which helicopter?

Daveroo

Daveroo

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ok,i know you guys have strong opinions of various things,and ive been told get the Dodo sim helicopter,and i am going to,but id like some feedback about these.

Cera sim's:
UH60L
Bell 222
Bell 412
Nemeth Design's:
EC135
S52 Skycrane
CH53E
Milviz's:
B407
Flysimware's:
Bell 47G
Dodosim's:
Bell 206
Aerosoft's UH1
these are whats going to be in my hanger,i WILL buy these..but im curious as to what you all say about my choices.
 
Cera sim's:
UH60L
Bell 222
Bell 412

All good. Lots more animations (doors, panels, etc.) than the other selections. Lots of repaints for each.

Nemeth Design's:
EC135
S52 Skycrane
CH53E

Skycrane and CH53E are more complex to start. Well detailed.

Milviz's:
B407

The latest standard by some, but very taxing on most machines. I get OOM's with ORBX scenery for anything but daytime with fine weather.

Flysimware's:
Bell 47G

The easiest to fly and less taxing on framerates than the others. Lots of repaints available. Good for novice helo flying.

Dodosim's:
Bell 206

Don't have this one. Yet.

Aerosoft's UH1

Very well done. In addition to the Aerosoft one, Milviz-ND also has one which is quiet good. Interesting to fly these and the other Bell helos from Cera Sim.

Bottom line Daveroo is what you're looking for in a helo. Easy startup? Casual flying? Military whomp, whomp??
 
Anything from Cera is good. I particularly like their 212 and 222.

Every Nemeth product I have has a certain degree of bugs/issues with them that you need to either learn to live with or know how to work around. I can detail them for you on request.

In short, the Dodo and Cera addons should be at the top of your list.
 
1) Dodo

and wayyyyyy down the list

Aerosoft huey
Cera 212 and 412
Milviz B407

and then the rest follow

nemeth last
 
One nice feature of the Dodo that doesn't get mentioned enough (and I'm surprised that more developers don't imitate it, though I'm sure it's hard to bring off) is that the realism is scalable. There are five realism settings. At the lowest level, the flight model is close to the default Jetranger. Then, as you get comfortable with it, you can turn the setting up higher by degrees. At each level, there's something new to master but you can do it in manageable chunks. Level 4 is the most complex flight model, and Level 5 adds realistic engine management (like mandatory cooldowns). So in spite of how challenging the Dodo can be, it's also a pretty good introductory course in helo flying.

Of the others, I like the Ceras in particular. And as I'm sure other posters have mentioned (or will), the Helicopter Total Realism freeware program available at Hovercontrol can add a lot to many of these helos. Worth checking out.

Hope this helps.
 
thanks guys..all of your input is well taken...warhorse..my ultimate goal is to be flying the helitanker on fires..i see alot of them here where i am..and i just love them....but i need to just learn to start with,sounds like the Dodo and the bell 47 will be first for me..then either the bell 407,or /and? the 412,i have a thing about the 4 bladed rotorbirdies
 
Daveroo said:
thanks guys..all of your input is well taken...warhorse..my ultimate goal is to be flying the helitanker on fires..i see alot of them here where i am..and i just love them....but i need to just learn to start with,sounds like the Dodo and the bell 47 will be first for me..then either the bell 407,or /and? the 412,i have a thing about the 4 bladed rotorbirdies
Click to expand...
Ah... that does narrow the field. Of those you listed the only one with helitanker capabilities is the ND Skycrane.

2013-8-26_14-16-58-529_zps273268f7.jpg


2013-8-26_14-47-13-927_zpsa1246a1d.jpg


The others are either military or private. The Milviz Bell 407 has an addon for camera, spotlight and emergency floats. There are other helos not mentioned that have models for emergency airlift.

And you may want to do some searches on Hovercraft as I think there may be some freeware helos with helitanker capabilities. Not sure, but worth a look.
 
I can't comment on them all, since I don't have them all, but you certainly have your bases covered. Dodo > Cera > MV 407 > anything else. The dodo is likely the best thing in FSX for learning heli's (within FSX, that is), but that said, since it's also the most complex, not everything is really transferable to some of the other birds. For example, I really, really enjoy flying the Cera UH-60L, but it's like night and day from flying the Dodo, which does mimic real life from what I understand - the UH-60 being somewhat like flying a truck, at least that's what I've been told from a former pilot.

I also have been enjoying MV's 407, it's pretty decent. I haven't tried out the latest service pack yet, but it supposedly contains a pretty demanding optional FDE. I've read on the various forums that it's hard to paint, so it might limit the amount of repaint that eventually show up, if that's important to you.

In all honesty, the reason why my favorite is the Dodo isn't just that it purports to be the most realistic, or that it's the hardest to fly (it's not, that title goes to the Huey in DCS, in my opinion), but that it's the most satisfying to fly. There's just something about it's simplicity, yet in depth systems modelling, that makes a simple start-up, flight, and shut-down a very rewarding experience.
 
FSHELI.CH - SA315 LAMA X is my favorite with 39 versions to choose from. With winch operations, spray equipment, Bamby-Bucket (Fire-fighting), logging (wood), short-line rescue, and cow rescue to name a few.

Few others I like...
Cera Sim
Bell 222
Bell 412
 
This may sound a little odd, but for learning the basics of flying a helo in the sim, a friend of mine with mucho hours on helos in the sim (and a contributor at Hovercontrol) recommended to me that the best thing to use as a basic trainer was the MI-8 because of greater stability and wheeled landing gear. just thought I'd mention it.
 
If that's the mission you want to do in the sim, just start out with the Skycrane. FS helos, outside of the Dodo or using HTR, do not have the fidelity to warrant simulating a beginner rotary wing aviator. Get the mods for the stock model or the ERS Jetranger, hover and fly until you feel that you have it, then move right to the Skycrane.

If you are just filling up your payware FS helo hangar, being a RW rotorhead I have just about everything on that list. Don't forget about a few freeware must haves, ie Hovercontrol B412.

Lots of info on Hovercontrol.
 
I am working on a freeware Bell 222 which will have a similar engine start setup as the Cerasim Bell 222, but will come in varieties, including the 222B, 222SP, 222UT, 230, 430 and Airwolf, in various interior and panel configurations:wavey:
 
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