ericinexile

I use FD at least 90% of the time as well. But I would rather fly close to how the Ka50 is flown, if possible. And I have tried, but agressive flight with the FD off is impossible for me (unless I hold the trim--awkward, if not bad, technique). When I fly with the FD off I must constantly be conscious of what the autopilot needs in order for me to quickly but smoothly change the helicopter's flight path--which is usually a huge amount of in-turn cyclic and rudder input over that which is required with the FD ON. I have 1200 hours as a check-airman on the A320 so I have flown aircraft with which the autoflight system is "always on". And on that plane you would never know it unless you were to attempt a loop or a roll--it otherwise flys exactly like an airplane should. Autoflight systems ARE NEVER DESIGNED to get in the pilots way. Which is why I believe the Ka50 autopilot truely does "let go of the stick*" when pilot input is recognized. All I am suggesting is that the DCS Ka50 does not seem to recognize pilot input and that it should. *In a manner of speaking. Yes, I know that the autopilot is not flying the stick. Smokin' Hole

Too difficult to provide links but here are the quotes from the Autopilot "sticky" thread: If you haven't flown extensively in Flight Director or if you haven't flown with the Autopilot "blue" channels off you may not realize that the autopilot really IS fighting you. The flight control system as implemented in the sim does not, in my experience, recognize pilot input and figuratively take its hand off the stick. When flying gently this isn't a significant problem which is why you may have not realized the amount of input required by you just to override the autopilot.

Sorry about the arrogant thread title. After 40 hours of flying, most of it in Flight Director mode, I feel there is an easier way to model what is said to be the real Ka50 flight control logic by the ED testers who contribute to this forum. (This applies to non-ffb sticks only.) The problem with flying without the FD is that the autopilot really does fight the pilot. This is patently obvious when one compares flying with and without flying with the FD. Others on this forum have described the autopilot's contribution when the pilot moves the controls as "rubberbanding". That's a perfect description. Flying with the FD on is one solution but it's an imperfect one. The autopilots provide an excellent assist for a pilot flying a combat helicopter single-pilot and turning the FD on and off as needed is a bit awkward--as is holding the trim. Here's the better way: The instant the pilot moves his stick outside the dead-zone, the autopilot attitude/heading hold should completely release. In other words, when the stick moves, the flight control system should respond exactly as if the player turned the FD on and when the stick is released the autopilot should return to the last trimmed attitude/heading. This is actually how the ED reps state the real Ka50 behaves and, as a 12000 hour pilot, it makes perfect sense to me. Smokin' Hole

It was awsome. And before Longbow it was the only thing going. Black Shark is the greatest study sim ever made. The Ka50 is at the perfect technological level (mid-eighties) to be challenging and fun without requiring a pocket-protector to fly. You find most targets with your eyeball. It is also the finest version 1.0 release of any sim I have played in my 25 years of siming. It's not bug-free but the bugs are transparent to all be the most persnickety player. Use the Flight Director and enjoy! Smokin' Hole

ERBL--Also good for getting the lat/long for a position to program into the PVI as a waypoint/target point/Ingress, etc. For the first few weeks use F10. (I still use it but with only friendlies visible. Low rotor rpm. Reduce collective. Sorry for my awful spelling:music_whistling: Thanks all and see ya Online soon!

Stupid question, but how do you know your 100% accomplishment status?

They are breeding "Hind-Sharks", the third planned DCS module.

I've noticed that the Devs did something very nice: Carcasses usually won't lock, ie, no "TA" on the HUD. You can freeze the shkval on it but usually won't get a true target lock. Smokin' Hole

^^^^ Good to hear. In the meantime I've already modified them on my end. The beauty of Black Shark is the virtual playground quality of the mission editor. I can use your great work as a template (including the "dead links") and remake the mission to suit the experience I want to have. I have to say I am really enjoying this tour south through Georgia. Thanks.

Not much advice here. I was trained by years of LOMAC to methodically study the RWS but not react to every ping. DCS has taught me to forget study. The instant the LWS sounds, I BEAM AND RUN LIKE HELL! The other thing I learned: Giving the wingy permission to engage bandits is the easiest way to permanently silence the wingy. Smokin' Hole

Normal Trimming vs FD Trimming (Sorry but 41 pages is too much to scan for an answer...) Why, at least with me, does trim and release result in a pitch beyond that which was commanded while the same technique with the FD on is always smooth? Example: Level Flight accelerating forward, trim and release to maintain slight nose down attitude. At Trim/Stick release, nose down attitude increases further. (This only occurs with a single trim tap. Holding the trim to a stable attitude before release works fine.) Smokin' Hole

I do the door thing to but that only lasts so long as I don't change views. LOMAC is more of a problem. Smokin' Hole

I've noticed audio issues since switching to Vista. I thought that killing the realtek codecs and installing a SB Audigy souncard would fix it but no. In DCS, wild variations in engine, gearbox, and rotor sounds occur when switching to and from pit out of other views. In LOMAC, the instant you arrive in the pit, before engine start, you are greeted with a full-volumn afterburner sound that ends when AB is applied. Anyone solved either issue? Smokin' Hold

Back to GOW Ch. 2-3.2: "Flag is True" is worth 51 points. What is the flag for this mission? SH

That's almost certainly true but it doesn't explain the Trigger Zones which aren't used or the Goals/Rules which are, for practical purposes, missing links.

