3 minutes ago, Tuskin38 said:

lmao one of the included liveries is for Air America. For those not in the know, Air America was a CIA front company from the 50s-70s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_America_(airline)

 

Seems a perfect tie in to the shows backstory 😁

How does the free Huey compare to DCS Huey (DCS: UH-1H Huey - without weapons)?
 

Finished all of the missions, they were a nice diversion from "normal" flight simming. With assists on it was overall a jog in the park, but I'm sure the skilled heli pilots will have some fun with this as it's more interactive than basic career missions.

More than just a promo for Stranger Things though, these missions feel like a tech demo made for developers to showcase how far you can go with the SDK. The hundreds (if not more) of custom assets for the town of Hawkings, the unique animations, the mission triggers and scripting, even complete scene changes. If this stuff was available pre-SU4, it definitely wasn't utilized in any career mode mission I've played or addon I've seen.

I see an obvious addon opportunity for the first dev cheeky and skilled enough to go all in, and I'll even write up the marketplace description for them:

Quote

Contra-band  "Precious Cargo" Simulator. Test your bush skills by flying out of and into the most challenging handcrafted remote airstrips. Avoid radar detection by hugging the treetops. Spotted? Land between the trees and hide from the enemies trying to steal your cargo. Airdrop your cargo or land for additional bonuses. With dozens of missions and multiple ways to complete each, "Precious Cargo" Simulator will provide hours of new challenges to fly again and again!

The above would sell like hotcakes. And obviously there are plenty of more "legitimate" use cases. If MSFS allowed destruction you could do full milsim scenarios, but even without you could probably fake it with scripting and "mission failed" criteria. I'm not sure how customizable the "scene changes" are, but I could see firefighting missions where the destruction is based on how well you performed the last flight. If that spotlight of the Huey can interact with objects on the ground, you could do "LAPD Car Chase" missions. Doesn't get any more real than that!

Looking forward to trying this out. Even in the unlikely event that I don't enjoy it, it will be nice to have the free Huey. 

 

I found the missions to be a blast. I'm not a heli pilot and my set up isn't great for it so it was a little frustrating at times trying to control a hover, but the concepts within the missions structures were really fun. The 2nd mission in particular I thought was great w/ needing quick reaction time. Plus I love Stranger Things, so it was pretty awesome to explore Hawkins. They really did a great job w/ this.

AvAngel did a vid also.

dd

Trying to fly this thing with rudder pedals, Winwing joystick (X/Y) and thrustmaster Boeing throttle (collective).

Struggling here trying to hover and land. Crashing multiple times. The takeoff and flying is borderline okay.

Any tips?!

Edited December 11, 2025Dec 11 by MikeV1

28 minutes ago, MikeV1 said:

Trying to fly this thing with rudder pedals, Winwing joystick (X/Y) and thrustmaster Boeing throttle (collective).

Struggling here trying to hover and land. Crashing multiple times. The takeoff and flying is borderline okay.

Any tips?!

You need to upgrade to an XBOX controller.  😅

dd

31 minutes ago, MikeV1 said:

Trying to fly this thing with rudder pedals, Winwing joystick (X/Y) and thrustmaster Boeing throttle (collective).

Struggling here trying to hover and land. Crashing multiple times. The takeoff and flying is borderline okay.

Any tips?!

I'm guessing you're using one of the higher-end WinWing bases that doesn't have the twist axis? Something hacky you could try would be using the knob on the throttle to control yaw. I'm guessing it would work like the momentary press of the keyboard but at least would be intuitive since you just turn it in the direction you want to go and stop when you want to stop.

Otherwise, like Sky said above, an Xbox controller (or any cheap controller) would do. Worth picking one up anyway since they are great for the drone cam!

1 hour ago, Funky D said:

2 hours ago, MikeV1 said:

Trying to fly this thing with rudder pedals, Winwing joystick (X/Y) and thrustmaster Boeing throttle (collective).

Struggling here trying to hover and land. Crashing multiple times. The takeoff and flying is borderline okay.

Any tips?!

Expand  

I'm guessing you're using one of the higher-end WinWing bases that doesn't have the twist axis? Something hacky you could try would be using the knob on the throttle to control yaw.

But @MikeV1 says he has pedals?

Small inputs, practice, practice, practice. Rinse repeat. Small inputs. Practice some more.

(I'm still barely at the stage of "at least I'm not crashing most of the time". Helos are hard.)

2 hours ago, MikeV1 said:

Trying to fly this thing with rudder pedals, Winwing joystick (X/Y) and thrustmaster Boeing throttle (collective).

Struggling here trying to hover and land. Crashing multiple times. The takeoff and flying is borderline okay.

Any tips?!

Turning down the sensitivity curve will help some.  MSFS twitchy controls make helicopter flying a little more difficult.

Are you running into VRS?  You need to keep your descent rate below around 500 fpm to avoid it, and as you slow down, you need to add power.  

You've got to be ahead of those things.  

PS Turn on ALL the assistance options when you've had enough. You're supposed to be having fun! 

2 hours ago, martinboehme said:

But @MikeV1 says he has pedals?

Doh, I read that as without pedals.

In addition to what the others suggested, depending on your pedals it may help to add a dead zone (especially if your pedals stick at all or the springs require some extra push to get them going). I found it actually helped to make my pedals more sensitive so I could make smaller movements. I did this by setting an extremity zone, so basically the pedal hits full deflection in the sim before they are fully pressed. For my old CH Pro Pedals I used a 0.04 dead zone and -0.4 extremity zone. You can set this only for the helicopter profiles by checking the "Device input curve override" box under the control assignments. Oh, and just in case, make sure you are mapping to the tail rotor axis and not some other axes!

And also, like Martin said, the assistance options are a must... I have tried a bit without and can only assume it would take dozens of hours of practice to get somewhat proficient. And if you want to take on that challenge, there is a great heliport in Tokyo just NE of the airport. There was a great video on YouTube with tips at this heliport but unfortunately I can't find it. The built-in training mission also isn't too bad to get the basics, just expect to practice a lot... and take care of ergonomics beforehand! I had a sore shoulder for days after practicing too many hours.