How to actually fly a helicopter?

[Tasky]

On 9/30/2025 at 4:28 PM, Yurgon said:

One easy way to share your progress with us is to do a short flight, demo your takeoff problems, and then after quitting the mission, hit "Save Track" and share that .trk file with us (maybe via Google Drive/OneDrive etc. if it's too big for the forum). That track recording allows us to virtually look over your shoulder and give some more specific advice.

Prepare yourselves - This is going to be embarrassingly abysmal...

 

TaskyGazTrg1.trk

 

On 9/30/2025 at 8:01 PM, TFS said:

Also, if you have VR, or can stomach and afford it and your PC can run it well. It's basically a cheat code for helos, full depth perception and can get the sense of vertical reference. 

I have an old CV-1 Vive and I decided to give that a go... It did make situational awareness much easier, though I still didn't have much control over the aircraft. I also found it hard not to just reach out and touch the controls, such was the immersion. Firing weapons was great, looking outside and seeing the rotor swash arms actually move was great, and it all went well until I had to start rolling the aircraft into turns.... BLEURGGGGHH!!! Auto-Hover was similarly nauseating, as it suddenly wibbled all around. 

Ultimately though, this headset is pretty useless as I don't have the resolution to read text, so can't see any instruments without putting my nose 2" from the dashboard. Damn good fun, though!

 

On 9/30/2025 at 9:56 PM, Hiob said:

Your pickup problem sounds to me as if you haven’t mastered the coordination between inputs yet. You can‘t stop doing one while adjusting the other. The more collective you apply, the more anti torque pedal you need to give etc. That‘s not a shortcoming, just a lack of practice.

Try to apply a curve to the cyclic to make it less responsive around the middle position. Make use of trim (and check the different trim options in the special options).

For all the helicopters we have in dcs, the cyclic must be pulled back (about half an inch) for vertical pickup. (and a quarter inch to the left or right, depending on the the direction of your main rotor). Trim it in this position before trying to lift of. Your necessary corrections on the Stick (depending on length) should be mm rather than cm…..

I think there are two main issues...

Firstly as TFS said, I can't (or don't know enough to) recognise what's going on, so can't apply whatever the correct inputs should be. I also find that whenever I'm watching the instruments to make sure I'm at the right levels, the stuff outside goes to rat-spit, and vice-versa!!

Secondly, my WinWing stick is so very, very light around the central 2" that the slightest touch can have you at half deflection and you can't physically feel any difference from zero. I don't really want to set a 50% deadzone, but the idea of using "pressure rather than movement" (as the aforementioned British Army guy said) only works if there's pressure to push against. I might need to change the cams, or fiddle with the dampers perhaps?

I may also need to reconfigure my chair setup, as the weight of my feet on the pedals create stiction and fine control is abysmal. 

[Hiob]

45 minutes ago, Tasky said:

I think there are two main issues...

Firstly as TFS said, I can't (or don't know enough to) recognise what's going on, so can't apply whatever the correct inputs should be. I also find that whenever I'm watching the instruments to make sure I'm at the right levels, the stuff outside goes to rat-spit, and vice-versa!!

Secondly, my WinWing stick is so very, very light around the central 2" that the slightest touch can have you at half deflection and you can't physically feel any difference from zero. I don't really want to set a 50% deadzone, but the idea of using "pressure rather than movement" (as the aforementioned British Army guy said) only works if there's pressure to push against. I might need to change the cams, or fiddle with the dampers perhaps?

I may also need to reconfigure my chair setup, as the weight of my feet on the pedals create stiction and fine control is abysmal. 

Don't look at your instruments while picking up. Outside references are far more important and easy to pick up.
This pressure rather than movement is the weirdest advise (for helicopters, at least in the sim world) I think I ever heard. Helicopter controls are light and often have no recentering spring at all (for a reason). I would also advise against a deadzone for helicopters. There is no distinct center position for a cyclic, so where is the deadzone supposed to be?
 

Try to flatten the response curves for pitch and roll a bit. That may help with fine control around the middle. But keep it at bay. Maybe 10% max 20%.

Make sure you do it slow.

Have you tried the trim options?

Edited 3 hours ago by Hiob
choice of words

[MAXsenna]

When picking up or hovering. Look forward at an angle of 45° and it will be much easier to see the drift direction(s).

Cheers!

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[Tasky]

2 hours ago, Hiob said:

This pressure rather than movement is the weirdest advise (for helicopters, at least in the sim world) I think I ever heard.

Have you tried the trim options?

The pressure thing was a British Army instructor teaching new pilots to take off/hover in their first Gazelle lesson, in a 1990s documentary. I figured he'd know what he was talking about...

I already have no curve set, nor any saturation. It's all on default, +/- zero. I'll have a play with the trim later tonight... and try not to look at my dashboard!

[Hiob]

10 minutes ago, Tasky said:

The pressure thing was a British Army instructor teaching new pilots to take off/hover in their first Gazelle lesson, in a 1990s documentary. I figured he'd know what he was talking about...

I already have no curve set, nor any saturation. It's all on default, +/- zero. I'll have a play with the trim later tonight... and try not to look at my dashboard!

I'm not so sure if the real world methods are applicable to a Joystick in front of or on top of a desk....
Trust me on that. The less resistence your stick offers, the better for helicopter flying.
Ideally you would have a stick that has no/little/adjustable spring re-centering force and holds every postion you put it in (like a real world cyclic would), but that would need a FFB-Device like the VP Rhino of FFBeast (or the frinckin' Moza). VERY recommendable - but VERY expensive as well....  

With a common spring loaded joystick, it is vital, that you choose the right trimming mode in the special options and learn how it works!

You DON'T want to fight the stick!

Edited 37 minutes ago by Hiob