AlphaOneSix

There is no time limit on the actual aircraft. In-game could be something different, though, depending on how the logic flows for putting out fires.

I was really referring to the AUTO IGNITION light, but they should be pretty close to each other. The AUTO IGNITION light means that the auto start process is working and comes on as soon as you press the start button. The STARTER ON light illuminates when the air pressure inside the engine compressor reaches around 8.5 psi. I very rarely get to watch that light sequence, since I'm always outside the helicopter during engine start. So I don't remember how long that takes. Maybe 3-4 seconds? I hate to guess because I'm probably wrong. In the videos, it's about 7 seconds from the time you hear the starter whine until you see the rotors turning. If that same process is taking 11 seconds in the game, then that's probably a touch slow but certainly within an acceptable time frame. Maybe in DCS they timed it when it was cold outside so it starts a little slower, and the game maybe doesn't take that into account. I don't know for sure. As far as opening the cutoff levers go... We open the cutoff levers above the pilot's head when there is an rpm indication on the engine rpm gauge. There is a spring-loaded valve that must be overcome by fuel pressure inside the fuel control, so no fuel will actually go into the engine until that's reached, which should happen between 15-20% N1. Which is when lightoff is supposed to take place as well, since the igniters are already firing just waiting for fuel (they started firing 4 seconds after pressing the start button and continue to fire until 29 seconds into the sequence, by which time the combustion process should already be self-sustaining). There is nothing bad going to happen if you open the cutoff levers early, but they should really be opened before 15% N1 in my opinion, just to prevent the possibility of a slow or hung start because the start sequence is now waiting on a human to introduce fuel rather than letting the fuel control do that.

Yep. They started out just using the basic 5s with that face covering, which they called "full face fives". That didn't last long because it basically meant that one guy had to fly on goggles and the other guy had to watch the cockpit instruments. So they started just cutting out the facemask part so they could see under the tubes. It didn't help that the 5s were crap to begin with, at least for flying. It's amazing how far we've come.

Sadly, I'm much more familiar with the real aircraft than I am with the one in DCS. I don't currently have DCS installed so I'm unable to test myself.

Regardless of the APU installed, the flight manual calls for a minimum of 1 minute between engine starts. However, nothing prevents the crew from ignoring that limitation and starting the second engine immediately after the start sequence for the first engine is completed.

First of all, the DCS Mi-8MTV-2 has TV3-117VM engines, not TV3-117MT engines. Second, all of the engines you listed (and at least two others that can be found installed in the Mi-8/Mi-17 that you/wikipedia failed to list) have the exact same starting parameters in the context of this post. That is, they all have the exact same "Engine startup time", which is the title of this thread.

The color depends on the phosphor used inside the tubes. As an example, most newer western NVG's have switched to a white phosphor which gives a black and whit look instead of the green. My current AN/AVS-9s are white phosphor, for example. Somewhere online is a list of the various phosphor colors that have been used by various manufacturers over the years.

Mi-17 and Mi-8MTV-2 have the exact same engines and APU and the startup times should be the same.

I don't have access to the game right now. How long does it take in game from starter light illumination to rotors starting to turn? At what engine RPM do the rotors start to turn?

The control desk for the autopilot (the little control panel on the center console) has its own gyros built into it, and they do precess over time just like any other gyro, so they need occasional adjustments. I have worked with crews that operate with a flight engineer, and one of his (or her!) duties is to watch for this precession and occasionally correct it by twisting the adjustment knobs on the control desk. So considering you are typically one person flying an Mi-8, it is not a cheat at all to enable automatic autopilot adjustments. In my personal experience, we don't use a flight engineer (although sometimes I wish we did) and instead add two crew chiefs in the cabin (all of our aircraft have left and right sliding doors). This means that the pilots have to monitor the autopilot, although they usually don't. What usually happens is that one channel (usually roll) will precess all the way to one side or the other, and then the pilot will notice that he has input more cyclic one way or the other than he would expect...then he looks at the control desk and then asks the pilot not on the controls to make the adjustment. It's not a big deal at all and how long it takes for the precession to happen can vary wildly. I have had experiences where the roll channel would basically "fall over" in the course of about 20 minutes, and I've also seen flights go several hours without needing any adjustments.

