Pocket Sized

I always use the bottom 3 switches (right of the mode switch) for speedbrake, gear, and flap respectively. This reflects the usual layout of an airliner but I've found it works pretty well for all aircraft. Chances are if I'm opening the speedbrake the throttle is already at idle, so taking my hand off isn't really an issue.

Yep. The Viviane is a giant brick slapped on a streamlined canopy, taking a pretty reasonable toll on top speed. Same goes for the pylons.

TL;DR at the end I'm starting flight training in gliders and went on my 4th and 5th instruction flights this weekend. My most recent instructor was feeling a bit ambitious. He let me do the takeoff roll unassisted but had to help me stay low over the ground until the tow plane lifted off. Now, I was flying the loud, heavy, metal-winged piece of junk known as the Shweizer 2-33 (which I love every inch of). It has a tow hook well below the centerline. That, combined with the heavy controls means you must hold about 15 pounds of forward stick for the entire tow. My hand was still aching after we landed. This forward pressure means you lose a good bit of precision during the tow, which is a very bad thing. I was up and down, up and down, all the way up. At one point I actually had trouble keeping control of the craft, having to use full aileron deflection to keep it level. My instructor let this go on for a bit and then said: "let the stick back a little" and everything smoothed out. I was shocked. He explained I had strayed into the tow plane's wake turbulence. This is something I already knew about but had no idea it was that bad. He demonstrated "boxing the wake" to show where the wake was and how bad it got. In the thick of it, the glider was audibly shaking and I could feel the fuselage flexing. TL;DR: Wake turbulence ain't no joke. In any craft without FBW/SAS you could go to form up on somebody and suddenly get thrown to the side. Also, say goodbye to landing a few seconds behind somebody because their plane is going to leave shittons of dirty air after plowing through it in a near stall.

Oh god that music... it fits so well though.

Try moving your view forward or centering it with Numpad 5. A cropped HUD is often a symptom of being too far back in the cockpit. Or if you're using TrackIR press your center hotkey.

I heard this module was in beta and got what I expected. But I have no prior experience with beta modules sooooo.... nothing to compare it to. No matter how hard I rake through my experiences flying this, the only things that aren't outstandingly good are the flight and damage models. The damage model is the only one that is truly bugged. The flight model is a case of "doesn't feel right based on my experience with other modules/simulators". Autorotations are so drastically different from the huey, at first I thought this was a bug but I recently realized the massive difference between two blades on a lightly loaded disk and three blades on a heavily loaded disk. The above is a testament to Polychop's fantastic work on this module. Sometimes while flying it I'll stop and think: wait, this is considered unfinished?

But there is no indication of how deep he went into the beeping. He could have been holding it within 0.1 degrees of the solid beep. I'm not exaggerating, the guy probably knew the limits of his plane way better than any of us do. Not to mention things like buffeting that can be an early warning to wing drop.

I have, I think. Don't remember any particular difficulties keeping in the ground effect. I have never had this problem. Does anyone have a video of it? Seriously, as long as the SAS is on (it is unless you intentionally disable it) I can lift straight up with no hands on the stick and no trim. My guess is that you're being too cautious lifting off. No reason to stay on the ground after raising the collective unless you feel your engine hasn't gotten it's daily dose of minerals.

I know there's probably a better way but maybe the craft isn't made to be flown with the SAS off at all. In real life it probably works a bit like this: The stick/pedals are connected directly to the swash plate/tail rotor with force sensors somewhere along the line. There are hydraulic actuators that can move the stick and pedals. The SAS uses the force sensors to figure out what the pilot wants to do to prevent it from fighting the pilot. (When no force is detected it will gently level the craft) When the autopilot is turned on the hydraulic actuators take full control of the stick/pedals. (The pilot could override them with elbow grease alone, but it could be designed to disengage when it detects a certain amount of force) Turning off channels should probably make the associated actuator go limp/back to SAS mode, allowing for manual control. I'm speculating right now, so don't take my word for it just yet.

Does fuel not count as "useful payload"? :huh: Sarcasm aside, I completely forgot about the lift fan, didn't realize it produced that much thrust. Another thing, does the F-35 use bleed air as a reaction control system like the Harrier? I think the thrust vectoring might have that covered but I don't quite see how it could control all 3 axis.

