Hi people, I'm getting ready to take advantage and purchase the Milviz B407 and was wondering how you heli-lovers plan your flights? I would imagine it isn't like airplanes where you plan and create flight plans etc. So what is your approach to helicopter simming to make it interesting? Any interesting areas for helicopter flights?

I usually do one of two things:

 

- direct flights from one airport to another, where I'll come in and land for a few minutes before heading back, or land at a few in a row, before heading back to base.

 

- flights from base to something in particular: land at lighthouse, tower, rig platform, ship, etc.  Then back to base.

 

The great thing about helis is that you get to land them anywhere; this lets you be quite creative in their use!  I primarily use FTX Scotland for my helicopter flying.  I have it built up with most all of the payware airports available for the region from Scotflight, UK2000, and Sim720.  Combined with the detailed region, it's really a blast to fly helis there, since you get all sorts of mixed weather & rough terrain, plus lots of smaller detailed (and low impact) airports close enough together to make for enjoyable heli flights that aren't too long.  The region also has quite a few offshore drilling platforms to fly to.

 

I fly in other areas as well, but the distance between detailed airports means that I'm pretty much always flying around one airport before returning.

Since I own the F1 GTN750/650 GPS gauges and have them installed in my choppers, I typically do create a temporary DTK (direct to) flight plan so I can manually follow the magenta line.

 

This is also useful whenever I want to fly a "pipeline patrol" pattern, where I create custom waypoints in the GTN750 for an complete out - patrol - return flight.

 

 

Since I own the F1 GTN750/650 GPS gauges and have them installed in my choppers, I typically do create a temporary DTK (direct to) flight plan so I can manually follow the magenta line.

 

Yep, those GTN gauges are wonderful for creating nice magenta lines to follow!  Great for finding offshore platforms too.  I've found the obstacle database in them is actually pretty close to the placement of the platforms!  The only problem I've ever run into with that is when the magenta line takes me straight into terrain that disappears upwards into a low hanging ceiling (Scotland seems to toss those at me all the time, if I'm lucky, they don't meet the water. ). Then I'm left wandering around little hills and inlets trying to move forward and meet up with that line again!  Of course, that's not exactly the fault of the GTN unit!

 

 

So what is your approach to helicopter simming to make it interesting?

 

Also, doing stuff like in my little screen clipping in my signature makes life very interesting as well!

NICE!!!! I'm liking these  suggestions! Thanks!

i am trying to figure out how to get the 407 off the ground after its running

It never occurred to me to do any planning for a heli flight. I keep the helicopter flights interesting by always pressing to the limits of my ability to fly it. Like, let's see how fast I can transition to a hover, let's see how close I can fly to the fuel truck backwards, how tight a spot can I land it in and how quickly and how smoothly. I saw a real video of a guy opening several bottles of beer with a can opener attached to the skid. We can never do that in flight simulation, but always pushing on to see how much precision I can fly the thing with is what keeps it interesting for me. Any type of flight planning is unnecessary because it's all about how I'm flying it, and not where, or where to.