The twist grip on the collective is the combined throttle. It does the same thing that the ECL's do , but for both engines concurrently. The ECL's are for individual engine throttle control. Full left on the twist throttle is idle, and full right is automatic (fuel control/governor). And the red overhead levers are fuel cutoff levers, as has been mentioned. They stop/start fuel from the fuel control into the fuel manifold/fuel nozzles.

Those screws don't use anti-sieze compound. It looks like touch-up paint to me, because I've experienced the exact same thing on Apaches that I used to work on. I could be wrong, though.

I could not agree more. In light of this, I am hereby announcing my campaign to change the name from anti-torque pedals to tail rotor collective pitch control pedals, since that more accurately reflects their function. I will refer to them henceforth using the mnemonic "trickpeas" as a way of pronouncing the acronym TRCPCP.

We average 800 liters per hour, so I'm sure when we're sitting on the ground it's less, and when we are pulling a lot of power it's more. I think we have burned as much as 900 liters per hour in the "worst" conditions. It's hard to tell because we don't have a fuel flow meter and you don't stay in those high-fuel-consumption states for very long. The pilots will sometimes use 900 liters per hour for planning just to be safe, but over the course of just about every mission, it always averages out closer to 800. And yes, same engines, TV3-117VM.

Where I work we use 800 liters per hour. All weights, all atmospheric conditions. And it never changes much.

Yeah they did say that, but it's buried in the BS3 thread so it may take a bit to find it again. Basically they are going to put Ka-52 wings on the Ka-50 so you can have a dual Igla launcher on each outer station in addition to the current normal loadout. At this point I'm not even thinking about what the upgrade will look like until it comes out. I find the speculation to be incredibly unhelpful, but that's just my opinion.

Totally off-topic but this reminded me of the (more than once) time I loaded a minigun with the rounds upside down. Had to remove all 3,000 rounds and reload from scratch. I wish I could say i've only done it once. :O

Well on the actual helicopter the measurement comes from a transmitter attached to the actual collective pitch arm just below the swashplate.

It's aerodynamic, it moves plenty fast to make a whistle. I've never blown air over it to figure out exactly where the sound is generated, I just know it comes from the drive link. The drive link is greased fairly regularly and I've never heard them squeak from just moving. It is absolutely NOT the tip of one of the five blades. I think I've been working on and flying in these things long enough to have figured out where that whistle comes from. The first time someone hears it, they always think it's a blade tip, too.

The point is that it should never lift off at only 3 degrees of pitch, not even 5 degrees. On second thought, I'd be okay with it lifting off the ground at 5 degrees of main rotor blade pitch at absolutely ideal conditions, such as sea level, cool temperatures, and almost zero fuel. Although 6 degrees would be more realistic.

It should be noted that ED only provided a Russian cockpit at initial release. The current English cockpit was basically a third party mod that was incorporated into the official product. So technically ED has never produced an English cockpit for BS1 or BS2.

The Ka-50 modeled in-game does not have a short wave radio. It mentions that on page 6-105 of the extended manual. 2. The intercom source selector dial for the SPU-9 has four settings: [LALT + LCTRL + /]  “(СА)УКВ-2” (VHF-2) – Selects the VHF-2 R-800L1 radio.  “УКВ-1” (VHF-1) – Selects the VHF-1 R-828 radio for communications with ground units.  “КВ” (SW) – Short waves band. Not used.  “НОП” (Ground crew intercom) – used to communicate with ground crew through the wired telephone. When rearming or refueling at an airfield or FARP, you will need to select this setting to communicate with the ground crew unless the cockpit door is open and the rotors are not turning.

You guys can test it in game. The aircraft should hover in ground effect at around 7 degrees of pitch as indicated on the gauge.

Yes, even with the battery switches OFF, the DC voltage selector will show the battery voltage when BATT 1 or BATT 2 is selected. Or I guess in Russian it would be AKK 1 or AKK 2. The reason for the test you described is that sometimes batteries have a habit of showing a higher voltage than they really have when they have no load placed on them. By doing the test, you check each battery individually under a slight load to get a better idea of the actual battery voltage. If you did the test with both batteries on, they would load balance a bit and you might be masking a battery with a low voltage under load.

Well I can tell you that an Mi-8 cannot go inverted and continue to fly. I’m somewhat sure the structure can handle it but the fuel and hydraulic systems cannot. However, I could not care less if people exploit that inaccuracy, it’s not like those are helpful or useful maneuvers in a mission.