Which helicopter to start with?

[Thorrior]

I didn't fly any helicopters in a sim since Jane's Longbow 2. Now that we have the summer sale going on I wanted to give it a try. But I can't decide which one to get. I'm not interested in the Black Shark module. So which one should I get? What are the differences between the Mi-8, the Huey and the Gazelle? How complex are the modules and how steep is the learning curve for someone who hasn't flown a helo yet?

[Owen2210]

I started with the Huey, he is really nice but I had a lot of trouble, especially for the landing. Then I took the Gazelle and that was a great revelation! This module helped me a lot for Huey and Ka50 later. Personally, I will advise the Gazelle, a very nice helicopter to fly, "easy" to a certain extent but "complicated" to master. Then you have 4 variants of the helicopter for the price of one.

[Magic Zach]

KA-50. It's an all-round bada#% machine.

[159_Archer]

Not -as yet- got the Gazelle, but any of the other 3 are good.

 

 

My favourite is the Hip -I'd say pick that because of the cargo/troop abilities plus the weapons availability including the door gunners. Not brilliant at taking on armour or any heavy threats, but great fun to operate.

[BaD CrC]

Huey for starting and learning all about how to fly helicopters

Mi8 is the next level with an excellent flight model and more complex systems

Ka50, for its complex systems but a bit easier to fly thanks to its stability augmentation system

Gazelle is very touchy to fly and I would not recommend it as a first chopper although it is the only chopper with FLIR which is pretty cool.

[ebabil]

huey

[ghost84]

+1 for the Huey.

The flight model of the Gazelle has some serious errors.

[Flia]

Huey. Absolutly ideal for beginners.

[Kang]

I agree with recommending the Huey.

 

The 'all manual' control of the Huey means you can get a good feel for all of the concepts of flying a helicopter. A Ka-50 for example might be more capable in a lot of regards, but its automated systems means you have to learn a lot about these systems and disentangle what they do from the helicopter dynamics themselves.

[Thorrior]

Okay, the Huey it is. Thanks for all the recommendations.

[Harlikwin]

Its a good choice from the learning how to fly helos standpoint. Bit youll want to upgrade if you want to do gunship things.

[delevero]

I would say start with the huey its rather simple but need study the part about how to land a few times and learn what MAX decent/speed to use to land safe.

 

Els the ka 50 is really god as well.

 

But the heli that i think fly the best is the Mi8. Landing is the most difficult, and the buttons and navigation system take time to learn.

THere are tons of buttons.. But a really great heli.

 

- I will not recommend the gazelle... its beautifull but it feel a bit like an arcade helicopter since the feeling of flight just feel different than the 3 other helicopters.

[Wavehopper]

Huey. That thing is a joy to fly.

[etherbattx]

you guys sold it

i now have a huey in the hanger!

[BitMaster]

good move, tho I think the Mi-8 is closest to the real deal.

[Ron Attwood]

I, like you chose the Huey to start off on and I have to say I found it a right handful! A few months later I got the Gazelle and I realised I didn't have any idea of what a 'handful' was. It was/is so sensitive it was like walking on eggshells.(Is that the expression?)

However, what it did teach me was that the Huey is a pussycat compared.

You can, by comparison, be as hamfisted as you like in a Huey.

[Stewart]

I have no idea what everyone is talking about with the Gazelle, about it being touchy. It is the easiest of all of them to fly. Huey is the hardest of all of them. If it is touchy, it is because you are probably using a desktop stick with no extension and no curves. You need at least a 30 curve on desktop sticks to be realistic except for planes that use a short stick like the F-16.

[delevero]

huey

ka50

Mi8 ( its really good but more complex than the huey )

gazelle ( it feel like an arcade helicopter physics and how it feel to fly it is feel

kind of liniar and less simple than the other helis.

[M1Combat]

KA50.

