Which helicopter is the most fun to *fly*?

[wowbagger]

Ya, FFB in the gazelle is a total disaster, with it on it ruins even non-FFB handling. But with curves and tweaks (and FFB banished) it can be fun to fly - whether realistic or not I can't say - but fun, yes for me. However I don't enjoy combat in it.

 

Ka-50 is the module I have owned the longest. Never really got into it because it is so heads down staring at the video screen - ya, I know that's not really a fair or accurate representation. I guess if the campaigns are good enough it could be worth delving deeper.

[golani79]

My favorites are the Huey and the Mi-8

 

The Huey is a bit more nimble and you can throw it around quite a bit while the Mi-8 is a bit more sedate but powerful and you can still do some very good maneuvering.

 

 

 

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[Kultteri]

The Mi-8 all the way. Easily the most pleasant helo of them all to fly. It's fast and has a good autopilot for those hands off moments. Landing and taking off can be a 'bit' challenging at first though.

[Terzi]

Although not an owner of an Mi-8, I had the chance to fly it during free-for-all event. That was the most fun to fly. Second is UH-1H. Third is Ka-50 has lots of AP authority. Last one, Gazelle flight model is to be updated as far as I know. Currently Gazelle FM does not even follow the laws of physics, I got sick of complaining about this, and quit flying it long time ago.

[DimSim]

UH-1H Huey is loads of fun to fly.

 

Ka-50 is fun to blow things up, but not fly.

Mi-8 feels nice, but like a bus that wants to fall out of the sky if mistreated.

Gazelle is hyperactive and feels plain weird. After tweaking control sensitivity it's not bad, but I just didn't enjoy it enough. Looking forward to Kiowa though.

 

I own UH-1H and Ka-50. Spent hours of free play evaluating the other two but decided not to buy them.

Edited September 29, 2020 by DimSim

[Pikey]

Mi8 (Huey a close second)

Ka50 is a bit automated and doesn't feel as much, but that's like comparing an F-14 to an F-18.

Gazelle is a non starter. Anything that rolls when you add collective and doesnt go up and down or torque... it's a fight with your imagination, if you dont know how a helicopter flies, then OK you will not be happy in your ignorance.

 

People say its like driving a bus. Right, but a bus that can do hammerheads, get swung around carrying a huge weight on a cable, the avionics are amazing the cockpit switches and beauty, its got choices in lighting, various viewing positions, more features, you can even attempt bombing, grenades, gunpods that purr, air conditioning that slows down when the RPM falls, it has wheels so you can conventionally take of and land or taxi....

 

Mi8 forever.

[dawgie79]

Huey all the way. :)

[Adam]

Thanks again all for your replies. Well, I've made my decision - and it's the Huey for me this time 'round.

 

Many reasons lead me to this. The Gazelle while it would probably be a ball of fun challenging - there's too many question marks at this stage so I thought I'd give it a miss.

 

I already have the FA-18, so sitting on station looking at screens inside as @wowbagger mentioned is something I can already do if I want.

 

The Huey seemed as though it was going to give me the newest experience whilst still being able to be practical.

 

After some sort experiments with it I found it to be more stable than I thought it would be. (This coming from a background of flying and hovering a R44 in real life before). In comparison I found the R44 was very twitchy and wanting to crash the whole time. The Huey (in DCS) by seems more sedate - but still challenging - I think it's the perfect combo for what I'm looking for after putting a little bit of time on it in DCS.

 

But I have already experienced VRS - and I must say I do not like it! I can see that being a challenge for sure! :joystick:

[BlackPixxel]

but if it can be thrown around like other aircraft and not always 'horizontal' like counter rotating RC aircraft I may need to give it another look.

 

Those small R/C coax helis are always level because the upper rotor has this self stabilizing bar with the weights.

But on the Ka-50 the rotorhead of the upper rotor is linked to the swashplate just like the lower rotor, so it does not have this autoleveling tendency (but it can still do that with the help of the flight control system).

[ngreenaway]

Thanks again all for your replies. Well, I've made my decision - and it's the Huey for me this time 'round.

