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Guest Lindy

I might actually be making...........

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Guest Lindy

...... some progress on my helo flying. Following the tips I've gotten from you all for setting my Realism and stick/rudder sensitivities, I set myself up for another practice session this evening........ this time at Canberra Airfield at Oz. Much, much better! After a couple of less-than-spectacular landings (read: I crashed! :-lol ) I finally managed to get my Hughes off the ground, fly a few hundred yards and put it back down on the ground, all in one piece. For me, that's progress. I also visited the Hoversafe website and read all their suggestions and the FAQ page. I downloaded the first lesson and am looking forward to trying it out. This short practice session I had this evening sure did whet my appetite for helo flying and I began to believe I can really master this. If I can just make some time to practice a little every day, I'm sure that in no time at all, I'll be whizzing around skyscrapers over downtown Chicago and scaring the bejeebers out of the commuters! :-hah-Lindy :-rotor wannabe

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Good job, Lindy! It's best to stick near the ground and learn to maneuver well. Flying straight at high altitude is easy. Mastering near-ground, slow maneuvering and hovering is hard but that's the real skill of helo flying. Just pick it up a few feet and scoot along the tarmac. Relax and even if the thing doesn't quite go where you want, you're not far from the ground so it's easy to just let it down and take a break. Keep doing that and you'll be surprised at how quickly you get comfortable with it.Oh, I forgot to mention, though you may have already read it in the HoverSafe FAQ, that you need to make sure that your FS is configured so that you can maintain at least 15 frames per second (preferrably more). Otherwise, you can't react in time to movement of the helo. The only way to keep from overworking the controls is to be able to detect small changes in the aircraft's motion so you can counter with small changes in the controls. In a real helo, you can feel it. In a sim, you can't so you need to rely on visuals alone.

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Guest Lindy

I did read that about the 15 fps at least. That's why I picked Canberra in Oz.....not a lot of eye candy to slow me down but enough to give me some points of reference. I try to fly it close to the ground, but the durn thing keeps going BACKWARDS when I do! I have to get a couple hundred feet of altitude before it'll go forward. Maybe I should practice with a different helo, but I figure if I master my Hughes, I should be able to fly any of them. :-lol About that 15 fps. Just what exactly is that option for locking frame rates in FS supposed to do anyway? And is there any benefit to unlocking it and if so, how do I do that? Thanks for the encouragement Peter.... and everyone. I look forward to the day I can sign with "-Lindy :-rotor " instead of ........-Lindy :-rotor wannabe

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Guest Lindy

That was a most informative explanation about the FPS "locking" option. The sim gave me a default "lock" of 25 fps which I reduced to 20 thinking that if I could average 20 fps, I'd be one happy camper and with the "extra" 5 fps maybe I could have a little more freedom to play with the "goodies" settings. Seems I was at least thinking along the right track. Out of curiosity, I have increased the lock to 27, but I think I'll go back to the way I had it. Yes, that backward flying tendancy is a pain in the you-know-what! If I put in enough collective though, it will lift off just far enough so I don't back into something important....... like a building. But for practicing hovering and control, lifting up too high isn't good either. But I have made a little more progress. I have set the Realism to two notches below Hard (up from Easy ;-) ); decreased the Null zones and increased the Sensitivities. I had a couple practice sessions at Meigs Field......... big mistake!! In the first session, I just lifted off a few feet and backed into a building. Ooops. The second session was a little more successful. I put in enough collective to get airborne where I have a bit more control. Actually got the thing to turn where I wanted to go... at least some of the time. But landing was a bit less successful. I can slow it down, but can't seem to arrest the forward momentum and end up with my "nose" buried in the ground....ouch! :-lol Well, as they say..... practice makes perfect. And I might just switch over to the French Bell 47 (cool looking craft too) and see if it's a little less twitchy... maybe I'll increase my confidence enough to go back to MY helo. ;-) -Lindy :-rotor wannabe

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Guest Skymed

Lindy,Try using my Helihud to help you fly. It gives all kind of information to the pilot, and will instantly let you know if you are moving forward, backwards, sideways....even before you can perceive it on the screen. Just go to the file library and search for Helihud in FS2002 panels.Also, try backing off the zoom to about 0.6 to allow more ground referance. The referance to ground is absolutely critical when trying to hover. The horizon tells you if you are level, but only looking (glancing) at the ground down between your feet can tell you if you are drifting.Give it a whirl, I think it may help you understand just how sensitive the choppers are, and will really give you a feel for the minute control inputs required to tame this monster.Remember, a chopper is not so much flown as "thought"................think about the direction or manouver you want to do, then a miniscule control input will make it happen. The biggest downfall of all neophyte chopper pilots is the tendency to overcontrol............easy does it.Once you have mastered the chopper, fixed wing is SOoooooooo boring :-).Steve

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Guest Lindy

:-waveI'll certainly go check out your "helihud" program. I think I've also finally hit on good (for me) Control and Realism settings as I feel I'm starting to gain a little more control every time I lift off.I have several back issues of flight simming mags and spent a good portion of this afternoon going through them for articles about flying helos or mentions of website links that might be helpful. I'll get this baby tamed down yet. I'm also getting feedback that maybe the Hughes 500 isn't quite the best helo to start with!! :-lol-Lindy :-rotor wannabe

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Guest Skymed

As a beginner, I STRONGLY recommend you stay with the default Bell 206. There are a lot of folks who say this chopper does not fly like the "real" thing, but its a very good flight model, and a relatively stable one too. Once you have this chopper tamed, then....and only then move on to other choppers.You will find that 98% of all choppers available for FS are either just repaints of the Bell 206, or have a slightly modified air file of a 206. The danger with using modified air files is that they can be so badly done that the chopper now bears no resemblence to what it was supposed to be.Some of the better designers have rewriten chopper air files to correspond with their choppers, and these are excellent. However, until you have a thorough grounding in the workings and intricacies of the stock 206, you may well end up chasing your tail.Do the Hoversafe lessons faithfully, and you will amazed at how quickly you will progress.Happy Hovering :-)Steve

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Lindy,Why don't you just start with one of the more stable choppers available for FS?? For starters, learning the art of rotory-wing aviation might become a frustating issue, even with the default 206!!This has mainly to do with the simulator itself, but having flown some 350 hours on the allouette III, I must say that the allouette III files available for FS come pretty close to the real thing, same implies to the LAMA. Better practice on those untill you're proficient and comfortable to take a hand on the Hughes 500.Just some friendly advice,....sure you can try the HUD, but it would become a better achievement for yourself, if you can handle a chopper right where ya want it without all kinds of help programs (sharing my personel view!!!). If you like I could give you the links to those choppers.Wishes,Shoshana :-smile12

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Guest Lindy

Thanks Shoshana. I'll be glad to try out the allouette III, but I AM starting to get a handle on the Hughes. I'm flying the Hughes because it has personalized livery painted for me by a friend. I'm kinda stubborn that way. ;-)I'm sure though that I'll want a couple more helos in my hangar once I begin to really fly them. If you want to pass on the link to it, I would appreciate it. Thanks.-Lindy :-rotor :-newbie

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:-lol ..okay..no comment on that!!I'll have to dig inside my cd-collection but I'll provide you the links.!!.......mmmmm...must be someone special...that friend of yours...stubborn to learn fly properly...no I'm just kiddin'Wishes,Shoshana

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