How to actually fly a helicopter?

[Tasky]

Hi all, 

First post and sorry it's such a noob question... I've just started DCS, been going through the F/A-18 tutorial and found it pretty great in terms of learning basic flight stuff.

Of course my real love is helicopters and the Gazelle is one of my favourites, so I decided to have a bash at that, thinking the tutorial would be comparable to the F18 one... The Startup chapter was great and I really loved learning the sequence. Only thing missing was voice narration.

But the next chapter is Weapons, for which you need to start in a stable hover. Since there's no tutorial on how to hover, land or fly in general, and since I seem to be pretty naff at figuring out how to do it with the trial-and-error method, the obvious question is...

What would people recommend for learning to actually fly a helicopter in general, so I can get to flying the Gazelle?

 

Many thanks, 

Tasky.

[Ornithopter]

I do have advice.  Start with the UH-1.  Fly it, and practice it until you can hover it over a dime. Get a book from Amazon about flying Helicopters.  It will explain things like steep approaches, pinacle landings, etc.   You probably will need to get good rudder pedals and a joystick extension.  Once you do that my friend, you will be able to load up any helicopter in DCS, map the basic controls, and fly it around the world first time, no probs.   Avionics is a different matter and will try your patience in some of the more modern helicopters.

Edited 16 hours ago by Ornithopter

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

Check out the YouTube channel “Helicopter lessons in 10 minutes or less”.

That will give you background information in order to understand why stuff happens the way it does.

There are also other YT channels dedicated to DCS helicopters.

[MAXsenna]

Hey @Taskyhow are and welcome to the forum! 

What kind of peripherals do you have?

It's of course easier with an FFB cyclic or a joystick without springs, and pedals. Most throttles work fine as collective, ( as a personal choice I make sure to invert the axis so it works more like a collective). 

To get into a hover so you can invoke the auto hover, turn the switch on the ADI to doppler. Then you align the two yellow "pins" so they overlap in a perfect cross. It's also very handy for practicing hovers.

I don't remember the training missions that much, but you can "cheat" and get into a semi hover, and invoke "Active Pause" during the weapons employment. You won't be able to turn though. So make sure you point at the targets. 

I also recommend reading the manual, to see what other tricks you can do to make the instrumenta help you. 

Cheers! 

Edited 16 hours ago by MAXsenna

[Hiob]

7 hours ago, Ornithopter said:

I do have advice.  Start with the UH-1.  Fly it, and practice it until you can hover it over a dime. Get a book from Amazon about flying Helicopters.  It will explain things like steep approaches, pinacle landings, etc.   You probably will need to get good rudder pedals and a joystick extension.  Once you do that my friend, you will be able to load up any helicopter in DCS, map the basic controls, and fly it around the world first time, no probs.   Avionics is a different matter and will try your patience in some of the more modern helicopters.

Why would you start with the Huey when your real love is the Gazelle. 

You can learn to fly a helicopter with the Gazelle just fine. They work the same, even if they might feel a bit different in a direct A to B comparison.

@Tasky Only general advice I have (apart from watching Youtube tutorials), do everything slow and in small increments (talking about collective, pedals and cyclic).

Add power slowly until you feel the Helicopter wanting to yaw. Hold it there and compensate with rudder. Add a little more, rinse and repeat. Eventually the Helicopter starts to tilt (pitch and bank), compensate with cyclic. (Maybe it wants to tilt before it wants to yaw, than you need to compensate this first…. small increments. Eventually it will become fluid on its own)

If you do everything VERY slowly, you will eventually be able to balance it and pick it up. From there it is just practice, practice, practice.

It helps if you have a stick with a long throw and little spring resistance.

 

Edited 8 hours ago by Hiob

[Tasky]

Thanks all!

Max - I'm using a WinWing setup - the Orion2 throttle, enhanced F16 stick and Skywalker pedals. The plan was to get their Black Shark collective so I could swap between planes/spaceships and rotary wing, but they discontinued that right after I bought the base HOTAS.  

I've been binging YouTube videos. Most cover the collective/pedal bit and I can get to that point, as well as usually avoiding the right rollover. But instead of lifting up into a hover (which some YT wizards seem able to do without any cyclic), I usually end up sliding left or backwards into the scenery. No amount of extra collective or cyclic seems to help. 

It's like I know what I should be doing, but can't see what's happening in order to react accordingly.

The best I've managed is a hazardously aggressive launch into the air at 80-90% collective, whereafter I can transition to forward flight and enjoy bimbling around the Georgian countryside... and while I understand how to land in theory, I can't yet manage it without smashing myself into a ball of flame!! 

Other than that, I've really enjoyed the Gaz module, and have even fudged an Auto-hover enough to get a few HOT-3 hits on targets. It's just the fundamental manoeuvres I'm desperate to figure out. 

[Ornithopter]

1 hour ago, Hiob said:

Why would you start with the Huey when your real love is the Gazelle. 

 

I can think of several reasons, but I won't get into them now.  The point is, a new flight sim helicopter pilot first develops the motor skills to fly a helicopter without all the fancy stuff.  If the Gazelle fills that role well, then that's just fine.  I should have also pointed out that it took me an absurd amount of time to be able to fly the Huey with even a moron level of competence.  I'm glad I took that time and put in the work, the old school way.  Becoming a decent flyer was a lot more than just going through a tutorial once or twice, with a few notes, like most people do when getting a new fixed-wing aircraft.  It was a whole new realm.

[MAXsenna]

1 hour ago, Ornithopter said:

If the Gazelle fills that role well, then that's just fine. 

I would've recommended the Huey too as a starter, but it seems he already got the Gazelle, so I focused on that.  

[Lace]

The principle difference between fixed and rotary wing flying is that a fixed wing aircraft will, without any input from the pilot fly perfectly well all by itself in most circumstances.  A helicopter requires constant inputs, and not only that, each control input has second and third order effects which need to be countered.  This is the trick.  At first you will be reacting to each effect but with time you will learn to anticipate the required corrections and without even thinking you will move cyclic, collective and rudder (anti-torque) pedals as one.

Some of the best youtube videos I have seen are by vsTerminus - YouTube - these are mostly Mi-8 but the principle is the same, and importantly, the main rotor rotation is the same as the Gazelle (unlike the American stuff which turn the opposite way confusing things further - don't try to learn the Huey and Gazelle at the same time!).

Helicopters require a lot of practice but once it clicks they will start to feel more natural.  The beauty of DCS means you can have as many tries as you need, without expensive repair or hospital bills!

[Jef Costello]

Yes I too highly recommend vsTerminus. Furthermore he focused on the Mi8 which require the same direction imput for the yaw axis. Don't forget to use the flight controls indication and be soft on the controls, choppers don't like at all aggressivity 

[Hiob]

Indeed, the vsTerminus Videos are awesome. Unfortunately he quit making videos a while ago, but the Mi-8 tutorials are still great! (and as Lace correctly pointed out, applicable to the Gazelle).

(btw. the Mi-8 is the Helicopter that I learned flying on in DCS. Of course that is personal bias, but I would choose the Hip over the Huey everyday. But this is also because I'm a sucker for the switchology in the Hip. No coldstart is more satisfying than the russian bus....)

Edited 5 hours ago by Hiob

[Tasky]

8 hours ago, MAXsenna said:

I would've recommended the Huey too as a starter, but it seems he already got the Gazelle, so I focused on that.  

I did also pick up the Huey and Apache, as they were both on sale, if that helps?

I saw a documentary about British Army pilots in the 90s, where they did a short course in a Chipmunk before going straight on to the Gazelle. Guess that was too much to hope for, eh! 

[Hiob]

9 minutes ago, Tasky said:

I did also pick up the Huey and Apache, as they were both on sale, if that helps?

I saw a documentary about British Army pilots in the 90s, where they did a short course in a Chipmunk before going straight on to the Gazelle. Guess that was too much to hope for, eh! 

The main problem with different helicopters is that US/western helicopters have their main rotor turn in the opposite direction than eastern/some european models. In DCS that would be the Huey, Apache, Kiowa on one side and the Gazelle and Hip on the other.
That's not a problem per se, but you need to apply anti-torque pedal to the opposite direction, which of course messes up your muscle memory (especially if you are not already proficient with helicopter flying).

The basic stick and rudder (and collectice) skills you need for a helicopter are fundamentally different from fixed wing (well, before ETL or transition speeds - beyond that it becomes similar). You need to constantly balance the three inputs. There is no inherent stability.

[Hiob]

It is really good advice to watch some videos on basic helicopter principles first, them some flying tutorials. Of course nothing keeps you from diving into the deep end and just hold-my-beer it in DCS. I mean, you can't really die. But I would recommend the first approach.

[erniedaoage]

When i bought the ka-50 before dcs world existed, it was quite a frustrating experience for me. Learning curve was so steep, it felt like i am a tourist in shorts and shirt, with a water bottle and flip flops going to climb mount everest. But a lot of youtube tutorials, reading wikipedia and trial and error took me through my first successful mission and the feeling was just awesome.