As Steam's Winter Sale is alive, I think I'm jumping in to X-Plane 12. I will mostly fly helicopters. I have tried MSFS 2020 and 2024 helicopter physics and quite familiar with them. Can I expect XP-12 default helicopters provide better than the two sims? Thank you.

Edited December 22, 20241 yr by History

What hardware do you use to simulate the helicopter flight?

Just now, polosim said:

What hardware do you use to simulate the helicopter flight?

I have been just recently interested in flying helos after taking a break from warbirds. Just casual twist grip Saitek and no dedicated collective hardware. 

Default R22 is really good, S76 not so much.

Overall the Helicoptor flight dynamic is very good, some add-ons can get it's full potential.

Rotorsim EC135 is a good freeware to add.

XP helos are generally better.

My fav payware is the SA 315 and the JRX b407. I like them better than anything I have in MSFS.

There's a couple good freeware helos on the .org forums.

Oh-58D Kiowa Warrior

HSF Alouette III

3 hours ago, History said:

Just casual twist grip Saitek

Your going to need peddles.

Thanks. For now I am not really concerned about pedals. It's more to a fundamental comparison of MSFS and Xplane helicopter physics.

 

 

1 hour ago, History said:

Thanks. For now I am not really concerned about pedals. It's more to a fundamental comparison of MSFS and Xplane helicopter physics.

 

 

Than you are going to need pedals.

There are some notorious differences between helicopters and their flight dynamics modeling among the two platforms.

MSFS ( 20 and 24 ) helis still leave a lot to be desired. They're much different from what we had in FSX and P3D, excluding maybe the exceptional Dodosim 206 which used an "external fdm", but still have some really basic flaws, both aerodynamics and engine / systems modelling wise. I don't like any, including the "external" fdm FlyInside...

In X-Plane you can find many options, payware and freeware. Those mentioned by @UrgentSiesta above are excellent choices!

Check: Helicopters - Rotorcraft XP12 - X-Plane.Org Forum for the freeware...

16 hours ago, jcomm said:

There are some notorious differences between helicopters and their flight dynamics modeling among the two platforms.

MSFS ( 20 and 24 ) helis still leave a lot to be desired. They're much different from what we had in FSX and P3D, excluding maybe the exceptional Dodosim 206 which used an "external fdm", but still have some really basic flaws, both aerodynamics and engine / systems modelling wise. I don't like any, including the "external" fdm FlyInside...

In X-Plane you can find many options, payware and freeware. Those mentioned by @UrgentSiesta above are excellent choices!

Check: Helicopters - Rotorcraft XP12 - X-Plane.Org Forum for the freeware...

Thank you.

Just made a first flight last night. IMHO, indeed, the flight dynamic is different, and it is more convincing. Hovering is realistically manageable, and torque is more believable.

 

 

5 hours ago, History said:

Thank you.

Just made a first flight last night. IMHO, indeed, the flight dynamic is different, and it is more convincing. Hovering is realistically manageable, and torque is more believable.

 

 

and autorotations, for instance, provide you with the possibility to use real world techniques... 

glad you liked it !

Here's a list of freeware helicopter options: