X-Plane heli flying for DCS pilots

[Cloudberry]

Hi,

 

Though still fairly inexperienced I am having great fun flying around in my Ka-50 in DCS, and when the heli blows up it's mostly because of missiles and incoming fire rather than crashing into the ground or having the rotor blades collide. Flying with a X-52 HOTAS, which is not force feedback, and using the "new" trimming system which came with the DCS patch.

 

So I got X-Plane 9.50 in order to have some fun with flying a heli around the home area, and practicing commercial flying navigation with beacons and such. Mapped the joysticks including reverting the collective and yaw, and had to change a rendering option for a wider-angle view to actually see the cockpit, plus enabled Track-IR and ctrl-o to see a 3D view of the cockpit, so it's possible to see the instruments when flying.

 

Result - more or less total lack of control in hover, what felt like an extremely over-sensitive chopper, and generally not a very pleasant experience. With forward flight the heli was semi-controllable. I couldn't figure out any analogy to DCS trimming, so had to constantly fight the cyclic.

 

I have a suspicion it's more something about how I use X-Plane than my piloting, because I did try a little heli flying in FSX some time before starting up with DCS, and I was able to get around without too much crashing. Could even take some time to fiddle with the navigation instruments now and then.

 

Anyone who cares to offer some tips for someone who has done a little DCS flying how to properly get started with flying a heli in X-Plane?

 

/ Cloud

[element1108]

Fsx apart from maybe dodoo sims's bell jet really don't replicate helicopter flight very well. Xplane is much better, but still nowhere near as authentic as dcs. The dual rotors also help with stability in the ka50, no tail rotor means relatively balanced torque forces. Single rotor choppers you have to counter the torque with every adjustment of the collective.

 

Hovering technically isn't really traditional flight, it's a skill that takes lots of practice to get down, hours and hours at least. When you're over a certain forward speed your into transitional lift and the helicopter begins to fly so it feels a bit more familiar.

 

Choppers are definitly more difficult to fly, so a lot of practice should help.

 

:)

[BKLronin]

I got plenty of flight time in X-Plane. It is definetely a matter wich chopper you fly. If you got the Hughes 500 by Brett for example you get a very realisitic and difficult to fly chopper. I also love If you don´t know them of course:

 

EC 120 collibri

BK-117 by Nils

Robinson R22

and Kamov KA 26

 

But the most challenging is def the hughes 500 by Brett and if you deactivate all Autopilots in BS you will also get a challenging Hover flight.

[Shaman]

I fly BK-117 by ND exclusively on X-plane, and that's the one I can recommend.

[liotczik]

The basic knowledge is here: http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=32267

 

More details are here: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/docs/poh/index.html and here: http://www.copters.com/helo_aero.html

 

Also I find his video tutorials very useful:

 

The rest is practice, practise and even more practise. There is no other way with helicopters, but after you learn it, the experience is VERY rewarding :)

 

For the training flights, set up on a beginning of a runway, because it provides nice spatial reference - you'll need it especially to learn how to hover.

[ben1101]

Personally I find X-Plane to be very accurate depending on the helicopter. The latest and greatest is the Bell 206 III payware heli (find it at x-plane.org), which puts the FSX Dodosim to shame - really when you feel the dynamics of this helicopter you will understand.

 

Another personal favorite for accuracy is the freeware Robinson R22 V2 - and of course Bretts Hughes 500 is very well done (although I have modified it slightly to be more sensitive).

 

Learning to hover in the sim is very difficult, especially when considering the lack of situational awareness and spacial perception - as liotczik said sticking to the runway and taxiway will give you greater visual references for hovering, but there is a special satisfaction to be had from getting a perfect approach to a 1 foot hover and watching it in instant replay over and over :)

 

Note that X-Plane does exaggerate the transition in and out of translational lift, but you kinda get used to it...

 

My opinion of Microsoft Flight Sim is that it is rubbish if you are after any sort of accuracy, and even with the dodosim I have no satisfaction from flying - and I have tried because I do love the scenery! ...Even trying to kid myself about AVCS in the EH101 haha..

[Cloudberry]

Thank you for all the good tips! I thought I'd give a ping-back. I also discovered this post over at the X-Plane forums of another pilot who described a similar difficult transition from Black Shark to X-Plane ...

