Ever since the release of SU11, the thing I was looking most forward to trying was the Helicopter's.

Especially the Guimbal is such a joy to fly, once you have figured out how to control the thing at near to hovering speeds without flying sideways, or spinning or underutilizing collective to stay in the air.

My landings are still a bit... let's say it's good that I don't feel the forces.

What I was absolutely not prepared for is how addictive just zooming around in those things is. 

 

Yesterday I flew from Skywalker Ranch, to San Francisco City Hall just by following the roads that I thought might lead me there without looking at a map and only using the compass. I have never been there in real life, but know I think I would find my way to Marin County if I would drive this route back by car. 

The Photogrammetry of San Francisco is a bit lacking in quality compared to the Google version, but it is more than enough to get a good overview of places and recognize distinctive features.

Just now I tested the Area near Reute in Austria, to see wether the horrible stutters introduced a few SU back when using high definition Add On DEM are gone. And they are! So I just flew to Castle Neuschwanstein, made a low and slow hovering pass and then followed the road  I took 2 years ago on Vacation back to Imst and set myself on a grass field. All in mediocre but beatifully modelled weather.

It was all so recognizable, the scale, the spatial awareness and gave you.

And then the agility of helicopters that allows you to fly maneuvers in valleys that would kill you if you would ever try it with a GA fixed wing aircraft. I love it!

I kind of forgot the time and wondered why I am so hungry now. Turns out I already spent 3 hours flying around in various areas, just to see what they looked like and forgot the time. Now I think I need to fix myself some lunch.

 

Or one more hop...

 

Edited November 16, 20223 yr by Farlis

VR without a doubt makes it so much easier to fly helos, hover and land in tight spaces

I still use P3D and along with MSFS when flying helos, i always have the VR on for both platforms

Yes it’s great running flying around places you have been on holiday and  landing in your back garden etc 😎

Edited November 16, 20223 yr by Bozdog

1 hour ago, Bozdog said:

Yes it’s great running flying around places you have been on holiday and  landing in your back garden etc 😎

Or places that always held in intererst for you and you never got around to visiting. If there is good Photogrammetry available, either by default or as download, it is absolutely the best.

I just flew a late afternoon flight around Cape Town, to the obviously more affluent parts of town near Lion's head and then along the Tablemountain to Devi's Peak. where I hovered above the summit and looked around the landscape. It felt almost real, apart from the missing polygons along the summit. 😉

Flying these in VR has been a great highlight of this Update, one of the better highlights since SU2 belatedly introduced VR. I've had some fun with them in various places and flying with other players who I meet in the skies, here's some pics;

 

 

 

 

Edited November 16, 20223 yr by MarcG

How did you do that Marc? 😀

 

 

Edited November 18, 20223 yr by dogmanbird

1 hour ago, dogmanbird said:

How did you do that Marc? 😀

 

 

That's in the UI before you hit Fly, not at PC so can't say exactly where, somewhere in the Aircraft selection menus 🙂

the Guimbal eyepoint is wrong for vr, should be adjusted up like this in cameras.cfg:

eyepoint = -6.2, 0, 2.815

also, entry in
[CAMERADEFINITION.0]

should set the view angles to all zeros for vr:

InitialPbh = 0,0,0

 

Agree with this! If you haven't tried it, go for a 'spin' (🙃) round TNCM and St Barts ... it's great fun!

On 11/18/2022 at 9:15 PM, kdfw__ said:

the Guimbal eyepoint is wrong for vr, should be adjusted up like this in cameras.cfg:

eyepoint = -6.2, 0, 2.815

also, entry in
[CAMERADEFINITION.0]

should set the view angles to all zeros for vr:

InitialPbh = 0,0,0

 

One thing you can do, and I highly recommend this for VR, is to buy an Xbox controller.  It works with the PC and you can map the eyepoint controls to the joystick.  Not only and you quickly adjust your view in the cockpit, but you can actually get up from your seat and “walk” around the cabin in any plane with backseats or in something like the Fenix.  This also works well for the drone so you can virtually walk around the world after you’ve landed (for example).

On 11/24/2022 at 8:36 PM, VFXSimmer said:

One thing you can do, and I highly recommend this for VR, is to buy an Xbox controller.  It works with the PC and you can map the eyepoint controls to the joystick.  Not only and you quickly adjust your view in the cockpit, but you can actually get up from your seat and “walk” around the cabin in any plane with backseats or in something like the Fenix.  This also works well for the drone so you can virtually walk around the world after you’ve landed (for example).

Can you please show a print screen of the eyepoint controls mapping you did to the joystick. Thank you!