual start switch in the sim, so you get an engine start, but without sufficient lift to go anywhere. The solution, as Wing_Z describes is to locate the start switch and hit it again, that will allow the engine to actually spool correctly and off you'll go.:salute:
 
Boy does this thread bring back some memories of mega frustration! One thing I discovered when learning to fly helos using the Wessex, was to hit the master switch FIRST (shift m) then go throught the "normal" start up sequence. Without the master switch ON I got exactly what OBIO describes. I was never able to get it off the ground using the short cut start up (control-E). And like Clarke says, once you get it turning let it spool up to 100%.

This fixed my problem with the Wessex which is about the only helo I fly and I realy like it once I learned how to fly it and land it. It's a great way to explore new airfields and other interesting features.

Steve
 
You're not doing anything wrong. You're just not doing one little thing right.

It's a simple keystroke combo that will get the rotor up to speed - but I haven't flown FS9 in so long I'm not sure I remember it! And I don't have FS9 installed on my new confuter, so I can't just boot up and check.

It's something similar to the afterburner keystrokes, but maybe not exactly the same.

Try Shift+F4, or Ctrl+F4. I think it's Shift before the F4.

Fiddle around and I'm sure you'll find it.
 
Mick said:
You're not doing anything wrong. You're just not doing one little thing right.

It's a simple keystroke combo that will get the rotor up to speed - but I haven't flown FS9 in so long I'm not sure I remember it! And I don't have FS9 installed on my new confuter, so I can't just boot up and check.

It's something similar to the afterburner keystrokes, but maybe not exactly the same.

Try Shift+F4, or Ctrl+F4. I think it's Shift before the F4.

Fiddle around and I'm sure you'll find it.
Click to expand...
CTRL+F4 = Set prop RPM to high is the one you want. Shift + F4 is afterburner
 
I found either waiting and watching the gauges until they get to green after start up, or by experimentation I find a helo that loads running and ready to fly, then switching to the one I originally wanted to fly works 99% of the time. There have been one or two fixed wing AC that also responded well to the same no-fly situation. Also saving the flight once you get things going works but I don't know why. Haven't tried the slewing to 2000' method but will now for sure.
 
This process has stood the test of time for me. It has never failed to get these pesky thingies started. It just worked for the new Icaro EC135 which has one of the most complicated startup procedures (according to the manual) i've run across.

Press
F1
ctl-F4
ctl+sht+F4
Add a bit of collective (as required)
Wait until torgue gauges are stabilized --patience is required here:kilroy:

Then add some more collective to get 'er up. If she wont rise she ain't up to power yet.
 
Clarke123 said:
Just leave it alone till the RPM hits 100%. Always works for me.
Click to expand...

Depends on what choppers you fly. It definitely doesn't work for many of them. Some helos will never spin up to anywhere near 100% no matter how long you wait.
 
Had the same issue with my dauphin until I realized (or should I say imagined) the air needed to be bled from the fuel system. ;) Try starting the helo, engage the rotor clutch at 60% turbine RPM, SLOWLY bring up the turbine RPM till you hit 100% but do NOT try to lift off, bring the turbine back down to idle, then back up to 100% and see if you can lift off.

Worked for me.
 
Well I have to say I have the same problem. Does not happen all the time. I tried everything and nothing seems to work. Some times the helo will take off and some times not. Glade it is not just me.
 
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