I have been flying the R22 and the Bell 206 around in the demo ( I think my discs are showing up today, so I can start installing later tonight.) and have enjoyed it so far. This was one of the main reasons I got XPX was to fly low in helicopters! Can anyone recommend some more detailed models (retail or free) that would have more modern avionics with glass cockpits and more detailed panels and operational doors, etc.?I was a flight mech in the USCG on HH-65's back in the early 90's. I have extensive RC helicopter/quadcopter experience and would love to chat with any of you interested in helicopters in XPX.Mike

http://store01.prostores.com/servlet/x-planestore/Detail?no=185http://store01.prostores.com/servlet/x-planestore/Detail?no=337

Regarding freeware, these were considered state of the art for X-Plane 8/9, don't know if they'll work in X-P 10 (need to register to donwload them):http://forums.x-plan...s&showfile=8994http://forums.x-plan...s&showfile=3649 This seems good as well: http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=8720Marco

I have been flying the R22 and the Bell 206 around in the demo ( I think my discs are showing up today, so I can start installing later tonight.) and have enjoyed it so far. This was one of the main reasons I got XPX was to fly low in helicopters! Can anyone recommend some more detailed models (retail or free) that would have more modern avionics with glass cockpits and more detailed panels and operational doors, etc.?I was a flight mech in the USCG on HH-65's back in the early 90's. I have extensive RC helicopter/quadcopter experience and would love to chat with any of you interested in helicopters in XPX.Mike

may I ask what hardware you are using to fly helos - because my X52 pro just won't let me fly them - and have you any "tweaks" to fly them.Have d/l a R22 ( payware) which I thought would be better to fly but it did not.I love helos and would like to fly them in XPX but it looks like that won't happen.Denis

Thanks for the links guys. For hardware I have two setups. The first one is the T.Flight HOTAS X. I got it for $29 last week to give it a try with HAWX too. I had to play with it for a while to get a good feel (Stick resistance set to minimum and stability at 50% in XP10). Still is far from perfect but I can take off and land now. My second controller is my JR9503 Radio Control Transmitter I use in real life to FPV fly my quadcopter and other RC planes and helis, This is more intuitive to me as the collective/throttle and yaw are on the same stick as I have been using for years flying RC. I fly very fast and aggressive with my quadcopter with very little stick input. This was the hardest part of using the joystick at first. Twisting the joystick for yaw was very weird too. I might get some foot peddles at some point.

For those that want a helicopter landing challenge, I found a cool site to work on oil platform landings close to land. Go to San Onofre (88CA) in the Bell 206 and take off heading south. Look west off shore and there are two platforms with great detail. I botched my first landing (landed hard and registered as a crash in xpx) but nailed my second one.I attached some photos (tried too) but they are not showing up here.

I purchased the BK117 for XP10 today and I am really glad I did. This thing is really smooth. Going through the manual now figuring out all the systems. I spent 20 mins trying to figure out how to turn on the Honeywell weather screen on only to notice that in all the photos of this cockpit it is not ever on.....

I have noticed several bugs with the BK117 in XP10. First off the engine start procedure does not work. I cannot get the sim the follow the start procs from the author. Stops at 20% regardless... Also I have found the torque gauge sometimes decides not to work at all.Others have probably already talked about real time weather, but for some reason with it enabled on this heli the flight controls go crazy. It will also start blowing across the runway!

The issue with the balked starts usually happens when you load the helo, then change the location. The plugins that handle engine and flight performance don't initialize correctly. The cure is to reload the helo. Engine start and torque readings are usually OK after that. As far as the on-the-ground movement is concerned, It helps if you keep the throttle at minimum until you're ready for takeoff. Also, in options and warnings (under Settings), increase the number of flight models per frame to 2 or 3. Finally, check your controller settings. Less is more. On a Thuustmaster Warthog, which is a very sensitive stick, I'm using settings these day us of 100 percent nonlinear, at least 30 percent stability, and 30 percent null zone. Hope these work for you. Let us know.

I have noticed several bugs with the BK117 in XP10. First off the engine start procedure does not work. I cannot get the sim the follow the start procs from the author. Stops at 20% regardless... Also I have found the torque gauge sometimes decides not to work at all.Others have probably already talked about real time weather, but for some reason with it enabled on this heli the flight controls go crazy. It will also start blowing across the runway!

+1 and a bit disillusioned with XPX - I purchased R22 and BK117 thinking they would be as good or better than FSX helos after being "drawn" in with the xplane hype.I do sometimes jump in to quick with software :( and looks like I jumped into a big black hole with XPX - hope it gets better or it could be shelved.I may have been with FSX too long but I thought I would give at a go and now very disappointed - maybe I'm not giving it a chance but "it" doesn't seem to fly properly - maybe FSX does'nt to others, but at least I can fly from A to B with it.Could go on and on but that's enough or it could be my hardware for helos - X52 pro with pedals ?? :( :Whistle:Denis

I also find XP10 a bit of a challenge but I'm impressed that some RW helo pilots, especially Nightsta1ker over at Hovercontrol, are positive about the helos. At their best they can feel a little more "fluent" than FSX helos - there are some great ones for FSX, especially the Dodosim Bell 206, but I gather it's much harder to model a helo in FSX. Controller settings count for a lot. There ought to be a placard telling you to use settings that are opposite to your FSX ones - in FSX the problem is too much stability, in XP it's too little. The R22 is a handful. I find so far I have to turn the stability settings way, way up. Don't let the labels about realism keep you from doing that. Every controller s different and needs to be where it needs to be. B

The issue with the balked starts usually happens when you load the helo, then change the location. The plugins that handle engine and flight performance don't initialize correctly. The cure is to reload the helo. Engine start and torque readings are usually OK after that.

That seems to be the trick, because I can do engine shutdowns and restarts if I have the correct sequence for location and aircraft load.The major thing I would like to see fixed in XPX is the turbulence model that is tied to the real-weather settings. Really makes some unrealistic movements, especially on the ground in helis.

I've just begun doing manual startups in the BK117 and I noticed that if you don't do the reload, the fuel valves are locked in the closed position. Once you reload, you can set them to open. I think that's where the problem comes in.I agree with you about the turbulence. I've been told to turn the turbulenc off, or to go without real-world weather. Netiher seems like a satisfying option to me. I'd like to see that smoothed out.