Hi,Well I (tried to) fly the chopper in FS9 for the first time, from Acra to the Taj Mahal just a few miles East.Trying to hoover for landing the thing went berserk, rotating very fast in 3D and RISING!So I switched off the engine and kept soaring up to 500 feet before I stopped the 'flight'.Is this normal or 'As real as it gets'? :)voscon.

You make no mention of power setting, direction of travel, approach angle or any other of a number of factors that could have contributed your problem.However, based on much experience, I'd say you ended up in a high "hover" and were accelerating rearward without realizing it. This condition will invariably lead to the rapid rotation you've described. Because of the default yaw MOI settings in the Bell's aircraft.cfg file, recovering is not possible. If you were using less than FULL realism setting, that only compounds the problem.I invite you to visit http://members.shaw.ca/hoversafe/Hoversafe.htm and consider learning to fly the Bell. This will equip you to avoid getting into such a situation again.Cal

I've experienced the helocopter "freaking out" when it gets out of control. If you're that far gone though, does it really matter? The trick is to not let it get out of control.- Martin

Hi voscon,Welcome to the world of helicopters!When I first flew the Bell in FS98, I had the same problem! It took quite a while to learn how to even land without crashing.All I can say is that knowledge about helicopter behaviour coupled with a LOT of practise is what you need to be successful in your rotary wing ventures.I recommend the default Robinson R22 for learning on, as this is much easier to fly than the default Bell (and more realistically modelled).James

Thanks for the feedback Cal, James and Martin...I will take all the advice 'on board' and try again..I was never under the impression that it was easy, but rising faster and faster with the engine off made me smile..voscon.