I have never been able to fly the choppers in FS but have recently (last week) been sticking to it and I'm finally understanding the 'balancing on a ball' concept required to fly. I was wondering if one of you guys could do a flight recording in a helicopter, just flying around the airport illustrating take offs a landings, perhaps a few of each. That way I can play it back and ride along in the cockpit or any other angle of my choosing. It would be greatly appreciated.

I will try but I play FSX on a different PC and it doesn't have the internet set up so I can't use Fraps. I will try it with the flight recorder but the file might be to big and it probably won't have any audio instruction from me. I will see what I can do about the voice but don't hold your breath about it. Would you like the video shot from the inside (VC)or the outside (Locked Spot)? If it were me, I would want it shot from the inside so I could see the guages in case I'm not able to do voice. Please let me know and I will try and help you out.

Nah, I just need the visual. I don't need audio instructions. If you record with flight video via the recorder in FS, you can select to update ever 1/4 second (that is the smoothest). I can view it from any view from within flight sim. I will have to look for some flight videos I made, I'm not sure how big they are. I just assumed they were data files. Thank you

I just made a practice video and it was only 753kb, not bad for a 3-5min flight. Is there any specific airport that you would like me to film it at or any articular length of flight time? Would you like me to demonstrate any specific maneuvers? The nice thing about using FSX's flight recorder is, at any point in the video, you can hit escape and the video will end and your chopper will be doing exactly what mine was doing in the movie at the time you stopped it. Oh, I almost forgot, do you want me to film it with the R-22 or the JetRanger? Hopefully this will help you master helicopter flight. That will be a good thing if you want to use the EH-101 thats in the expansion pack. It looks sweet! ;-)

You have no idea how much I appreciate it. I suppose the only way I can pay you back is to try to learn from it the best I can. Either the R-22 or the JetRanger, whichever is better for a beginner, Probably the lighter one huh? . I just need to study the technique in taking off and landing. I am not sure how good you are but your name does imply that you like the choppers. Do whatever you want really but somewhere in there, take off from the numbers on one end of a runway and land on the numbers on the other end. See, I can take off decently (I am using a Logitech Freedom 2.4, I dont' have pedals) and I can land but I can't land where I want to. I don't crash (often) but I am not very accurate on the landings. I tried the mission in which you have to land on the building I'm not ready for that yet. So, whatever you wish to do, go for it. I will more than likely just enjoy the ride.Thanks a bunch!

Believe it or not, the JetRanger (the heavier one), is actually easier to learn on. The R-22 is less forgiving and the JetRanger is more stable and has more power. I am in the process of teaching one of my family members to fly choppers (in FSX) and I am using the JetRanger with them. If you have been using the R-22 and have made landings, good for you, it is tough to land for a beginner. I learned on the JetRanger first and the R-22 is harder to use unless you know what you are doing. I don't have pedals either, as long as your joystick has a twistgrip you're fine. I just bought a Saitek X52, and wouldn't trade it for any joystick on the market. It is very sturdy AND has lots of great features. I found mine new for less than $100 on Amazon. You are right, my username is related to helicopters, the Bell 417 specifically, which was a more powerful version of the 407 but it was cancelled this year.:( If I had to rate my FS chopper pilot capabilities on a 1-10 scale, 1 being bad and 10 being excellent, I would probably give myself an 8.5 or a 9 (note I am very good but most of my flying is nap of the earth so I do crash some times, mainly due to the lack of peripheral vision in FS). I find it is easiest to not concentrate on making a perfect hover and then lowering your chopper to the ground. I usually make a low approach, slow down, and then land with a slight forward momentum. I can land vertically but I usually don't becuase it is harder and I rarely fly in winds less than 13 mph. Maybe you could do some of the helicopter tutorials and read up on helicopter flight in the "Learning Center". Send me a PM and we can communicate that way if you prefer.

Well, I will post this here since it might be of interest to others. Here is a YouTube video of a guy doing flight training in the R22 (in cockpit). http://youtube.com/user/cdcomcardIt helps a little but I can't get a feel for it in those videos. I will have to check into that Saitek stick if I keep with the choppers. How is the stiffness of the stick? I would imagine that it would be easier if there wasn't so much tension, like on the Logitech stick. I do fairly well I suppose since I am just starting out and have been concentrating on making slight movements in everything I do. As for the choice of which to fly, I think you're right about the stability of the R22. I had a flight saved with the R22 so that is really the only reason I have used it. I will take your advice and try the JetRanger. Anyway, we can continue via PM.

