New Helicopter Controls

[Guest Skymed]

I have just finished my new Helo Controls.Uses an MSff2 stick as the base, and I have figured out how to link the entire stick to a cyclic, collective and pedals. YUP....pedals. This bugger is very sensitive, as I have set all travel limits to +/- 2" on the cyclic with FSUIPC. In other words, a total travel of 2" in any direction on the cyclic gives full max travel. I have the cyclic sitting at the height where I can rest my wrist on my thigh and "twitch" it with my fingers. Works very well.Pedals have a total travel of 6 inches from full back to full forward, so again I have maximised their sensitivity for helo flying.The collective is a little unorthodox. In order to keep the entire base footprint down to 17"w x19" l, I had to think out of the box, as the collective can really gobble up space. So I took it from the side of the pilot to the front of the pilot. Same sensation as raising a side collective, without the intrinsic size of one. Also, the need to be able to use this set-up with any chair was important. I use an office type swivel chair with 6 wheels, and there is no problem using these controls at all.I have used 2 joysticks for the interface. Since the MSFF2 ( as the maincontrol interface)is completely intact, and I needed buttons, Iincorporated another MS joystick circuit board to give me all the buttons on the cyclic as well as 4 buttons on the collective.Detailed plans to build will be posted over at: www.digital-flight.com in the next few weeks.Any questions, please e mail me at: Shanley@nbnet.nb.ca

[Guest MikePowell]

Looks good, Steve. It's nice to see there is some helo simpit activity. Variety is nice. I look forward to seeing the posted plans.Mikewww.mikesflightdeck.comInfo for simpit builders.

[PeterR 9]

Very cool. I look forward to the plans as well. It's a bit hard to visualize your unique collective.Peter http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/PeterR.gifBFU Forums Moderator[table border=2 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=1][tr][td][table border=0 cellpadding=8 cellspacing=0][tr][td bgcolor=#540000]http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/logo75t.gif[/td][td align="center" bgcolor=#FFFFF6]Bush Flying Unlimited"At home in the wild"Looking for adventure? Come join us! * [link:bfu.avsim.net|Web Site] * [link:www.cafepress.com/bfu,bfu2,bfu3,bfu4|BFU Store] * [link:bfu.avsim.net/join.htm]Join!][/td][/tr][/table][/td][/tr][/table