Sorry to interrupt the current weapon discussion, but I have a few questions about the plane itself. I've heard some people say the F-35 is lacking in engine power. Yet (it would appear) it can hover on military power. AFAIK modern fighters can barely reach a thrust:weight of 1.2:1 while at full AB. It isn't considered a VTOL because it would be too heavy to take off while carrying any sort of useful payload right?

For the longest time I found that messing with the autopilot panel didn't affect SAS and assumed it was a bug. It turns out the solution has nothing to do with the autopilot panel. (For those of you that don't know, SAS is why the craft will right itself when you center the cyclic) During the startup you are told to select a gyro and give it a few minutes to align until the barberpoles go away. Turn the switch between these indicators one notch to the left of center. (If the helo was already running just left click it once) The barberpoles should come back, indicating the SAS is NOT working and you should not lift off under any circumstances. This is the perfect time to lift off and get a feel for the helicopter. It's a different beast to fly without SAS, much less predictable. But it makes holding forward flight much easier because the nose doesn't want to creep back up to the horizon. If the cyclic response speed was higher this would allow for some truly ridiculous aerobatics.

You'd have to ask the devs but it feels like the flight model itself is changed when you use easier controls. It seems to hold attitude more willingly.

I know this is old, but just to be sure here's a little help: What you're running in to is called mast bump. It happens when you move the cyclic (stick) to its extremes when the rotor isn't supporting the craft's weight. After you touch down, are you pulling back on the stick? If so, stop! It's a natural instinct, especially if you come from flying fixed wing.

1 & 3: The SAS is definitely on. There is no mechanical feedback mechanism in a helicopter's rotor that will keep it perfectly level. I think the bug is SAS can't be turned off. 2: That is also SAS afaik. It tries to hold you upright while hovering and tries to hold attitude while in forward flight. I have managed to get it stable nose down with the stick centered and no trim, which indicates the SAS acts differently at speed.

I have the radar set up on my HOTAS and I love it! There's something so satisfying about being able to configure it after takeoff without taking my hands off the controls. I still need to assign the HUD modes and, of course, stop panicking as soon as I see a rectangle appear less than 100 nm away :lol: Random question: Is there a way to make my Eject button automatically repeat 3 times? I have it on the beefiest button I have but still fear it might get broken.

That's a bug, not a design choice.

The engine starts with no issues after it happens. That's why I said flame out and not engine fire/seizing/destruction.

Replication: Taxi into the grass that surrounds a taxiway. Come to a stop. Watch as, even at full afterburner, you are completely stuck. The only way out is to respawn. Due to a nice touch in the engine model, going full power while you're stuck results in flameout. Lack of cooling I guess? Even if this is realistic behavior, I think this is one place where it makes sense to diverge from reality. Making a small mistake during taxi shouldn't ground you for an extra 5 minutes in my opinion.

If the cockpit shake is set to 0 your view will still jerk downwards when going into the yellow zone on the AOA indicator. I'm using TrackIR but it also happens when using mouse or hat switch to control the view.

Yes I know the flight model isn't really subject to change but... Could the cyclic response speed be increased? Watch the stick in the cockpit and notice how slowly it moves. Not a problem during normal maneuvers but any large deflection of one's joystick is delayed massively, causing pilot induced oscillations.

At the moment the safest way to fly this helo is to assume zero translational lift. Think rocket engine. That is, it feels like there's only one thrust vector. The fastest way to pull out of a dive is to level yourself and yank the collective (unless you're in VRS).

There is definitely some sort of SAS that is on 100% of the time. If you start and do only the bare essentials to get the rotor spun up the craft will still level itself when the cyclic is centered.

Yes, yes, yes. I know what you're talking about and it has bitten me in the ass so many times. I've flown many helicopters in X-Plane and the Huey in DCS, none of them behave anything like this thing when in ETL. My biggest problem is the apparent absence of ETL. If you are in level flight and roll 20 degrees then pull, you will drop like a stone. If you do it in any other helo you will do a swooping turn. Also, the pitch/yaw is effected very little by the tail feathers even when you're doing upwards of 200kmh.

Server slot and name issues have been fixed, yay!