Landing: my 40 kts death trap

While attempting to land, I have crashed the DCS Huey quite and good for a long time.

 

It was time to watch again the official tutorial video and pay very close attention. Fortunately I found what I was doing wrong.

 

1) Taught that the collective determines the rate of descent, I was convinced that the collective should only go down or stay put. Less collective = less lift and whatnot. I am supposed to descend for the landing after all. In the official tutorial video there is a very short sequence in which the instructor says that during the approach, when the airspeed goes below 40 kts, the collective should go a bit up. It's to compensate for the ever dwindling translational lift. In my previous death-ridden virtual pilot career, I was reserving that collective up move for the flare immediate before touchdown. This resulted in an awful rate of descent when my airspeed was around 25ish kts, followed by an unavoidable settling with power and vortex ring state ... So now what I'm doing is to pull up some collective when the airspeed falls below 40 kts and I'm getting far better outcomes. Not hitting the armpit with the thing, just a sensible correction to keep the bird airborne and descending slowly when the airspeed gets low.

 

2) Somehow I was convinced that my final approach airspeed should be that of a brisk walk, starting some 60 meters before touchdown. I was very worried about overshooting. This penchant for low airspeed compounded very bad with my shyness on the collective (see above). Now I'm approaching at 15ish kts, to just a dozen meters before the actual touchdown. There is room to flare and slow down to no forward airspeed and do the final hover.

 

I put together

to show how it looks. I don't claim perfection or even the most remote semblance to good technique. Indeed the video shows how much I struggled with keeping a good airspeed during the approach and how I sank before the tree line.

 

But I thought it may help somebody or at least to have a discussion about landings.

Good work man.

 

My registry is awful about landing. I'm still practicing. Actually I have no problem about high level approaching. Insted, it's really hard to me when approaching at really low level.

 

Because of my poor English I may not tell in details but, when the airspeed falls below 40 kts and pull up some collective, I think there's a second step to pull up again - when airspeed is (or almost) zero.

 

While I say "Great, I didn't fall in VRS, I got over it", I find myslef in VRS. :)

 

Anyway; As I mentioned, have ever tried low level aproach? It's very educative I think.

 

EDIT: My bla-blas above may wrong today (after some updates), because everything has changed.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Devrim

Excelent stuff!

To my surprise I've realised that the hardest thing to do in the Huey (at least to me) is not the hover but the approach. That transition from fast to slow flight is a death trap. I'll keep in mind your "collective up at 40 kts" tip.

 

Thank you!

Actually I especially care about collective at 20 Kts, by the way.

Actually I especially care about collective at 20 Kts, by the way.

;)

Hey guys! I'm very happy. :)

 

It's me or.... With last update, that VRS issue is nominal to me. Approaching in every level and landing became very easy. Belsimtek has really done something this time!

 

Did you try it with last update?

Well done Chelco, love the vid, love Hendrix too

Thanks for reading and/or watching.

 

At 20 kts, I find myself already in good shape to control the bird. I find the collective adjustments needed less drastic at that speed ...

 

I tried it with the update but did not notice any difference in the flight model. Did the update changed anything for the Huey?

 

Cheers,

...Did the update changed anything for the Huey?...

As I said, may be it's me. I think the reason of it could be that I played Huey Drop mission, just before the update. I had trouble with VRS and my approaching inability. :)

 

After update (a few hours later), in same mission Huey was like a bird. It was like I'm descending with "flaps on" :)

 

Anyway; everything is very good now.

As I said in the other thread you can hit the ground harder now without exploding.

 

For me VRS is still like an enormous magnet grabbing the heli from below dragging me to the floor. That's not how real heli pilots seem to describe it, yes its there but wind, slight nose down attitude, even the action of your own descending wash rapidly disrupts the effect its seems.

 

I don't want it gone, just much milder than it is. This is spoiling my enjoyment of the sim.

I have another (imho) useful advice:

 

Pick her up into hover in the ground effect and memorize the actual collective setting. This collective seting is very important, because right now it generates just the right amount of lift, that is needed, when you're out of ETL and you want a safe descent to exact point like FARP, rooftop etc.

 

You'll find that you will descent gently like feather and it will end safely on the pillow of ground effect. But be careful, below this position the VRS is waiting!

That's a good one and I'm adopting it.

 

It would be great if the controls red window would show some sort of number regarding the position of the collective.

It would be great if the controls red window would show some sort of number regarding the position of the collective.

I made a mark on my throttle :D

 

Although the collective setting may differ for different weight of your machine, you will get a reference point. BS has special instrument for blade angle, that would be great here too...

Hugh difference between transport config and a fully loaded gunship too which magnifies the severity of the problems and the level of correction required