The default choppers in fsx are a joke. The ones in fs9 are much more accurate to reality from a feel standpoint, although still poor from a flight model standpoint. They dumbed them down considerably for the arcade crowd of fsx. There are some very nice upgrade addons for fsx that have come out recently that are much twitchier like the real machines. Alphasim's apache is very nice and fun to fly even though its VC is very lightly modeled, and Aerosoft's seahawk just came out last week and it is very, very nice with many systems modeled and many to come later with a future patch. I would stay away from the fsx bell if you are looking for anything approaching reality. The r22 is more realistic from a feel standpoint but the fact that when you are doing 70 knots and you drop the collective and the heli drops like a rock just aggravates me to no end. The feel is there but the flight model is awful. The real feel and flight model is the dodosim advanced bell for fs9. If they ever release it for fsx then it would be the best heli addon that money can buy....if they would ever release it that is.________________________________________________________________________________________________Intel D975XBX2 'Bad Axe 2' | Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3.20Ghz | 2 GB Super Talent DDR2 800 | Big Typhoon VX | eVGA 8800GTS @ 565/900 | Seagate 2x320GB SATA RAID-0 | OCZ GameXStream 700W | Creative X-Fi | Silverstone TJ-09BW | Matrox Triplehead Setup

Are you a real helo pilot?Just curious-I have two next to my real hanger.I wouldn't know myself-but you sound like you know what you are talking about...I assume you have lots of hours in helos..."They dumbed them down considerably for the arcade crowd of fsx"count me in(the fsx "arcade" crowd)-I only have almost 1000 hours of real time in singles and twins...not in helos so maybe don't have your perspective...http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpgForum Moderatorhttp://geofageofa.spaces.live.com/

>The default choppers in fsx are a joke. The ones in fs9 are>much more accurate to reality from a feel standpoint, although>still poor from a flight model standpoint. They dumbed them>down considerably for the arcade crowd of fsx. >>________________________________________________________________________________________________Yeah but for now, I need them dumbed down.

I share astrodaves view.It took me almost a year to master FS9 helis at 100% realism settings, but it's real fun if can fly those birds. FSX defauls helis are unresponsive and hover like a zeppelin. But you can add a line to the aircraft.cfg to bring back the FS9 feel. I think in the default FSX Bell there are three lines called something like "Yaw_Stability=1.0" "Pitch_Stability=1.0" ... thats not exactly what they are called, but there should be something like that (I'm still sicking with FS9). Change the number to 0.3 and you have FS9 like chopper feel. Still not realistic, but more responsive and challenging.GreetingsDocNobby

So I assume you are also a rw helo pilot?As I am in to reality-please ...give more specifics so the improvements can be added!I am farily certain aces will be taking notes.http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpgForum Moderatorhttp://geofageofa.spaces.live.com/

Well, I don't think there's anything in my last post that indicates I'm a rw pilot?I was talking about feeling, not knowing. I would be happy to hear the opinion of a rw chopper pilot on this topic. But in fact I've heared many opinion if people claiming to be rw pilots and since they were very diffrent it didn't really help me decide what's real. So I decided what feels real for me. I'm sorry, should have stated this more clearly in my las post. :-rotor

Visit http://members.shaw.ca/hoversafe/Hoversafe.htmIt's quite possible you can find some tips there on control settings, control handling and by going thru the lessons (which were originally designed for FS98 when the helicopter could *not* be dumbed down with the Realism slider).Worth a look.Contrary to what has been said above, the FS Jet Ranger, at full Realism is actually quite realistic, the R-22 isn't, at least my real world experience.Cal

>Visit http://members.shaw.ca/hoversafe/Hoversafe.htm>>It's quite possible you can find some tips there on control>settings, control handling and by going thru the lessons>(which were originally designed for FS98 when the helicopter>could *not* be dumbed down with the Realism slider).>>Worth a look.>>Contrary to what has been said above, the FS Jet Ranger, at>full Realism is actually quite realistic, the R-22 isn't, at>least my real world experience.>>Cal>Thanks, I actually stumbled across that site last night and read through alot of it.