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Regarding slip knot indicator with helo's


kingpinda

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I have a question about something thats been bugging me.

 

I am used with Fixed-wing aircrafts to always step on the ball.

 

With the KA-50 however I feel that if I do that I veer off course with wind coming from the sides.

 

Is this how we should fly? slightly nose offset into the wind direction? thus the helo slipping? or am I missing some fundamental understanding?

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or am I missing some fundamental understanding?

 

You're not! Nose into the wind if you don't want to veer off course, meaning you'll have to fly with some slip on. HTH :)

The DCS Mi-8MTV2. The best aviational BBW experience you could ever dream of.

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You're not! Nose into the wind if you don't want to veer off course, meaning you'll have to fly with some slip on. HTH :)

 

 

Thanks that helps :) Its just that after flying this sim on and off the last couple of years and the Huey making me realise I still need to learn lots, I only just now feel proficient enough to try and fly "elegant" and/or precise.

 

And for some reason I thought that stepping on the ball would be just as important as it is with fixed wings :) I do that though because of instincts I guess in turns but now I know I am not doing anything wrong flying the shark in a simple straight line with cross winds :)

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  • ED Team

Keeping the ball centered keeps the airstream flowing down the fuselage of the helicopter as cleanly as possible; with airspeed, wind, and relative wind direction determining the amount of offset, or crab. This reduces drag slightly, and in some airframes actually increases the reliability of the pressure-affected flight instruments depending on location and mounting of the pitot tubes and static ports.

 

Just as a fixed-wing aircraft transitions from crab to slip before touchdown in crosswinds, so should you in a helo (especially if doing a rolling landing in the Ka-50 or Mi-8. As you approach the runway, adjust the rudder pedals to align the fuselage with the landing direction, and adjust the cyclic to bank slightly into the wind to maintain your ground track along the ground.

 

One further note on the Shark, because of it's coaxial rotor system, it obviously doesn't need the massive anti-torque inputs on the rudder pedals when making collective changes like a conventional helo like the UH-1 or Mi-8. However, it does require a slight right pedal input as you pull in more collective. At first glance, this seems like malarkey, but it's because the lower rotor system operates in the downwash of the upper rotor system. Not going to go into a long-winded aerodynamics explanation, but as you increase collective, you will need to apply minute amounts of right pedal to keep the Ka-50 in trim.

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Afterburners are for wussies...hang around the battlefield and dodge tracers like a man.
DCS Rotor-Head

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As far as the ball is concerned, it operates exactly like a fixed-wing aircraft and you want to keep it centered just like you would in a fixed wing aircraft in most cases. As mentioned above, the only exception is transitioning to a slip for landing. I guess you could also say you could let the ball get off-center momentarily during a weapons engagement as well, but if you're shooting rockets that's a good way to ensure that they miss...rockets should always be fired with the ball centered.

 

And for some reason I thought that stepping on the ball would be just as important as it is with fixed wings :) I do that though because of instincts I guess in turns but now I know I am not doing anything wrong flying the shark in a simple straight line with cross winds :)

 

You really should step on the ball, just like in a fixed-wing. If you're not stepping on the ball, you're adding unnecessary drag, just like in a fixed-wing. What may be more dramatic is that when you step on the ball you will also need to apply left or right cyclic or else you'll end up in a turn. Left pedal, right cyclic, and vice versa.


Edited by AlphaOneSix
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