Tasky

TBH, I'd have been more interested in trying Virpil's Flanker grip, but that wasn't even announced when I went HOTAS shopping.

Mine seems to work perfectly fine...

Do you have any difficulty contorting your thumb for the controls, or reaching around the brake lever?

Kosmosima and MCG grips on a gunfighter base. Not set up specifically for me, though. Coming from a wide open CH Fighterstick, my hand just felt a little cramped, especially around the brake lever. YMMV. Very nice set, though. If I ever get rich, I'm buying a full VKB setup just to use for spaceships!!

I'm not a flight sim expert, but I have been using HOTASes for a few decades, and I recently upgraded from an older plasticky HOTAS, namely the CH Products setup. Here's the reasoning I used... The Warthog was awful. Felt like cheap janky kit, disguised as quality by heavy metal casings. I tried VKB for about a week, on loan from a friend. The kit is very nice, though a touch small for large hands like mine. The layout is generic, rather than mimicking any particular aircraft, so works well with whatever you choose to fly, including different aircraft in other sims and any spacecraft you might happen to also enjoy (like I do). It's lightweight and easy to operate, but has very good feel to it. I had some Virpil kit for about four months. This initially seemed pretty good but the layout is a little weird, and the controls can be awkward for some hands. The throttle feels overly fat and the contours did not sit well in my large hand. Most of the buttons, switches and dials had a notable amount of play in them, which was unpleasant to use, and while they sounded very clicky you could not feel much in their operation. The hats were very light too, so playing with headphones on meant I often was unsure if I'd hit the right switch, mis-clicked, accidemtally pressed, or what. The software was kinda janky and not as intuitive as others. I ended up borrowing the WinWing HOTAS, and within a couple of days had decided this was the best for my particular needs, for several reasons: They both just felt right, from the moment I laid hands on. Very smooth, very accurate. Nothing is hard to reach, or keep from accidentally pressing and it just feels great in the hands. I was really into the Hornet at the time and *love* the idea of MFDs that actually display live data while having working buttons all around... which I have now added (they're awesome!!)... and because the throttle labels all light up green! The F16 grip and F15EX throttles combine with the Orion bases to have an absolute ton of inputs, many of which have multiple modes... so whatever you fly, from the Apache to the Millennium Falcon, this offers the most control options. Buttons, switches and hats are all very firm, not too light, no play, quietly clicky but easy to feel and not so easy to mis-operate. The throttle was supposed to have helicopter collectives, although WinWing discontinued this just as I ordered mine. Nevertheless, grip and throttle swapping is very easy with the options you have. The software is very easy to set up, configure and tweak. Advanced features and editing of stuff is also a popular option. Price was good, especially as there was a sale on, and no additional UK tax/import fees to faff about with.

Is it easy for tanks to spot a Gazelle peeking out of cover from 4-ish kilometres away, or is it more a game exploit? I'm guessing you fly from the co-pilot seat?

As you know, firing off heavy missiles (HOT3 25kg, Mistral 20kg) makes the aircraft lighter and so it needs a little less collective to maintain hover. I'm guessing the problem with AI managing those collective changes while you're in the co-pilot seat is that when you swap back to pilot, the in-game collective will be out of sync with your physical peripheral... and possibly the AT pedals too.

I'm pretty sure I did, but I'll double-check before my flight tonight. It has the provision but, as mentioned, the friction clutches are sold separately. I might buy the kit as a birthday present for myself... along with the cyclic extension.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah....... sorry Major, that ain't workin' out so well, Sir...... Should I go get anuvver one? Exactly what I'm thinking - WinWing do a joystick extension rod (adjustable to 170mm) and a kit comprising extra springs, dampers, and different cam profiles. The dampers aren't sold separately, so I'll have to get the kit, ditch the spring/cam assy entirely and just use the dampers. That should provide enough tactile counter-pressure, without a resistance that I have to fight against. Their MFSSB base might be another option, being a 'movable force-senstitive sensor' where the amount of input depends on degree of force applied rather than haw far you move the stick. It's over £400 though and out of stock anyway. I did wonder if I was high enough. Something in the back of my mind thought my skids were still touching, but my eyes were sure I'd risen a good few feet... clearly my eyes lie!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! So my torque was way too low, and I still had basically zero altitude? No wonder I was flopping around like a drunken floor gymnast!! I tell you, these Track files are SO useful. Being able to see the point being explained makes so much more sense, now. Thank-you very much for sharing that!!

