FSX-SE Help with flying helicopters

[Avenger2000 3]

I’m just learning about flying helicopters in mission tutorial #9.  I thought when you push the collective forward (using my throttle), the helicopter should go higher.  But I find that if I dont pull the cyclic control back a bit, the heli doesn’t rise.  Likewise if I don’t push the cyclic forward, it doesn’t descend.  Is this correct?  I thought pushing forward on the cyclic controls was for accelerating.

[Chock 17,769]

Moving the cyclic deflects some of the upwards lift from the rotors which are keeping you in the air (in a hover for example) to whatever direction you push it. This means that there is ever so slightly less of that lift which was holding you up in the hover doing the work of keeping you in the hover, so you have to correct for that by applying more pitch to the rotor blades or by increasing the rpm of the rotor blades (or more typically, a bit of both).

The collective pitch lever increases the pitch of the rotor blades when you raise it up, and obviously decreases the pitch when you push it downwards, but it also has a twist grip throttle on it to increase the RPM of the rotor blades. This is why it is called the collective, because it can allow you to collectively increase or decrease the pitch of the rotor blades whilst simultaneously altering the speed at which the rotors are turning.

So with all that in mind, typically, what you need to do with a helicopter, is move the collective pitch lever up and whilst doing so, increase the throttle at the same time, then, as the chopper lifts off the ground you have to counter the tendency for it to want to turn in the opposite direction to the way the rotors are turning, by applying some tail rotor with the pedals.

Once you have the thing stabilised in a hover, you can then push the cyclic forward to impart some movement, but initially you will need a little bit rotor pitch and/or rotor rpm to counter the slight decrease in vertical lift which occurred when you transferred some of that lift which was making you hover, into a directional force to get yourself moving. Once the chopper does start moving, it picks up a bit of lift from being on the move, so then you might have to back that power and pitch off again. you may also experience a bit of rolling movement too, as you start moving, because the blades which are moving forwards in their rotation generate a bit more lift than the ones retreating in the opposite direction. The rotor mast and head coupling do compensate for this with their articulation, but it's not always perfect, so there is sometimes a bit of roll.

As you can see, it's a balancing act with a helicopter; unlike an aeroplane, you always have to be adjusting things a bit. flying a helicopter has been likened to trying to balance on a ball, and that's not a bad analogy. as with everything which flies however, the trick is to anticipate stuff rather than to wait for it to happen and then try to correct it. If you try to react to stuff after it has already started occurring, you're already too late and then, you're always going to be chasing the thing trying to get it to smooth out. For example, you know the thing is going to start turning as you lift off, so if you already are countering that with the tail rotor pedals before it has even happened, you will lift off without turning.

The problem with helicopters on PC flight sims is that they are easier to fly with controls which are more like a helicopter's real controls, but not many people have those, so the trick is to think carefully about what control options you choose in the sim for what kind of controller you do have. A very good choice for that is an x-box type of controller, because these are cheap and they have two thumb operated joysticks on them, which is more like a chopper's controls with a cyclic and a collective than a regular flight sim joystick would be.

Have a look at this review of Helicopter Simulator which I did fairly recently (fast forward to 32 minutes in to get some tips on what you should be doing):

 

[Avenger2000 3]

I think the throttle control in FSX is automatically converted to the collective when flying helicopters in the game.  I don’t see a separate control setup screen for helicopters.  Am I missing something?  I think my separate throttle is being automatically set up as the collective.  Am I wrong?  Thanks!

[Chock 17,769]

Yeah, they simplified the flight model of choppers a bit in FSX, but if you get something like the Dodosim Bell JetRanger, that has a slightly more authentic flight model and rotor simulation.

[RayHff 6]

By and large, after you read all about it, the key to helicopters is practice, practice, practice.

Initially I found scenery with a roof top landing pad.  I flew the short distance from the ground to the pad and back again about 50 times.  After the 100 or so landings, I got it.

[Avenger2000 3]

11 hours ago, RayHff said:

By and large, after you read all about it, the key to helicopters is practice, practice, practice.

Initially I found scenery with a roof top landing pad.  I flew the short distance from the ground to the pad and back again about 50 times.  After the 100 or so landings, I got it.

I’ll try.  I’m finding it very difficult.  Especially landing in cockpit view.  It does feel like you are riding a unicycle.

