Helicopter controls

[cianpars 1,174]

As a RW fixed wing pilot and flightsimmer for 30 years, I am making my first foray into helicopters.  Can anyone explain to me in simple terms how the cyclic and collective work and how I should control them.  Do I need to be using both hands?

I guess this might be of interest to those embarking on a similar journey post SU11.

[bvdboomen 260]

The collective "resembles" the propeller pitch of a fixed wing plane. All blades of the rotor twist to gain lift.
De cyclic controls the movement of the rotor: backwards, forwards, sideways. See it as the ailerons and elevator (pitch up and down).
Then you have the torque pedals. They keep the helicopter from spinning due to the rotating rotor. See those as a rudder.

See here for a more comprehensive article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_flight_controls

[neumanix 114]

Just plug into the Matrix and download some heli skills... or go watch a youtube video.

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by neumanix

[ryanbatc 13,003]

51 minutes ago, cianpars said:

As a RW fixed wing pilot and flightsimmer for 30 years, I am making my first foray into helicopters.  Can anyone explain to me in simple terms how the cyclic and collective work and how I should control them.  Do I need to be using both hands?

I guess this might be of interest to those embarking on a similar journey post SU11.

If you have rudder pedals and a stick it won't be too tough.  If you have a yoke it's doable but will feel weird.  Honestly I would disable the heli assistance settings right away and start with the Cabri G2 from a runway.

What are your hardware controls?

[Mikeingreen 139]

I have the Airbus 320 stick from Thrustmaster and figured it can't be too hard, right. Changed the settings to Helicopter in Options and tried the G2 training. Boy, was I ever wrong. I can go up and down just fine. But if I twist the stick I spin and I cannot figure out how to go forward at all. I am also going to have to lower the Sensitivity a bunch.

[ryanbatc 13,003]

5 minutes ago, Mikeingreen said:

I have the Airbus 320 stick from Thrustmaster and figured it can't be too hard, right. Changed the settings to Helicopter in Options and tried the G2 training. Boy, was I ever wrong. I can go up and down just fine. But if I twist the stick I spin and I cannot figure out how to go forward at all. I am also going to have to lower the Sensitivity a bunch.

I didn't change any settings just left mine the way they are.  But I did disable the 2 heli assist options.  In fact I wasn't even aware of a heli setting - is that in Controller setup?

[Fielder 3,710]

You're often going to have to hold constant torque when you fly copters. This means constant pressure on the rudder pedals. Rudder pedals rotate up and down are much less tiring than pedals that slide forward and backward. Pedals in real helicopters rotate up and down for this reason.

A few computer airplane pedals do too and these are the most versatile for flying with different type of craft. VKB and Thrustmaster Pendular. 

 

Collective is done with your throttle, Cyclic your stick or yoke, Pedals are your torque (they rotate downward when you step on them, they don't slide forward and back). 

 

 

[bvdboomen 260]

13 minutes ago, Fielder said:

Rudder pedals rotate up and down are much less tiring than pedals that slide forward and backward.

The reason I bought the TM TPR pedals. I can make longer helicopter flights now.

[cianpars 1,174]

1 hour ago, ryanbatc said:

If you have rudder pedals and a stick it won't be too tough.  If you have a yoke it's doable but will feel weird.  Honestly I would disable the heli assistance settings right away and start with the Cabri G2 from a runway.

What are your hardware controls?

Hi Ryan, I've managed OK with the Bell with my Airbus stick (which has twist rudder) but haven't disabled the assistance settings yet.  I do have some old Saitek pedals I could use, though I  find these a bit uncomfortable as my desk is quite narrow and close to the wall, meaning that the rudder pedals are too close to me. I guess I could move my desk back a bit though.

Having taken off and gained altitude with enough power for forward flight, I have to hold the stick in a very forward position to maintain altitude ands peed.  There seems to beno effective way oft rimming that I have come across yet.

[bvdboomen 260]

I use cyclic to gain speed by pressing the stick forward. At the same time I use the collective to maintain altitude.
I don't know if this is the way to fly a helicopter but it feels quiet comfortable.

[cianpars 1,174]

1 hour ago, neumanix said:

Just plug into the Matrix and download some heli skills... or go watch a youtube video.

Thanks m8, that looks like it might be quite helpful.  I've subscribed to the channel so I can watch them both later when I can sit quietly and concentrate.

 

[Mikeingreen 139]

2 hours ago, ryanbatc said:

I didn't change any settings just left mine the way they are.  But I did disable the 2 heli assist options.  In fact I wasn't even aware of a heli setting - is that in Controller setup?

Yes, they added the Presets for Heli's to all the major "stick" controllers.

[jimcarrel 688]

1 hour ago, bvdboomen said:

I use cyclic to gain speed by pressing the stick forward. At the same time I use the collective to maintain altitude.
I don't know if this is the way to fly a helicopter but it feels quiet comfortable.

You got this!

[Rattso 58]

Just to add to a previous poster I have not found any effective way to activate the trim on the helicopters - (BTW in R/L I was both F/W  & R/W pilot) - I haven't flown the Bell 47 for some while - fell in love with the Corsair - but now we have the 407 available I want to use it more often - so the question is how to get the trim working?

I can flly it reasonably well but to achieve stable foward flight I need some serious forward stick all the time - which becomes tiring after a while

[peloto 213]

If you fly with a gamepad, please, do not use the standard FS20 helicopter gamepad profile, at least for pedals and collective, it is like make you flight with the keyboard cursor arrows. Add the right stick to the rudder-torque-pedal axis, and the rear trigger right e.g. to throttle-collective axis, and the left trigger to full collective throttle cut.

Hope ASOBO make some day both side rear triggers for throttle like other Sims, and when both not pressed, throttle is in the middle, and right to up and left to down, or the option too to have one trigger for all the throttle-collective movement. Then two buttons for manually throttle e.g. Y up B down, and all you want, you can leave X button free and use it to combine with others for many more functions etc.. A bit tricky when lowering the throttle-collective to full but much better to me.