You must be willing to invest a lot of time and patience if you are going to learn how to master this sim. I spent three days just learning my way around the cockpit, getting the grips on the start-up procedure and understanding the different systems.
Have the manual printed or available on a second computer because you will need to refer to it a lot! When you feel fairly comfortable with what you are doing in the cockpit, then it is time to radio for taxi clearance.
Spend some time on taxi and hover. Stay 2-3 meters over the runway and balance the helicopter. Experiment with the trim and autohover. Observe how the aircraft reacts to different inputs. Then you can move on to make some simple circuits around your airfield.
After that you can use the editor to make a simple flightplan with nice weather and good visibility. Take the Shark out for a short trip with 3-4 waypoints and at a safe altitude to get the hang of navigation and aircraft handling.
After almost one week with the sim, that is where I am now, and I have enjoyed every second of it! Still haven’t fired one single shot but that will be next.
Keywords for keeping your sanity while going through the learning process: A good HOTAS setup with easy access to the trim button, patience, full understanding of the auto pilot and trim function, patience, VERY gentle input on collective and cyclic, refer to the manual and this forum a lot.
Don’t be in a hurry about blowing things up. It will only lead to additional frustration (and a lot of destroyed Sharks).
Stay away from the arcade/simplified modes if you want to master this beast. It will only interrupt the learning process.
If you decide to go through all this, you WILL be rewarded. It is truly an amazing simulator!
Good luck on your effort. PS. Did I mention patience?
