AlphaOneSix

Europe is very confused. Some Eurocopter go clockwise, some counter-clockwise. I worked on Pumas for a while and they were clockwise. At least the U.S. is all CCW and Russia is all CW.

Who in Europe does counter-clockwise? All the ones I've worked on were clockwise. Maybe older?

Leaving the APU on only affects your fuel burn rate. That is, it's loud and it burns fuel. Other than that, it does absolutely nothing.

Self-loading cargo is also self-unloading, so far the people I've had jumping out of the back made their own decision as to when to do so. But regular cargo has to be shoved out the back. We normally install some aftermarket rollers in the back to help do this, since the aircraft flies nose low, we have to push the cargo "uphill" to get it out of the back of the aircraft.

On aircraft where the engines are started electrically, then it's best to have as little load on the battery as possible when starting the engine. This is not an issue in the Ka-50. The engines are started with air from the APU. Of course, it would probably be wise to not have everything on when starting the APU...

There is a part of the engine electronic governor system that is called the temperature controller. This units prevents the engine EGT from getting too hot. It does this by limiting fuel flow to the engine when the EGT reaches its limit. This is normally (I forget...) something like 975 degrees. When you get close to the temp limit (I think 975 degrees?) the temp limiter starts to operate. This is indicated by two lights...the ones right above the temperature controller test buttons. When you reach the max EGT limit, the lights are on solid. Okay that's the background. Now for the function of these test buttons. When you press the buttons, it "tricks" that engine's temperature controller into thinking that the EGT limit is actually 850 degrees (maybe it's 860 degrees...). Anyway, you start pulling in power and the lights start blinking at around 850 instead of 975. In this way, you can test the operation of the engine temperature controllers without having to get the EGT too high. I don't know if it's implemented in-game yet.

Apologies. The V-22 can land just fine without engine power. It is perfectly capable of autorotating to a safe landing. I am no fan of the V-22, but I have a decent grasp of its weaknesses based on numerous conversations with a coworker who flew them for the last couple of years. Vortex ring state, for example, is not a design flaw. If you get into it, it's pilot error. Anyway, Like I said, I don't like the V-22, and I never have. I always thought that America's defense dollars would have been better spent elsewhere. But it is not the deathtrap that people seem convinced that it is, nor is it a "bad aircraft".

Well I'm an Mi-8 mechanic, door gunner, AND sling load operator. That's all the same job! Well, maybe not in some places. I'm also the load master, flight engineer, hoist operator, and (sometimes) fast rope master. Oh, I also do paradrops out the back, but I have not done that in a while, sadly.

It can fly (more or less) on one engine. Although if it's operating at the limit of its performance, a single engine just makes the crash a little softer.

Well that's not true at all. Please stop being so dramatic. No wait, you're right, no ejection seats. We should immediately cease production of all aircraft without ejection seats, it's unsafe!

There is the AW609, but "it [does] not include any technology transfer from the military Bell/Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor." There is currently no civil version of the V-22.

I would probably buy the Crosswinds except for the entire-foot-on-the-pedal thing. Hopefully he does come out with a new pedal design that puts the heels on the floor (except for braking). Everything I've ever flown in real life had heels on the floor, and putting my entire foot on the pedal just feels unnatural to me. I've been trying to find some Saitek Combat Rudder Pedals to hold me over, but I can't find them in stock anywhere.

Sorry guys, I had to "phone a friend" for this one. My presentations are all based on the Mi-17V-5/Mi-8AMT (i.e. "new") electrical system, and it would be just too much work for me right now to rewrite my presentation to cover an Mi-8MTV-1/2/3, so instead I'll just upload the entire maintenance manual section for the electrical system for an Mi-17-1V (export version of, and identical to, Mi-8MTV-1). It should be identical to the Mi-8MTV-2 electrical system. Who knows, maybe you guys will prefer it to my usual presentations since it's "right from the horses mouth." But in typical Russian maintenance manual form, it's a lot of what I call "wall of words", so it may require patience. ;) Mi-8 Electrical System.pdf

If anyone had trouble following that, the ignition test switch fires the 2 igniter plugs in the engine for as long as the switch is held in the test position.

AH-64A is ripe for a high fidelity sim.

Seems like a good follow-up to Hydraulics... Mi-8 Flight Controls.pdf

Well, I might as well keep these going. I think I'll post flight controls next... I want to post the electrical system, but my presentation for the electrical system is based on the Mi-17V-5 (Mi-8MTV-5)/Mi-8AMT, so is slightly different than the Mi-8MTV1/2/3 series. Still, I may try and post it if I think it'll work. Mi-8 Hydraulic System.pdf

Well, someone mentioned wanting to know about the ice protection system on the Mi-8, so here it is. As usual, there is a caveat. The aircraft I work on are all newer, so none of our aircraft have the RIO-3 Ice Detector set anymore, which is what we have in DCS. The attached documentation only talks about the SO-121VM ice detection system. So I will expand here to fill in the gap. The big difference is in how the two detectors work. The SO-121VM uses a vibrating head where the frequency of the vibration changes as ice builds up on the detector. When the frequency changes to a certain point, the detector sends the ICING signal. The older RIO-3 uses a radioactive source in the detector tip with a beta particle sensor in the base. As ice builds up on the detector tip, the beta rays are partially blocked, and when the beta ray sensor detects a sufficiently low number of beta ray emissions from the detector tip, it activates the ICING signal. In both cases, the amount of ice needed to set off an ICING signal is 0.3mm. The difference on the anti-ice control panel that you should notice right away is that there is no ice detector test button and there is no ice detector heating switch. Both of these functions are built into the SO-121VM, so they were removed from the panel. But the ice detector heater works just like the right engine and windshield anti-ice, i.e. it's automatic unless you turn it on manually. The heating process for the RIO-3 is exactly the same as the SO-121VM that I discuss in the attached PDF. The test button just makes sure that the heating element in the ice detector is working. Mi-8 Ice Protection System.pdf

Will do.

I'm wondering about doing the hydraulics next... Or maybe the Ice protection system? I also have electrical, but that's geared toward a different version, so the basics are the same, but there would be differences...

Thanks! That answers that, I guess.

Shutting off a fuel pump won't shut down the engine. Did you use the fuel shutoff valve (covered switch on the fuel system control panel) or the engine shutdown control (red handle above pilot's head)? If you used the shutdown control lever above the pilot's head, you should be able to restart it just fine. Make sure to put the ECL in the bottom position first, of course, then raise it to the middle detent after it's started. If you used the fuel shutoff valve on the fuel system control panel, ED/DCS may (I don't know for sure, not tested this specifically) model that to ruin your engine's fuel control. IRL, if you run the engine with that switch off, you are required to replace the fuel control unit.

During flight, it's normally left in the service tank position, because you want to know right away if it's not getting refilled form the main tanks for some reason. The other positions are just used momentarily (typically). In-game, I can't think of a reason to leave it in the service tank position, so you might as well leave it in the total position.

Well, starting the engine in-flight is not something you normally do. The less adventurous among us just start them both on the ground, old school style. ;) So there must be a reason you're restarting it? Why did it fail in the first place?

Sure, it's possible. Just start the APU and then start the engine.