Jump to content

Red dot on front Window?


Recommended Posts

Hi,

 

I have noticed a red dot on the front window steel horizontal bar. It looks deliberately placed there, like an aming mark of some sort for the pilot.

Anyone knows the meaning and possible use of it?

 

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zPXuHhF8eQ0/maxresdefault.jpg

 

Zoom in on the picture and you will see it.

It's not my picture, found by Google. I'm also on my phone using tapatalk, otherwise I would have taken a screen shot myself and put an arrow on it.

 

BR

/H

Helicopters and Viggen

DCS 1.5.7 and OpenBeta

Win7 Pro 64bit

i7-3820 3.60GHz

P9X79 Pro

32GB

GTX 670 2GB

VG278H + a Dell

PFT Lynx

TrackIR 5

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure what it's for, but I use it as a guide while taxiing (from the pilot commander's seat).

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

ASUS Z170-P w/ Intel i7-7700, 32GB DDR4 RAM, SSDs out the wazoo and a GTX 1080Ti,

Oculus Rift CV1, TM Warthog stick and throttle, TM Cougar MFDs, MFG Crosswind pedals and WheelStandPro Warthog (w/ the custom small Warthog plate)

 

Former F-16 Ground Crew @ RNoAF

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm, Buzzles, that might be it. But if it is a ground connection for the compass, why is there no cable and why not use one of the bolt holding the window? It's lokated unsymmetricaly relative to those bolts. If the cable is drawn inside the bars, it would be very hard to get it in place (a right angle passage below the compass) and hard to attach it with a bolt when you can't see or hold the cable inside. At least for maintenance personnel.

 

In the thread you refer to, one source in turn refer to an unverified source (no links, nor mention of who giving the information). Maybe the people he been in contact with at the Russian forum is very knowledgeable regarding Mi-8, maybe not at all. Hard to verify.

AlphaOneSix who claim he got access to two of them at work, said that they don't have grounding there.

 

I'm more inclined to believe something in line with SnorreSelmer's suggestion. Maybe something a real life pilot would have put there as an additional help in particular situations?

 

Would be nice to have an input from the developers, it has never been removed in a long time so it's there for a purpose, and they hopefully know what.

Helicopters and Viggen

DCS 1.5.7 and OpenBeta

Win7 Pro 64bit

i7-3820 3.60GHz

P9X79 Pro

32GB

GTX 670 2GB

VG278H + a Dell

PFT Lynx

TrackIR 5

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Almost forgot about this...

 

Did a small test.

Parked parallel to a strait line in such a way the red dot was placed on the line. I had turned off my TrackIR and had the pilot head at default position.

Got outside to see where I had my bird. The tip of the right weapons pylon almost reached the reference line. If I had placed some weapons on the outer most station it would basically touch the line.

 

I made some screenshots:

(had to turn of the engines to reduce blur due to the exhaust, made the helicopter turn slightly, so not perfectly parallel on these)

Screen_170121_184347_.thumb.jpg.cd63f468728653127d2ca099bfcda04c.jpg

Screen_170121_184339_.thumb.jpg.c9f338a50eae6b556e53beb8bc758a41.jpg


Edited by Holton181

Helicopters and Viggen

DCS 1.5.7 and OpenBeta

Win7 Pro 64bit

i7-3820 3.60GHz

P9X79 Pro

32GB

GTX 670 2GB

VG278H + a Dell

PFT Lynx

TrackIR 5

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a screw for a grounding strap. If you find it useful for some other purpose, that's great. It's a known thing that ED (well, Belsimtek in this case) just copy the cockpit of the aircraft that they happen to be using as a reference (I submitted a couple of Ka-50 bug reports because of this), so the reference aircraft had a red-painted screw for a grounding strap right there. Someone says it's for the compass, but maybe it was for something else that is no longer installed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your input AlphaOneSix. I saw your comments on the bug thread provided by Buzzles (including that you don't have it on your birds).

But I'm not convinced. I do trust your expertise on this bird, but as you can read from my previous post I find it hard to see any reason to place such grounding there, for what ever reason. A lot more suiting and logical places nearby can be found.

Zooming in I also think it looks more like a brightly colored shewing gum placed there by a pilot as a help knowing where his/her right pylon is.

But yea, not a big deal. It can be used as a help, be it a grounding screw or not.

Helicopters and Viggen

DCS 1.5.7 and OpenBeta

Win7 Pro 64bit

i7-3820 3.60GHz

P9X79 Pro

32GB

GTX 670 2GB

VG278H + a Dell

PFT Lynx

TrackIR 5

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh I'm not trying to convince you, I'm just telling you what it is, it's up to you to decide if you're convinced or not (seems not in this case). I could no doubt give you countless examples of things on the Mi-8 that defy logic, plus several examples in the Ka-50 where they copied something broken in a real Ka-50 cockpit into our virtual one so people think that's how things are supposed to look.

 

Also, with a 70-foot rotor disc, it's kind of irrelevant where the right pylon extends to. And where is the bubble gum showing you where the left pylon is? And why not just use the mirrors to know where your pylons are? Etc. Sorry I don't mean to be a downer, but like I say, if you find it useful for something, then that's awesome, but I would bet money that on the actual aircraft that Belsimtek used to create their cockpit model, there's a red screw in that spot that was used as a grounding point for something that may or may not be installed in the aircraft any more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You got some good points there AlphaOneSix.

The pilot can look out of the window to know about the left one. But of course, using the mirrors would be more logical ;-)

Didn't think of that.

I might accept myself convinced about the grounding screw, even though it's a small, small chance it's not.

Thanks

Helicopters and Viggen

DCS 1.5.7 and OpenBeta

Win7 Pro 64bit

i7-3820 3.60GHz

P9X79 Pro

32GB

GTX 670 2GB

VG278H + a Dell

PFT Lynx

TrackIR 5

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Well, just saw this:

https://youtu.be/lfHU25sNWjI

 

Indeed, something, possibly a compass, is mounted at this position on that one.

At around 5min it can be clearly seen, and with something looking like a cable with something red at the end connected to the window frame.

 

Let's say I'm pretty much convinced you're right AlphaOneSix.

The dot just happen to be lokated at a convenient place for position reference.

 

Case closed!

/H

Helicopters and Viggen

DCS 1.5.7 and OpenBeta

Win7 Pro 64bit

i7-3820 3.60GHz

P9X79 Pro

32GB

GTX 670 2GB

VG278H + a Dell

PFT Lynx

TrackIR 5

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...