 

 

But I have already experienced VRS - and I must say I do not like it! I can see that being a challenge for sure! :joystick:

 

welcome to helos. there was a problem with your initial question in that what constitutes fun is a very subjective thing. whichever you chose, i hope you enjoy it, but as you can see the preferences vary across the board. my suggestion to you is, if you enjoy helos, to buy the other ones during the next sale- theres only three others, so its not as huge of an investment as accumulating all the airplanes- and trying them all out. they each have their quirks and things that make them interesting, even the gazelle. they each have things they do very well, and unlike some of the aircraft, all of the helos seem unique and non-interchangeable

 

plus, it gets you ready for the next two on the horizon: the hind and the kiowa....and hopefully an apache (please, be an -A model!) afterwards

 

i suggest you watch casmo's and barandus' videos too. I wish Laobi would do a helo review

Edited September 30, 2020 by ngreenaway

[Adam]

welcome to helos. there was a problem with your initial question in that what constitutes fun is a very subjective thing.

 

Oh - I agree, but that is why I asked people to list the why they find that helicopter to be fun. :) That way I'm able to line up my priorities and preferences with fun to the posts that match and choose accordingly.

 

Already chosen the Huey and have just started on it.

 

i suggest you watch casmo's and barandus' videos too. I wish Laobi would do a helo review

 

I'll have to do a search for these video's. Thanks for the tip!

[Tippis]

Definitely Huey.

 

It can be surprisingly quick and agile while still being temperamental enough that you can't just brow-beat it into behaving. It's a give-and-take kind of flying where if you treat it right, it will do the same right back. The Hip is somewhat similar but just… bigger, slower (to respond, not in actual flight speed — it can go hellafast in a straight line if you give enough of a run-up) but it's just a lazier experience. Also, lift loss and VRS tendencies aside, the Hip is a bit too easy to fly with all its available power and helper systems.

 

The Shark is interesting to fly, but by its very design and intent, it is inherently easy — you're not so much flying it as programming it on the fly. Granted, you can turn most of the computer aid and stability systems off, but not all the way, and it still feels like it's trying to keep itself (and you) alive a bit too much. :P

 

The Gazelle is not a helicopter so it's not even a contender. You'll get a better flight model and flight feel from SEGA Choplifter.

[Adam]

*Deleted* (Double post)

[Adam]

Definitely Huey.

 

Yeah - that's my thoughts at the moment.

 

Watching this solidified it:

 

https://clips.twitch.tv/PatientHandsomeEchidnaBleedPurple

 

Looks like its an easy way to get around VRS too. :music_whistling:

[deathbysybian]

UH-1 for the feeling of flying, hands down. Simple, realistic handling. The only thing it really doesn't simulate is a low-g pushover roll.

[Syndrome]

I'm looking at helicopters - and would like something that I'm going to be able to 'kick' about quite a bit and get a lot of satisfaction out of learning to fly.

 

I considered dismissing the KA-50 right up because it seems to be 'too stable'...

 

Cheers

 

It sounds like you're looking for the Gazelle. I wouldn't pay too much attention to the criticisms. If you disable FFB the inputs become buttery smoothe, and if you also desaturate the axes curves for pitch and roll then it becomes very easy to achieve a stable hover.

 

But to respond to your request, it's easily the most acrobatic helicopter in the game by huge margin. This alone makes it very fun to fly.

 

Fwiw: I own all the choppers except the Mi-8, and that's only because the Mi-8 looks to be even less agile than the Huey or the Shark. That being said, my favorite Chopper is the Ka-50 for A-G ground pounding and CAS, and the Gazelle for tooling around, aerobatics, and A-A. The Gazelle is also fun for A-G with a nice variety of loadouts, but it has a pretty limited ammo count compared to the Ka-50.

 

While the huey is everyone's favorite, and it does seem very realistic, it's also the one that I fly the least. I find the controls to be the most frustrating and with the least versatility of weapon loadouts and viable targets. The controls are always pushing new pilots to induce oscillations, so learning the cyclic is something of a constant wrestling match, at least to start. It has a fantastic FM, is fun to try to get a stable hover going and the daka daka guns are viscerally satisfying, but beyond that I haven't found much practical use for it yet.

 

Also, if you can wait a bit, the Kiowa Warrior looks like it will be the 2nd most acrobatic helo in the game. Looks like it's a bit delayed though. There is also the Hind, but it looks like it might be similar to the Ka-50 in terms of agility. So it may not quite fit your criteria, but it will likely be fast.

