Hello all, Let me start by saying that I love flying the Default Bell in FS2002, but I must admit, it is extremely difficult to control a hover, and to land. I have sucessfully landed without crashing, but have yet to land on a specific mark, such as a helipad. I read somewhere that changing the realism settings or aircraft settings in FS2002 along with some joystick settings yeilds some better results (more realistic, more control). I'm using a Microsoft Force Feedback 2 joystick. I'm pretty happy with it. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks and have a great day. John.

Hi John....I too enjoy flying the default Bell. And if you can land without crashing, you're ahead of the game. It took me forever to be able to do that. :-lol Basically most of the helo pilots seem to agree that setting the Realism to one or two clicks left of maximum gives the best results. Also those who use forcefeed back sticks mostly seem to disable or unplug or whatever the forces for better control. And generally rudder pedals help a lot, especially with helos. Landing right on a specific target takes some practice -- for me it takes a LOT of practice. If you haven't already, go visit Hovercontrol and/or HoverSafe. They both have great tips, suggestions and lessons that will help considerably in learning the control necessary to finesse a helo onto a specific spot or rooftop.Good luck and happy hovering.-Lindy :-rotor:-wave

John, I use the MS Sidewinder FF2 too, but I use it without the force feedback, removed the AC power cable and now I can move the stick without any drag, similar feeling like in a real helo.About the realism settings, guess everybody has his own preferences, just play a bit with the sliders. Myself, I have all sliders set to max realism, but as I said, everybody has his own taste ;)Recommend you strongly to visit Hoversafe Academy:http://members.shaw.ca/hoversafe/Hoversafe.htmHover safe and ... ;) SamSamuel WeyermannLFSB, B

Thanks for the input guys, I'll give them all a try.John