[Avenger2000 3]

To give a little more description of how I am practicing, I am flying helicopter mission tutorial 10 and keep trying to land exactly on the “H”.  After you land once there are more landing pads to try.  I am flying looking at the helicopter from the outside because I can’t seem to get a hang of flying in the cockpit.  I read on the internet that there used to be a site hovercontrol.com that was very helpful but it is dead now.  I saw someone mention a device or gauge you can load into FSX to help with hovering and landing.  Anyone with info on this? Thanks!

[RayHff 6]

This is some information once garnered in bits and pieces from hovercontrol.com.

 "You'll need a joystick and pedals or a joystick with a twist grip to substitute for pedals. (I'd like to have pedals but I use a twist grip.)

 Joystick settings: Set to the maximum sensitivity (far right) with the null zone set to the minimum (far left).  Note:  This is very important.

 Realism: Set medium to maximum and disable the auto-rudder.  I use maximum.

 VC View: Backed off to the highest zoom factor between 50 and 60 -- then angled down so that I can see the gauges and have a view from a bit above the horizon all the way down to the lowest point possible -- preferably the ground between my feet.  Note:  This is a matter of taste.

 Use EXTREMELY small movements on BOTH the cyclic and collective are critical.

 Review the instructions in the FSX Learning Center.

 Fly to a hover just before your landing point and then, and only then, move on and land slowly.

 A good rate of speed for a helicopter landing is the same as a slow walk.

 The default Bell is a good place to start.

 Practice a lot and with the same helicopter and the SAME VIEW EVERY TIME.

 A good practice routine is just taking off from one end of a runway, attempting to fly down the runway at less than 150 feet, slowing down and landing between the numbers at the other end of the runway.

 It takes a lot of practice but it is well worth it."
 

Edited April 26, 2021 by RayHff
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[Avenger2000 3]

Is it alright using the outside view to land?  I find it hard to judge distances if I fly in the cockpit.  Also it’s easier to see the direction of the rotors.  I’ll try the control settings you mentioned.  Are there any add-ones that help with helicopter flying?  Thanks in advance for your help!

[RayHff 6]

Never really tried using the outside view.  As for add-ons to land, never have used or know of any.

 

[rpz 0]

In your post, you said:

" I saw someone mention a device or gauge you can load into FSX to help with hovering and landing.  Anyone with info on this?"

This may be what you are looking for: 
hsihud.zip, which can be found in the FS2004 file library at Flightsim.com.

I have a plain vanilla default version of FS2004 installed, so I installed the above to the default Bell 206, then copy-pasted same into FSX-SE, and it (mostly) works. If you don't have FS2004 installed, the author shows how to add these displays to an existing panel.cfg.

The only glitch is that the HSI view does not display, which the author says is mostly for IFR. 

However, the HUD view does display, and seems to work fine. Like yourself, I am trying to fly helicopters! I hope this helps.

Bob
 

[Avenger2000 3]

On 4/30/2021 at 5:01 PM, rpz said:

In your post, you said:

" I saw someone mention a device or gauge you can load into FSX to help with hovering and landing.  Anyone with info on this?"

This may be what you are looking for: 
hsihud.zip, which can be found in the FS2004 file library at Flightsim.com.

I have a plain vanilla default version of FS2004 installed, so I installed the above to the default Bell 206, then copy-pasted same into FSX-SE, and it (mostly) works. If you don't have FS2004 installed, the author shows how to add these displays to an existing panel.cfg.

The only glitch is that the HSI view does not display, which the author says is mostly for IFR. 

However, the HUD view does display, and seems to work fine. Like yourself, I am trying to fly helicopters! I hope this helps.

Bob
 

Thanks for this.  So you think it can be added to FS X?

[charliearon 3,017]

That download is aso available in the AVSIM Library!  It should work in FSX.

 

[Will Fly For Cheese 1,710]

10 hours ago, Avenger2000 said:

Thanks for this.  So you think it can be added to FS X?

It works fine in FSX just follow the instructions in the readme file that comes with the download carefully.

If you get really in to helos then I can't recommend Track IR enough. The knack with helos is to keep your periphery vision as wide as possible and naturally, Track IR enables this superbly.

[Avenger2000 3]

On 5/3/2021 at 3:05 AM, Will Fly For Cheese said:

It works fine in FSX just follow the instructions in the readme file that comes with the download carefully.

If you get really in to helos then I can't recommend Track IR enough. The knack with helos is to keep your periphery vision as wide as possible and naturally, Track IR enables this superbly.

I got the hud portion working in FSX.  Now I am starting to go through the tutorial missions with it and then try some regular missions.  I had a track ir clone working with an iphone app so I can try it again.  I think X Plane also has a helicopter plugin called helihud which is very similar to this one.