Edited October 1, 2020 by Syndrome

[Adam]

It sounds like you're looking for the Gazelle. I wouldn't pay too much attention to the criticisms. If you disable FFB the inputs become buttery smoothe, and if you also desaturate the axes curves for pitch and roll then it becomes very easy to achieve a stable hover.

 

But to respond to your request, it's easily the most acrobatic helicopter in the game by huge margin. This alone makes it very fun to fly.

 

Fwiw: I own all the choppers except the Mi-8, and that's only because the Mi-8 looks to be even less agile than the Huey or the Shark. That being said, my favorite Chopper is the Ka-50 for A-G ground pounding and CAS, and the Gazelle for tooling around, aerobatics, and A-A. The Gazelle is also fun for A-G with a nice variety of loadouts, but it has a pretty limited ammo count compared to the Ka-50.

 

While the huey is everyone's favorite, and it does seem very realistic, it's also the one that I fly the least. I find the controls to be the most frustrating and with the least versatility of weapon loadouts and viable targets. The controls are always pushing new pilots to induce oscillations, so learning the cyclic is something of a constant wrestling match, at least to start. It has a fantastic FM, is fun to try to get a stable hover going and the daka daka guns are viscerally satisfying, but beyond that I haven't found much practical use for it yet.

 

Also, if you can wait a bit, the Kiowa Warrior looks like it will be the 2nd most acrobatic helo in the game. Looks like it's a bit delayed though. There is also the Hind, but it looks like it might be similar to the Ka-50 in terms of agility. So it may not quite fit your criteria, but it will likely be fast.

 

Thanks Syndrome. I've already purchased the Huey. Having a great time in it, but I do get the feeling that sooner or later I'm going to want something I can push around a bit more. (I'm already blowing the main rotors off being a bit too aggressive over-banking as I come in hot and arrest the AS). But I have made the purchase now. I'm looking forward to the Gazelle but I'm not going to buy it until I've had a chance to actually demo it first. In the mean time ,the AH-6 mod will give me a bit more playtime. :)

[ngreenaway]

 

Fwiw: I own all the choppers except the Mi-8, and that's only because the Mi-8 looks to be even less agile than the Huey or the Shark. That being said, my favorite Chopper is the Ka-50 for A-G ground pounding and CAS, and the Gazelle for tooling around, aerobatics, and A-A. The Gazelle is also fun for A-G with a nice variety of loadouts, but it has a pretty limited ammo count compared to the Ka-50.

 

I prefer the mi8 to the huey. Its a bit less frustrating to handle, and has a lot more content available for it ( i do SP only, and multicrew doesn't interest me). It also has a greater variety of loadouts than the huey, and -at least to me- seems to have more systems

 

 

But you're absolutely correct in the key to enjoying the gaz is getting control settings tweaked right. It would be nice if it worked well right out of the box, but toying around with settings isnt that hard )shrug(

[Northstar98]

For me it's actually the Huey, I don't own the Gazelle, the Mi-8 is a bit too much of a handful for me and the Ka-50 just has little less quirks for me personally, it's still a fantastic helicopter.

 

 

Mind you I only have a stick, I have to use the keyboard for throttle/collective and rudder, my set up makes it near impossible to simultaneously use collective and rudder or collective and cyclic. So maybe I'm not exactly qualified to make a judgement. That said the Huey is also the helicopter I'm most proficient in, even if I still can't really land it properly.

[Adam]

Hi,

 

After a bit of playing around with my new toy (the Huey) – and loving it… and learning lots – especially about VRS! :huh:

 

I’m finding when I try and come in with cargo and set it down I keep getting into VRS quite often.

 

Now I’m fully aware that I’m being unrealistic with my expectations. Only a few hours on the Huey, I’m only a fixed wing pilot IRL and have very little experience with rotaries and I’m jumping in and wanting to transport cargo already – but hey – what I can I say – I love a challenge. :)

 

The main thing is that I want to learn the correct technique at the start, and not learn bad habits.

 

Can anyone point me in the right direction regarding the Huey and avoiding VRS (especially when transporting cargo – ie what is the correct ‘approach’).

 

Is it best to fly lower when transporting cargo so there's less altitude to drop when reaching destination, or what is the best procedure to descend with cargo to keep it stable, get over the point (especially if it's in an area with obstacles around it) and avoid VRS?