[Richard Dastardly]

Mi-8. Ka-50 seems like a spaceship in comparison ( meanwhile the Gazelle flies like a spaceship ). The Huey is simple to start up, goes wop-wop-wop & doesn't need the forethought the Hip needs, but it's also annoyingly unstable & sloooow. The Mi-8 also has a huge selection of weapons you can use to completely miss anything you try and shoot at.

 

Ka-50 is a really competent attack asset, but doesn't feel a lot like a helicopter most of the time. I have all of them & fly all of them, but I tend to use the Russian pair most.

Edited August 14, 2019 by Richard Dastardly

[BlacleyCole]

The JA-50 black shark 2 would be the simplest since it’s designed for a single crew member and has autopilot. The huey is probably the funnest and is very accurate according to real life huey pilots. The gazelle is setup for multiple people unless hey restricted t since I last looked at. The mi-28 iirc the model is the largest of the four for payload. I’m trying to learn the huey real hard for me to hover which s one of the most mportant tasks to master it almost has a part in every maneuver.

[MikePotten]

Definitely the Huey, once mastered you can then fly them all. VRS too much on Mi-8 you need to learn how to avoid it on the Huey first as easier to recover.

[Reticuli]

The Ka-50 with the current somewhat-wonky AutoTrimmer option or my combo of GlovePIE & PPJoy will give you a quasi-modern experience similar to Janes Longbow, Comanche Gold, Enemy Engaged, or X-Plane (with its auto trimming of pitch loads Plane Maker setting combined with Artificial Stability) if you're using a spring-loaded joystick or a static pressure stick. Unless you use a force feedback stick or buy a pro pole cyclic, none of the others are going to quite feel as natural and intuitive. Since you have chosen the Huey, you might want to consider getting either a FFB setup or a pro pole cyclic.

[Aluminum Donkey]

I didn't fly any helicopters in a sim since Jane's Longbow 2. Now that we have the summer sale going on I wanted to give it a try. But I can't decide which one to get. I'm not interested in the Black Shark module. So which one should I get? What are the differences between the Mi-8, the Huey and the Gazelle? How complex are the modules and how steep is the learning curve for someone who hasn't flown a helo yet?

 

 

By the looks of your computer, you may as well just grab all of 'em since you can easily afford it :)

 

They're all great modules. Picking one is purely a matter of personal taste.

Make sure you have rudder pedals, which are a *must* for all the helis, except maybe the Ka-50 (but still a good idea.)

 

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[xvii-Dietrich]

I have no idea what everyone is talking about with the Gazelle, about it being touchy. It is the easiest of all of them to fly. Huey is the hardest of all of them. If it is touchy, it is because you are probably using a desktop stick with no extension and no curves. You need at least a 30 curve on desktop sticks to be realistic except for planes that use a short stick like the F-16.

 

I totally agree.

 

My first DCS helicopter was the Huey and I hated it. Very frustrating to learn, difficult to control and wobbles about leaving one a bit sea sick. Although I like helicopters, I abandoned the idea of flying them in DCS.

 

However, I came across a post about the Gazelle, explaining how to master it (Ref: https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3914772&postcount=23 ). On a whim, I got it, and found it easy to learn, fun to fly and it is now my favourite DCS module. It also taught me how to fly helicopters, and I've since managed to get the hang of the Huey (I enjoy that too now).

 

So, yes, +1 for the Gazelle.

 

 

If, however, someone does start with the Huey, I'd offer this advice while learning:

 

Fly light

The Huey struggles when overloaded. So, while learning, reduce your weapon load and cut back on fuel (30% is enough to start).

 

Be cool

All helicopters struggle in hot weather, as the air is thinner and the rotors are thus less effective. When first learning, use cold weather.

 

Stay low

Likewise, helicopters struggle at high altitude. Learn on the coast, not in the mountains.

 

Fast FPS

Reaction time is critical... especially in a helicopter. Get your frames-per-second (FPS) as good as you can.

 

 

Once you've got the hang of it, have built up some muscle-memory and are not struggling to remember controls and technique, then venture further. But I wish I knew the above when I was first starting out in rotorcraft. I hope it helps.