Friends: Just returned to helicopters after a couple of years dabbling in bizjets. I am pleasantly surprised by the flight dynamics of the 2k2 Jet Ranger, and was wondering which freeware birds come closest to it? I especially like the tail rotor authority when the sim is at full realism. Some of the freeware I have tried require a lot of collective to get the tail rotor to respond. Any help is appreciated. K

I think most helis that require more collective before the tail rotor has any effect are usually fs2000 air files or close to them.If you notice you have to bank before you can get full ail rotor movement this is usually an fs2000 air file aswell.Alan

Antti's new EC130 is a good bird to fly. Quite similar to the default Bell, although with better balance between the amount of stick input required for pitch & roll. Also quite a bit faster, as per the real McCoy.LonelyplanetXO:-abduct "now would be a good time Scotty"

Guys: I like the Dolphin. The 130 is a little too 'damped' for me. I may work with it some more, since so many people like it. I haven't been able to get more than 115 knots out of it. I'll look at my settings again. The default Bell has some problems, but I like the sensitivity of it. It makes precise hovering possible. Anyway, thanks for your help. K

Kaydub you mean Dauphin?I heard from a tv program, that new helos are unstable, and difficult to fly hand. Instead old helos are easy, and I've seen that while testing both Dauphin, and Bell 47. Bell 47 is easy to fly hand, while Dauphin is so sensitive. I myself try to fly always the most realistic plane/helo, but within helos I can't use the general realism max, since I don't have any rudder :(. I'm not a real helicopter pilot, but it seems like S65C (I think that's it), and B47 have quite realistic flightmodel

As posted elsewhere here, I really like the digital-flight.com modified JetRanger. It autorotates in a much more realistic fashion , and also has a nice, data-rich HUD if you're into that sort of thing. Its VC is also modified to put the panel in the center of the screen, which makes the instruments much easier to see during normal flight but of course is less realistic. I absolutely *love* the sounds that it comes with; the rotor sound changes in a most satisfying fashion when you pull pitch.http://www.digital-flight.com/free_download/bell206bDF.zipAlso, the recent R-22 by Gilles Arlove is worth checking out. It is a very twitchy bird, just like the real ship! It's in the Avsim library.---My biggest complaint about the helicopters in FS2002 is that you don't really need to put in any pedal input on liftoff, which is absolutely required in any non SAS-equipped, real-life helicopter. Apparently this is a flight modeling limitation in the sim - hopefully MS will address this in FS2004.Dave Blevins