Auto Hover tips?

[solidGad]

Hey all. Picked up the Ka-50 BS2 module a bit ago and love flying this chopper. Starting to figure it out and enjoying the missions. Getting the basics of the autopilot,trim and flight director took some time but starting to get the hang of it. Really enjoy the weapons systems as well. My main issue is auto hover....

 

I can only seem to do it if everything is 'perfect'. By that I mean perfect approach where I can slow down in time and not have to move much. I really struggle to get into auto hover if I have been flying fast or moving somewhat erraticly. Even when I get my speed to under 10 I am always drifting left or right or backwards. Been watching a ton of videos on YouTube and those chaps make it look so easy.

 

Anyways just looking for any tips you Ka-50 vets might have on getting into autohover.

 

Thanks for your time! :D

[dburne]

Watch the indicator in the HUD. You want it as close to vertical as you can get it , and your altitude fairly stable , before engaging autohover.

I also generally wait until my speed is at 5 kph or less.

Practice, practice, practice.

:thumbup:

Edited January 14, 2016 by dburne

[Elwood]

I have no issues but can suggest to check wind,ground effect and your joystick axes because the autopilot is limited to acts 20% over your input.

[solidGad]

Watch the indicator in the HUD. You want it as close to vertical as you can get it , and your altitude fairly stable , before engaging autohover.

I also generally wait until my speed is at 5 kph or less.

Practice, practice, practice.

:thumbup:

 

Thanks! Good info! :D

 

One question, how does one get the indicator back? When I activate my weapons my HUD changes and I lose the indicator and speed (which I can still see on the weapon TV screen).

[solidGad]

I have no issues but can suggest to check wind,ground effect and your joystick axes because the autopilot is limited to acts 20% over your input.

 

 

Thanks for reply. I will check on the wind and ground effects. Axis seems good. Set them up with some recomendations I found in Chuck's guide and using the little 'red' axis' and collective monitor everything seems really good.

[solidGad]

I think it might just be practice. I find when I go from hover to fast then try to get back to a hover state the chopper is super rocky. Going this way and that. At first I thought it was me fighting the autopilot but even with FD on it's pretty unwieldy.

[dburne]

Thanks! Good info! :D

 

One question, how does one get the indicator back? When I activate my weapons my HUD changes and I lose the indicator and speed (which I can still see on the weapon TV screen).

 

Re-cage the shkval. ( reset)

Without looking I believe it is the Targeting Mode Reset button on the left panel.

Edited January 14, 2016 by dburne

[dburne]

I think it might just be practice. I find when I go from hover to fast then try to get back to a hover state the chopper is super rocky. Going this way and that. At first I thought it was me fighting the autopilot but even with FD on it's pretty unwieldy.

 

Autohover works very well to maintain a stable hover, once a stable hover is established. It needs that stable hover to start with to work properly/

[solidGad]

Re-cage the shkval. ( reset)

Without looking I believe it is the Targeting Mode Reset button on the left panel.

 

Thanks! Good to know! :D

[solidGad]

Thanks! Good to know! :D

 

I will keep that in mind for sure. Thanks for all your help! :D

[dburne]

I will keep that in mind for sure. Thanks for all your help! :D

 

:thumbup:

 

Good luck, let us know how you make out and progress. I have been spending a lot of time learning the KA-50 since early October myself, it is very rewarding.

[solidGad]

:thumbup:

 

Good luck, let us know how you make out and progress. I have been spending a lot of time learning the KA-50 since early October myself, it is very rewarding.

 

Thanks!

 

It is an interesting helo to fly. I think of it as almost a glass cannon. Hits hard from long range but seems very fragile. I spend most of my time in a Huey and that sucker is a hard charger into gunfire and can take quite a few hits and lose half of it's systems and still fight. The Ka-50 seems if it takes 1 round it knocks out my targeting and HUD and then I am blind. ;)

 

I suppose that's what makes it fun. The strategy of hitting hard from far away before closing in. :pilotfly:

[dburne]

 

I suppose that's what makes it fun. The strategy of hitting hard from far away before closing in. :pilotfly:

 

Yep I think that is the key to fighting in the KA-50, long range attacks.

[ShuRugal]

The best use of auto-hover is to trim the aircraft manually for a hands-free hover, then engage auto-hover to keep it there.

[Devrim]

Hey guys, what was the rule of the altitude for auto-hover engagement?

 

Last night, I struggled with hover mode because of that. :(

[will-]

use your instruments, one will show you your decend, inc alt. the other is your speed. get them both with the needle at 0 and you should have no problem hovering. they are right next to each other on the left side.

[Raptor9]

Hey guys, what was the rule of the altitude for auto-hover engagement?

 

Last night, I struggled with hover mode because of that. :(

 

Don't engage auto-hover when within a few meters of the ground otherwise it will disengage your SAS channels. Also, while in auto-hover, don't descend to within a few meters of the ground or same thing happens.

 

Is that what you were referring to?

[Devrim]

Thank you. Yes, but I remember that although the alt was more than 10 meters, SAS completely went OFF. So, I'm confused a little bit.

 

Edit: I think it's better I'll post a track about that. :)

Edited January 15, 2016 by Devrim

[Raptor9]

Yes, but I remember that although the alt was more than 10 meters, SAS completely went OFF. So, I'm confused a little bit.

 

Hmmm. :unsure: I know you're an experienced Ka-50 player, Devrim, and you've been around these forums longer than I have, but just to methodically check each box:

Was your Doppler on and warmed up? Even if you've been flying for a while, if generator power is interrupted somehow (switched off or rotor RPM's too low) the Doppler needs to power back up again IIRC.

[kilix]

Thank you. Yes, but I remember that although the alt was more than 10 meters, SAS completely went OFF. So, I'm confused a little bit.

 

Edit: I think it's better I'll post a track about that. :)

 

weird, it should work above 4m

[Devrim]

Actually, yes I have some experience for years in this sim. I don't remember that I encountered this issue sometime ago, but recently I've started to fly Ka-50 again, and a few times I experineced trouble seconds with SAS while performing an Auto-Hover and I couldn't decide if I forgot something about systems or this is a new issue...

 

Well; Thanks for your attention. I'll focus on this, and make some experiments. Probably it's me. I'll take care about things what you said. Thanks again.

 

See you.

[solidGad]

use your instruments, one will show you your decend, inc alt. the other is your speed. get them both with the needle at 0 and you should have no problem hovering. they are right next to each other on the left side.

 

Thanks for the reply. It actually helped. Well I have always monitored the descent/ascent gauge quite closely, I didn't even bother with the air speed gauge as I relied on the digital readout in the HUD. What a mistake it seems. Last night I noticed that my airspeed was sometimes 10-15km off from what the digital readout said. Referencing the airspeed gauge more often should make a big difference! :D

[ShuRugal]

Devrim: As Kilix noted, the minimum altitude for auto-hover is 4 meters. If you are staying above this an kicking out, it is probably a trimming issue. I believe (based on observed behaviour) that if the auto-hover requests more input from the auto-pilot than the auto-pilot has control authority (20%), the AP channels kick out. I have observed this happen several times in cases where I engage auto-hover without properly trimming for a stable hover first, or in cases where dynamic weather allows a dramatic shift in wind speed/direction after I engage hover.

[Dappman]

What does the auto hover actually do? I just trim for hover and it's fine, don't even use it anymore.

[solidGad]

Thanks for all the help guys. Think I have it figured out. Got in and out of auto hover several times tonight while blowing up Northern Union air defenses! :D