 

Either tips, instructions, or links to any recommended resources that I can read up, or watch that will give me the basics of what I should be attempting would be greatly appreciated. (What I’m doing at the moment seems to work some times, and end up in smoke others).

 

Additionally, any tips that give other tips on cargo, such as how to stop ‘swinging’ loads would also be greatly appreciated on the side.

 

Cheers

 

Adam.

[DimSim]

@Adam there's just a few critical things you need to know to survive Huey:

 

1) Keep the vertical descent below 1000 feet per second to avoid VRS. Best way is to descend at 500fps while moving forward as descent can change rapidly at low speed and requires larger power changes. Keep an eye on this gauge.

 

2) Keep an eye on the power gauge. If you are in the red for more than 15 seconds or so you will burn out the engine. Find the gauge, keep out of red, all good.

 

3) Avoid mast bumping. Don't land or start on slopes or rock the controls side to side or back to front. If you do, you you'll bump your mast and lose your rotor. Try it in practice to see how easy it is to do, then don't do it!

 

As for cargo, it takes practice and patience to hover. Cargo is mostly hover and flight. Flying overloaded is not fun, so keep as light as possible. Slopes are terrible to hover over. Use the auto hook by landing nearby and hooking. Use the pop up guide to hover over the location. Well designed missions allow a little grace, nasty mission designs are nasty. You can easily set up a practice with the editor by placing aircraft and a cargo then use radio menu to target it.

Edited October 6, 2020 by DimSim

[Adam]

@Adam there's just a few critical things you need to know to survive Huey:

 

1) Keep the vertical descent below 1000 feet per second to avoid VRS. Best way is to descend at 500fps while moving forward as descent can change rapidly at low speed and requires larger power changes. Keep an eye on this gauge.

 

2) Keep an eye on the power gauge. If you are in the red for more than 15 seconds or so you will burn out the engine. Find the gauge, keep out of red, all good.

 

3) Avoid mast bumping. Don't land or start on slopes or rock the controls side to side or back to front. If you do, you you'll bump your mast and lose your rotor. Try it in practice to see how easy it is to do, then don't do it!

 

As for cargo, it takes practice and patience to hover. Cargo is mostly hover and flight. Flying overloaded is not fun, so keep as light as possible. Slopes are terrible to hover over. Use the auto hook by landing nearby and hooking. Use the pop up guide to hover over the location. Well designed missions allow a little grace, nasty mission designs are nasty. You can easily set up a practice with the editor by placing aircraft and a cargo then use radio menu to target it.

 

Fantastic advise! Thanks heaps - I'll be sure to practice all this!

[xXMustangXx]

I wanted to try the helicopters but not wanted to "gamble" 49 dollars, was afraid i would not like it or that I would required too much time investment to learn to fly.

 

So, I started with the LIttle bird mod, absolutely awesome experience!!! after a few weeks I was ready to buy a helicopter. and I was in the same boat you are now. I wanted to wait for the Kiowa. but after flying to little bird I was READY for a full module, after a few considerations ( what Roll i wanted to play and stuff) I bought the Huey. NO REGRETS!!!

 

so in short, my vote goes for the HUEY!!!

[Adam]

I wanted to try the helicopters but not wanted to "gamble" 49 dollars, was afraid i would not like it or that I would required too much time investment to learn to fly.

 

So, I started with the LIttle bird mod, absolutely awesome experience!!! after a few weeks I was ready to buy a helicopter. and I was in the same boat you are now. I wanted to wait for the Kiowa. but after flying to little bird I was READY for a full module, after a few considerations ( what Roll i wanted to play and stuff) I bought the Huey. NO REGRETS!!!

 

so in short, my vote goes for the HUEY!!!

 

Great minds think alike! :)

 

That little bird 'demo' is invaluable! If I knew about it - I would have purchased a helicopter ages ago (would probably own more now). :music_whistling:

 

I think ED have done themselves a disservice by not including it (or any heli) as part of a demo - even if it's limited, no armaments, no sling, etc - just to get a feel for what it's like to fly a helicopter in DCS. Hopefully that demo gets more publicity and more people find out about it.

 

So glad that you have no regrets with the Huey! She's a mix of everything - gotta keep the eye on the gauges, gotta treat her right, but you can get a bit out of her as well.