As far as MSFS is concerned, I've never been too much into helicopters, but this piece of art might just have changed my mind! :D However, I still cannot figure out how to fly it properly. On reading the "manual" that came with it I found a line, telling something like that I should disconnect the joystick to get the controls working as they should. But I'm wondering...how should you be able to fly a helicopter without a stick? Is there really no way to make use of my joystick (MS Sidewinder Precision 2 USB w/o Force Feedback)? I mean, I can more or less use it to control the chopper, but I have to keep F4 pressed all the time to prevent it from descending - even with autopilot activated.Is there anybody who could give me a hand here?Thanks! :D

Simple...you cant fly it without the stick ! Perhaps he was so excited when the manual was written he got muddled !It's a very nice flying model using the stick and keys (9-3) for collective ect.dont fill her full of fuel, make it around 60%, slowly increase to around 55-60 % collective and she will hover very nicely, let her build some height, stick forword gently and away you go !Dont forget....gentle control imputs...most real chopper pilots fly on two fingers.hope this helpsGeorge

The comment about removing the stick is in fact with ref to the dauphin.cfg you put in the fs2002 folder. Because of the complexity of this helicopter, you have to disable the joystick within fs2002 before you can fly this bird correctly. Once you have disabled the joystick in fs2002, the dauphin.cfg file takes over and gives your joystick its commands for operation. Yes it is a little complicated to get it all up and working! I spent about 8 hours tinkering with this heli yesterday.. both getting it working and flying it. Once you have it setup correctly and start working the autopilot you will stunned... and i dont say that lightly! Stick with it (no pun intended) read through the manual carefully and all will become apparent. You also might want to read the Helicopter forum towards the bottom of the Avsim conferences, there are quite a few pointers there too.Rgdshttp://www.avsim.com/vfr_center/avsim_sig.jpg

The copter fly also perfectly with the joystick without tweaking anything on the config.It's a really nice model, and really interesting to fly, it's just a shame M$ did'nt implement startup and shutdown sound sequences for copters.

Yes that is correct, but if you wish to utilize the autopilot and hover hold facilitys, you must disable the joystick in Fs2002 and let the dauphin.cfg do the work. I think i am correct in saying that the dauphin.cfg interacts with the dauphin.gau (initiated by pressing Shift+F2). Its nice to fly as a conventional heli, but it shines with the added "toys" available to usehttp://www.avsim.com/vfr_center/avsim_sig.jpg

So that's how it supposed to work...thanks for helping me out! :-) I would have to agree, the manual that came with the copter was somewhat hard to understand.Cheers,

yes it is a little complicated, but when you start playing with the .cfg, its quite easy to understand! Have you been and looked down on the Helicopter forum? There are a few threads there on this heli, and no doubt they will grow as more and more experiment with it. Keep at it, the rewards are worth ithttp://www.avsim.com/vfr_center/avsim_sig.jpg