You don't even have to do this with the "Ingress" button. You can also skhval a point and store in the data link with the square generic or Nav Target button the send that point to your wingy and have him goto. He will usually engage from that point without drifting or driving in unless he himself is engaged. If terrain makes the skhval method impractical, you can ERBL the disired point on the ABRIS and then assign that Lat/Long to a Nav TGT on the PVI.

VNAV is primarily used by AIRPLANES for published arrivals with crossing restrictions, accurate vertical path for non-precision approaches, and efficient idle descent planning. I cannot imagine a scenario where there is a practical application in a helicopter, at least none that will actually reduce pilot workload. When I first saw VNAV mentioned in the ABRIS portion of the manual, I actually laughed. Purely a guess, but perhaps the ABRIS was designed for use across many platforms and not every feature was intended for use on every platform. And NOTHING in the ABRIS which isn't already programmed into the PVI will provide FD or autopilot guidance. The vertical portion of the FD is driven by the Auto Hover system or altitude commanded by the collective brake. Smokin' Hole

I have to disagree on DLink Freq display on score. There are more than a few idiots flying online. Sometimes it's best to agree on a discrete freq on TeamSpeak and keep it unique to the flight.

Thanks GG. But take a moment to look at the mission with the editor. Sure there are multiple scores for the survival of friendlies and death of blues. But there is a big score (+51) for making the flag true. That flag is never defined. There is also an objective trigger zone which is never used. It could be that I completely don't understand the use of flags and trigger zones. More likely, I'm pretty sure this mission just wasn't completed by the designer. If you disagree, a little more detailed analysis about what I am missing would be helpful. [edit: Apparently I really am missing something. Because many missions in the GOW campaigns seem to have "ONCE" triggers with nothing in them, Flags with no triggers to make them "True" and Trigger Zones that aren't utilized.] Smokin' Hole

Another way of stating it: The PVI-800 must be blank, completely "lights out". Any light that is on, push it to make it go out. Now each time you trim, your current track will be the reference track the autopilot will attempt to maintain.

Question about Mission "ATO-B-P3.2.miz" (Oil War chapter 2, stage 3, mission 2): I flew this mission, ensured the destruction of every bad guy on the map, lost only a few RU units and no wingies but scored just 15. So I tore the mission apart and noticed that a "Flag is True" scores 51 points. So I searched the triggers to find the criteria for the Flag. But there are none. The only triggers are those activating random units. No "Objective" triggers--only Activate Group triggers. So, even with an Objective Trigger Zone set, isn't it true that something (a unit or group) must be assigned a trigger for entering the zone in order for it to mean anything? I feel like I have a fairly solid understanding of the mission editor but this one has me mystified. Just to be clear, I'm not looking for advice on winning the mission--I don't care about that--I just want to discover what I am missing and perhaps learn a little about campaign building in the process. Thanks for the help, Smokin' Hole

I have vista 64 and the x-52. I've not had any problems. Using the standard SST software (not beta and not the cool 3d visual profiler that came with the stick). Most of the profiling is through DCS but a few buttons are assigned via SST. The MFD does blank from time to time under vista but everything works. Smokin' Hole

Mission Scoring: 1) Group damage should be considered. I've noticed from the campaigns that a lead unit is chosen from the group and the destruction of that unit will determine a trigger, flag, score, etc, even if the rest of the group survived and completed their task. Conversely, all but one unit within a group can be destroyed yet the survival of that chosen unit made the destruction of the rest of the group irrelevant from a scoring or mission success perspective. Both cases are arbitrary. A mission designer should be able to consider damage to a group as sufficient to credit or fail the player. Damage to the group could either be the destruction of any one unit or half the units within the group. 2) In the debrief the player should be given his score as a breakdown of pluses and minuses. This allows him to learn from the mission without editing the mission apart and exposing hidden units just to learn where he went wrong. Thanks, Smokin' Hole

No I get that. But doing loops isn't personal preference either. And this thread isn't about properly employing the Black Shark as a weapon. This thread is about doing things that a "line" pilot would never be allowed to do with Russian taxpayers' money. But we can do it virtually because its a game. When you said it's "wrong" I just thought that was a bit strong. Is it technically correct? No. Should you try it? I think he should because he will learn why the Black Shark behaves the way it does. The learning process that Real Ka50 pilots is available to few DCS players. Experimentation is the only way to gain a glimmer of that knowledge.

Feels like warm apple pie.