 

As per a tip in e.g. this thread I set flight model cycles per frame to 2. Used zip-strips on the outer X-52 spring to reduce spring tension and ease off-center joystick operation. Opened joystick settings in X-Plane and set pitch/roll/yaw to no artificial stabilization and maximum non-linear. Mapped pitch/aileron/yaw trim to X-52 hats.

 

Downloaded free helicopters (including some referenced in previous posts) via this index, including the Chinook. Tried some of the suggested other helicopters, and found the Chinook and the Sea King a lot easier to handle, so finding the right chopper to start with seems to be a good way to ease into things!

 

One minor frustration that the pitch trim maxes out at 0.500 which seems to be less than I need to be able to center the cyclic in stable forward flight, at least for the Sea King ... I really like being able to trim the stick back to center position in Black Shark.

 

I still don't see how I am ever going to handle the Robinson choppers though, they are still totally out of control for me ... but who knows, maybe I'll get there eventually :-)

 

Thanks again for all the tips. I was about to give up on helis in X-Plane, glad I gave it a 2nd chance!

 

Edit: Updated tip ... purchased the BK-117 by ND as recommended by one of the earlier posters, and I must say that really made for a much nicer flying experience. You even get Black Shark style (pre-patch) trimming to re-center the cyclic, which makes everything so much easier! Had some difficulty getting the cyclic properly re-centered with the loosened X52 spring tension, so ended up changing back to original X52 spring setup.

Edited June 28, 2010 by Cloudberry
Add some more relevant info

[liotczik]

I've found, that the best helo for training purposes is freeware MD500. It's very stable and easy to handle (5-blade rotor and small inertia), but it doesn't have any artificial stabilisation. That's why BK-117 is easier to fly, but doesn't make a good trainer, because it's fantastic stabilisation computers correct your mistakes and prevent learning true, unassisted helicopter dynamics.

 

After you've mastered "The Teardrop", I'd suggest payware DreamFoil's B206. Great flight model, great sound and feel of the aircraft, more difficult to fly, but still pretty straightforward and predictable - as long as you have everything under firm control ;) One moment of distraction and bad things start to happen quite fast.

 

Robinsons, with their unusual geometry, mass distribution and 2-blade propeller are the most wild and crazy helicopters I've ever flown in a sim. They're perfectly controllable, but require much more skills and paying attention. For advanced pilots :) Of course you can also try BK-117 with all the stabilisation off, though it's against the regulations ;) I've tried it (before reading the POH) and it was a true "ride" :D Like it was completely different bird!

 

As for the Saitek, I've found that the best results are achieved with INNER spring removed, while outer is left in place (it can be done without any destruction, just dissasemble the stick slowly, pay attention to what you're doing and use your head, instead of muscles - just like you've been practising hovering ;)). Self-centering is preserved, but it moves more smoothly, without jerking. You can also lubricate the metal centering disc and plastic beneath it with silicone oil. In fact lubricate every surfaces, that have contact with others. The same tip goes for jerky "mini-slider" on the throttle grip. While we are at the throttle, I suggest to open it and remove rubber idle and afterburner gates, they are VERY annoying, while flying helos. In fact, while flying planes, they are annoying too. Skyhawk with "afterburner", LOL!!

 

Actually, BK-117 has two trim methods :) Please read the manual on page 16 - SAS and ATT modes.

 

EDIT: one more thing, that has escaped my attention before. I'd suggest using linear joystick input curve. While it seems harder to make minimal control inputs, especially near center (like in a hover), but it more than pays off, just beacause of linearity and muscle memory. It means, that no matter where is your stick at any given moment of flight, it takes exactly the same amount of stick movement to perform a specific attitude change, which is easy to "remember", as it's a constant relation. Non linear, while it's easier in the center, is more hard at the outside part of stick movement envelope (like at the beginning of a cruise, with stick fully forward, before trimming or cruising on a helo without trim at all), as well as makes much more difficult to develop muscle memory, because the same amount of stick deflection could make small or big attitude change, with regards to actual stick position and flight envelope.

Edited July 9, 2010 by liotczik

[ben1101]

Hey - if you want a challenge try this modified .acf file for the Hughes 500d - it wasnt sensitive enough for me as standard and I have evened out the yaw pedals so you actually have to input left pedal with torque inputs as well as modified the collective and cyclic pitch range to better reflect my imagined H500D flight model.

 

Either way, Im happy with the changes made - and Im a real purist at heart!

 

Just back up the origonal .acf file and chuck this one in the H500D folder to try it out.

Hughes_500D.zip