Hi,I have tried to learn it multiple times and as many times I have giving up. Helis were to difficult to fly if you have to keep this rule in mind: "Don't move the joystick, think only you are moving it". But today the guys from Munch Brothers Aviation have released their freeware Rotorway Exec 162F ( www.munchbros.com ), and now I have much fun with hoovering, fast "wing-overs" etc. Have you tried to fly helis and given up ? Try this one, you will be surprised as well as I was. My sincerest thanks to Donald Elliott, Jim Whisman and M.Allan Richards for this nice rotorhead.Hugo

I agree totally with your comments Hugo.I would say that this freeware is much more realistic FDE's than any other helicopter available within FS9.PPL's your comments please?Dave T. .........On the lovely warm Devon Riviera and active 'FlightSim User's Group' member at http://www.flightsimgrpuk.free-online.co.uk/

Out of curiousity why would you equate a dumbed down (easy to fly) flight model with realistic?? I say this as most airfiles for helis are based off of either the default 206 or R22 and I see this one not being different in that essence.Funny, I have never had a problem flying helis and fly at about 75 to 85% relism. the other day I was testing something on a fixed wing and turned down the realism all the way and forgot to turn it back up. Took off in the EC-120 and man, what a slug. My point is that it seems the realism sliders really effect heli performance more than fixed wing, worth looking at next time you have a problem flying one.Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://www.calvirair.com/mcpics/mcdcvabanner.jpgCalVirAir International

Only very few helicopters will fly realistically with the slider on maximum. Most require 75% realism to even come close to real. Some exceptions come to mind, but I forget their designators at this time... Bell 42 Piston Kit or something... forget :( Most of the unrealistic flight characteristics come from the anti-torque movements ( changing the pitch of the tail rotor ). When you give even the slightest amount of firm pedal pressure, instead of a smooth turn to the respective side, you get a jerk to that side, then a jerk back.. and it does this repeatedly. I'd say 75% is about the most accurate general realism setting you can find for most.

Agreed on that, Jeff. 50-75% seems to suit most, although some of the more refined FDEs (Jordan's latest, if I recall?) fly just fine at 100%.I've always been surprised that there aren't more posts about this important observation/setting. You read so many comments from people saying they find the helis hard to fly. Well, you can't just jump in without knowing SOMETHING about what you're trying to achieve, for sure - you can jump into a sailing boat and go in a straight line even if you have the sails all out of whack, but you cannot do that on a windsurfer, by comparison, you need to understand it. But I think a lot of people probably have the realism slider in the wrong place for a particular flight model.Flying a helicopter is a piece of cake anyway. Just think of balancing one ball on top of another. It's that simple ;)MarkMark "Dark Moment" BeaumontVP Fleet, DC-3 AirwaysTeam Member, MAAM-SIM[a href=http://www.swiremariners.com/cathayhk.html" target="_blank]http://www.paxship.com/maamlogo2.jpg[/a]

I would like Jordan's if the VC was smooth.Because I only use VC, and the fact that the FDE _IS_ accurate ( very sensitive ), I need at the very least a smooth Attitude Indicator and Vertical Speed Indicator.Without these set and with sensitive joystick settings ( like I usually use ) the helicopter will overfly itself.... meaning when I tilt one way to offset the momentum from a previous tilt, it's often delayed quite a bit due to me not seeing it being executed on the instruments.In a real helicopter, while the controls ARE delayed a bit, you can FEEL the helicopter doing what you want it to ( and smooth displays in the real world :( heh ) so you can plan the balance movement sooner and more accurately.

You many also want to give this tutorial a go:http://www.fsstation.com/tutorials/helicopter.html

Great little chopper.Do you have a gray object in the middle of the windscreen? Almost like its missing a compass or something.Dave

It is a compass. If you don't see it you are missing the gauge.MarkMark "Dark Moment" BeaumontVP Fleet, DC-3 AirwaysTeam Member, MAAM-SIM[a href=http://www.swiremariners.com/cathayhk.html" target="_blank]http://www.paxship.com/maamlogo2.jpg[/a]

Hi,Well it is not "very well explained", but the panel.cfg file doesn't define a compass. However, the panel map contains a text (.txt) file and you have to rename this file to "panel.cfg" to have the compass displayed in the grey box on the windshield. Of course you have to rename the old panel.cfg file first to something like "panel.cfg.old".Now I am looking for the $68,000 to buy the kit for a real one ;)Hugo

Looking forward to trying the Rotorway Exec 162 as well as Jordans Moore's 412.I recommend Owen Hewitt's Bell 206B III JetRanger (in the AVSIM library) - very well done. I learned to fly the copters with this one. Also check out this tutorial by Steve Cartwright: http://www.avsim.com/pages/0604/heli/helitutorial.htmI agree that 100% 'realistic' flight model seems not very realistic as the helis are then nearly impossible to keep in the air. However, just one notch back from 100% on the 'general' flight model realism scale and the Bell is a joy to fly.Ed