stupid mountains

[llama]

Hey guys, I am catching alll kinds of hell trying to get over the mountains in the first campaign (3rd mission I think). I take the hard left by the village in the mountains just like it shows in the flight plan but I can't seem to make it over the mountains, either I crash into the mountain near the top or lose all forward momentum in an attempt to gain altitude. At which time I am stuck with :joystick: instead of :pilotfly:In the briefing screen part of the instructions are to review mountainous terrain operations or something like that but I can't seem to find info anywhere in the manual. Am I just being a dunderhead or is there a special trick to it? Thanks in advance :D

[Skydoc]

I forget if I did this mission with the following technique or some other "crossing the mountain range with low clouds mission" but here goes:

 

I start climbing at about 160 right away after taking off and get on top of the cloud cover when ever I can, basically flying IFR and using the ABRIS to guide me. Then at the IP, I let back down through the clouds (check the ABRIS for the low ground) and punch into the battle area from there. Watch your speed on the descent and fly your instruments.

 

HTH

[deadsmell]

maintain a speed of 130 during the ascent and make sure you have anti ice on.

 

I think...........

[EtherealN]

Deadsmell is right on it. Anti ice definitely has to be on because it's cold up high.

 

And to explain how it works: helicopters actually have two "hover altitudes" - that is, the highest altitude at which they can hover. One of them is a Hover in Ground Effect - that is when your helicopter is hovering just meters above the ground but the ground is high up. This is always higher than the "normal" hover altitude since the ground helps you in a way similar to a hovercraft. I don't recall off-hand the Ka-50's maximum hover altitude without ground effect, but we'll just assume it's 2000 meters ASL. Those 2000 meters are then the highest you can get while hovering.

 

However, the Black Shark has aerofoils - that is, the wingstubs that the weapons are on has the same kind of shape as the wings of a normal aircraft. This means that while in forward flight, they create lift in exactly the same way as a regular aircraft. This gives the Black Shark the capability of flying at altitudes higher than what would be possible with just the rotors. Again, I don't recall the maximum altitude but without really trying I have achieved altitudes above 3000 meters.

 

So to get to really high altitudes, speed up (130kp/h is the optimal climb ratio for the Ka-50) and always always always maintain that speed until you are on lower altitudes again.

 

Don't just pitch the nose up to gain altitude as you would with an aircraft - that will slow the helicopter down and thus decrease the lift you get from the wingstubs, and if you do that at too high an altitude you will start to descend and continue to descend until you either get low enough (pray that no ground gets you first) for the rotors to get enough lift, or you speed up again.

 

So don't pitch up if you are not high enough when you approach the pass. Just circle and maintain the speed until you are.

[sobek]

Ok almost everything said, the 130km/h being airspeed of course, not ground speed shown on the hud. The abris has a nifty little feature that can show you the optimum initial point for your climb (go to the manual for the specifics). Last but not least, instead of driving your chopper into the lawn, why don't you turn around while climbing, gain height and turn back on course? Works like a charm in not getting you killed. ;)

[SY_KO]

Don't forget transitional lift created when moving forward ;)