DmitriKozlowsky

Aside from jumping into CPG seat, after bringing Apache to manual hover, is there an autoHover function?

If its a bug, OK. It may not be a bug but emulation of real world system's limitation.

Agree, but I am also a raw recruit in DCS: AH-64D. My wobbles are mostly in pedal (yaw). Just speculating, but I suspect that internal control dampening and filtering pedal rudder (yaw) signal. I have TM pedals. So far they have been very good in DCS, and excellent in KA-50, UH-1H, and Gazelle. I tried MI-24P for trial, and pedals were smooth. But in AH-64D I get fishtailing and wobbliness in yaw. AH-64D module exhibits a reasonable amount of translating tendency that tail rotor helicopters have. This behavior is not strong in other DCS helo modules, but it is pronounced in AH-64D. I do not consider it a bug, in fact I think it should remain. To compensate for translation tendency in Apache, small amount of counter cyclic to the side is needed. With any cyclic deflection, a little of of collective is needed, which then requires a little of pedal correction. Everything needs very small very precise controls, and sadly TM driver provides pedal signal has some a some noise in it. That noise has to be filtered and dampened by flight control. Right now AH-64D module is not doing that to the precise degree that is needed. But this is speculative on my part. I am hacking that by setting control curve in for AH-64D rudder axis to 50, and saturation Y to 70. So that initial signal to FCS is lower, thus needed less noise filtering.

Are shower curtain hooks for quick redundant bank angle feedback? That has got to be the lowest tech flight instrument.

OK thats cool! Never knew that IHAADS can project PNVS and TADS imagery through the cabin fuselage like F-35 DAS. I was US Army active duty and then in Reserves, as Field Artillery officer Fire Support (FIST). I worked, indirectly through JTAC, with Apaches, on exercises. I had no combat deployments. I served from 1992-1995 on active. At the time AH-64A and A+ with post Desert Storm modernization was norm for active duty Aviation Bns. We did receive instruction at Ft.Sill Artillery School, on capabilities of Apache. We were never shown or instructed about ability of Apache crew to see through the fuselage, within gimbal limits of TADS. We knew they could operate 24/7 with very low minimums, nothing like what DCS: Apache shows. I suppose US Army PTB did not consider that capability as 'need to know' for artillery junior officers. Or perhaps it was not available at that time. I don't recall that capability disclosed in numerous documentaries on Apache from 1990's till GWOT , OEF AfPak, and PG OIF. Documentary voice over and crew interviews did discuss IHAADS, TADS, and PNVS , but see through fuselage ability was not mentioned. I notice that PNVS overlay of IR imagery lags by a frame or two , is off by couple of pixels, and has lower frame rate update. I wonder if that is a real world limitation of the system? I suppose that in near future complete spherical DAS imagery will be projected on to helmet visor, with cockpit controls projected as holography. Like flying disembodied. With helmet and flight suit lined with haptic pressure pads, alerting crew to threats.

Yes. I have Cyclic set to Central and Pedal trim se to PEDALS WITHOUT SPRINGS AND FFB. Yet when trim is for cyclic in flight it also trims pedals. You can see the little X in cyclic and in pedals with CTRL-ENTER control overlay enable. Pedal trim is not ignored. Its actually annoying because if I want to hover not directly into the wind, pedal trim interferes if I want to use cyclic trim. Same for confined operations. AH-64D gets into this weird fishtailing where pedals are held firm, but it fishtails, as if internal dampener is chasing. I have KA-50, Gazelle, UH-1H, and have previously ran MI-24P for trial. None of those mods, and freeby unofficial UH-60L mod, trim pedals, and that , IMHO, is how it should be. Perhaps RL AH-64D does have it, and its needed for some reason, then at least it should be a turnoff-able option. Also the pedals are very sensitive. I have Thrustmaster pedals, and it is a really good product. In AH-64D, I have the curve for pedals set to 50, almost flat, and its still sensitive. A linear curve with TM pedals for AH-64D is not really usable.

I aspect of AH-64D module I really dislike is trimming of pedals. Pedals should not be trimmed in helicopters. None of the options in Special turn off pedal trim.

Same here However TRIM UP HOLD also sets the pedals trim. What I don't like about this , its easy to set up pedals trim to induce LTE.

That DOES NOT appear to be so! I tried that.

Regardless of option se Special, peal trim cannot be turned off. Setting cyclic trim sets pedal trim.

I found MI-8 boring. It was a pregnant cow in flight. Even though I always flew at 100% throttle it would at random times, either in fwd flight or in otherwise stable hover, loose power and settle.

I have DCS: Gazelle, KA-50, UH-1H, UH-60L, and now AH-64D. I got pretty good at flying those, I'll get good with Apache. I only had MI-24 for trial, and its OK, I'll conquer it later. I don't like MI-8 module. Just not for me I guess.

I learn by first observing autostarts.

ODD Problem. Auto Start assist hangs , gets, stuck on APU start, won't proceed past that point. Left alone for 10+ minutes, but all its doing is just sitting there with APU ON, and no rotor turn.

What is an SME?

Twithi bitchi. Ain't she. Pedal work is weird. I feel I am chasing and SAS is trying to correct me. Here I was thinking that UH-60L and AH-64 share same powerplant, rotor, and tailrotor, thus handle about the same. Ain't so, just going by DCS. But I have not dyn rolled it, nor have VRS'ed it. Nor have experienced LTE yet. But with empty helicopter with 60% fuel, I do get LOW ROTOR RPM warning with throttle set to max FLY. May be rotor overpitch. Don't know.

As long intention on devs to bring FM to reality as close as possible I am good. Autorotation FM is really where a real helo pilot knows if FM is real. Two sweat through areas in RL rotary training, after ground school. Nighttime/IMC and autorotations.

First priority is fidelity of flight model. Without realistic flight model, nothing else matters much.

Tip of the day. In RL, there are lights that direct helo crew to aid in landing on small flight decks of DDG and CG . We don't appear to have that in DCS yet. Perhaps in RL the COB, CO, XO, and Air Boss (even DDG have air bosses) won't like it, but I am landing as far aft of platform as safely possible. Keeping those spinning blades of death (or life) as far from super structure as possible. I also notice that even with ship underway and , helicopters land on an 20-25 deg diagonal. So when recovering the helo is not fly-hovering toward superstructure but diagonal to it, giving crew time, space, and route of escape , should things go south. In RL with flat deck carriers and LHA, they steam to maintain 30 knots wind overdeck. Same with ampib docks and surface combatants. So approach and hover-flying is always faster then minimum ETL . Meaning you need less power, slightly lower collective. In RL the IGE over deck on DDG and LHA is turbulently mixed with wind overdeck, something that DCS , I do not beleive, simulates yet. But in RL is a subject of much RnD as it has been cause of many mishaps. Another cause of helicopter on deck mishaps is gyroscopic effect of rotor blades if ships turns abruptly. Even with idle power and spinning blades the helicopter can dynamically roll, unless secured with chains. A parked on deck UH-60 , cold and dead, with unfolded rotors, can tipover due to strong wind from side. The blades are so efficient in generating lift, even when still, can be effected by winds.

Tip of the day. When cold starting from Flight IIA Burke DDG. First thing to do when inside is set the parking brake. Depress toe brakes and lift parking brake. If you don't, with ship under way, the aircraft will slide down the flight deck and collide with superstructure. Rotors and rotorhub will be destroyed. Same thing on recovery to Burke. Once secure on deck, hold cyclic slightly aft to prevent sliding into superstructure, holddown toe brakes and set parking brake. Then reduce power and shut down procedure.

Some mods are slower or faster then others. But you are getting unreasonably low FPS. I generally avg. of 120 FPS, dropping to 75-90 range on busy scenes. You likely have Global displays options on too high. Start with turning of all antialiasing, Depth of Field, Motion Blur, MSAA, anisotropic filter. Civilian Traffic to low. Forrest options to low. Post screencap of your DCS display options and your system specs. On Nvidia (if you gave Nvidia) side, in Nvidia Control Panel/Manage 3D Settings/ Texture Filtering Quality set to High Performance. For Nvidia boards install Game Ready drivers instead of Studio Drivers. In C:\Users\USERNAME\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\metashaders2 . Empty the folder and restart DCS.

I deleted it. As I figured out the issue about a minute after I posted. The post is not needed. Depress wheel brakes then release parking brake.

I tell you bothas and sistas, that in this module there is a dynamic roll tendency to a degree I do not experience in other rotary sims in DCS. Approaching any kind of slope landing, even gentle, even though its a sim, my pucker factor goes up. Even taxing on falt tarmac the Blackhawk can dyn roll , depending on taxi speed and aggressive of pedal work. What makes it so difficult is that it is challenging to arrest, and very easy to overcorrect, to find yourself dyn rolling into opposite side. In UH-1H, Gazelle, and KA-50, only little bit of side cyclic displacement is needed. In hawk, quite a bit more.

Got it. Thank you.

APU BOOST was switched ON prior to APU CONTROL switch to ON. I am following checklist on kneepad.