It's been about.... *cough* thirty-two *cough* years since I last took the controls of a live helicopter, and I remember the cyclic being fairly light, but I recall there was enough counter-resistance that I could feel when I was pushing on it. This WinWing is so light that I can blow on it and it moves about 6mm. Heck, if I hold it with just a finger and thumb, simply breathing moves it over ½". The cams it comes with are pretty smooth and resistance builds towards the ends of the axes, without having a discernible centre detent, but I either need to increase the spring tension, swap the cam profile or maybe just increase the damper force. Right now, simply moving my thumb to operate the switches is enough to throw everything right off. Aye, that's generally what seems to happen. Most commonly I skid in a left slide, and if I manage to stabilise that, I tip forward to get moving and end up sliding backwards or at an angle. Increasing collective seems to make it worse unless I put a lot on and just launch myself - Same for trying to hover, collective does nothing and cyclic generates lift but only once I'm moving at 40-60kph at least. Certainly this thread has given me a lot to work with and try out, and it looks like my weekend will be very busy with this - Thank-you everybody! I'll report back soon, hopefully with news of improvements....

The pressure thing was a British Army instructor teaching new pilots to take off/hover in their first Gazelle lesson, in a 1990s documentary. I figured he'd know what he was talking about... I already have no curve set, nor any saturation. It's all on default, +/- zero. I'll have a play with the trim later tonight... and try not to look at my dashboard!

Prepare yourselves - This is going to be embarrassingly abysmal... TaskyGazTrg1.trk I have an old CV-1 Vive and I decided to give that a go... It did make situational awareness much easier, though I still didn't have much control over the aircraft. I also found it hard not to just reach out and touch the controls, such was the immersion. Firing weapons was great, looking outside and seeing the rotor swash arms actually move was great, and it all went well until I had to start rolling the aircraft into turns.... BLEURGGGGHH!!! Auto-Hover was similarly nauseating, as it suddenly wibbled all around. Ultimately though, this headset is pretty useless as I don't have the resolution to read text, so can't see any instruments without putting my nose 2" from the dashboard. Damn good fun, though! I think there are two main issues... Firstly as TFS said, I can't (or don't know enough to) recognise what's going on, so can't apply whatever the correct inputs should be. I also find that whenever I'm watching the instruments to make sure I'm at the right levels, the stuff outside goes to rat-spit, and vice-versa!! Secondly, my WinWing stick is so very, very light around the central 2" that the slightest touch can have you at half deflection and you can't physically feel any difference from zero. I don't really want to set a 50% deadzone, but the idea of using "pressure rather than movement" (as the aforementioned British Army guy said) only works if there's pressure to push against. I might need to change the cams, or fiddle with the dampers perhaps? I may also need to reconfigure my chair setup, as the weight of my feet on the pedals create stiction and fine control is abysmal.

I can get to the point of light skids, torque pedals balanced. From there it should be a gentle collective lift into the hover, according to the demo videos... Instead I usually either end up with left stick to counter a right roll and start bouncing along the ground, or I start sliding left or backwards even with full forward stick. I'll have a bash at making some .trk files over the next few days. I'm only messing about in the training missions so far - Do those record too, or do I need to hop on a server somewhere? I'm also thinking I need a proper collective. The WinWing throttle is awesome, but I often find myself pulling to lift collective, instead of pushing the levers... which is weird, as I don't have any muscle memory for a collective!! Every flight is a confusing disaster, yet somehow still so much fun!

I did also pick up the Huey and Apache, as they were both on sale, if that helps? I saw a documentary about British Army pilots in the 90s, where they did a short course in a Chipmunk before going straight on to the Gazelle. Guess that was too much to hope for, eh!

Thanks all! Max - I'm using a WinWing setup - the Orion2 throttle, enhanced F16 stick and Skywalker pedals. The plan was to get their Black Shark collective so I could swap between planes/spaceships and rotary wing, but they discontinued that right after I bought the base HOTAS. I've been binging YouTube videos. Most cover the collective/pedal bit and I can get to that point, as well as usually avoiding the right rollover. But instead of lifting up into a hover (which some YT wizards seem able to do without any cyclic), I usually end up sliding left or backwards into the scenery. No amount of extra collective or cyclic seems to help. It's like I know what I should be doing, but can't see what's happening in order to react accordingly. The best I've managed is a hazardously aggressive launch into the air at 80-90% collective, whereafter I can transition to forward flight and enjoy bimbling around the Georgian countryside... and while I understand how to land in theory, I can't yet manage it without smashing myself into a ball of flame!! Other than that, I've really enjoyed the Gaz module, and have even fudged an Auto-hover enough to get a few HOT-3 hits on targets. It's just the fundamental manoeuvres I'm desperate to figure out.