Just a few tips for those looking to get into helicopters:

You definitely need to set up custom controls.  Helis have a separate profile anyway.  Cyclic, collective and anti torque pedals are different than airplane controls.  Search Youtube for "msfs 2024 helicopter controls" and there's a bunch of good youtubers like P Gatcomb (not all heli stuff, but his heli stuff is really good and basic).  Matthew Crawford is very good.  Beelatu42 is a real life helicopter pilot who has some really good videos.  

Next, look for some real world videos on how helicopters fly.  "Helicopter lessons in 10 minutes or less" is a really good crash course.  Know what vortex ring state is (VRS?)?  You need to.  It isn't hard to learn, but there's a lot of things that if you don't understand the concepts, you'll get frustrated.  

Normally I'd say just jump in and get a feel for it.  However with helis, take a little time to learn the basics.  You don't have to go crazy, but you'll learn much faster if you understand why things happen.  

 

As both a real world and sim helicopter pilot I believe THE GOTO site for helicopters is HeliSimmer.com.

Along with the rest of the site, his How to Fly Helicopters tutorial is the best out there.

https://www.helisimmer.com/how-to-fly-helicopters

 

Edited December 11, 2025Dec 11 by PhrogPhlyer

On 12/10/2025 at 7:59 PM, ryanbatc said:

But helicopters in 2024 are pretty fun!

Thanks again for your help on this.  The only question I have now is I'm not able to have any effective elevator trim so with my yoke which is spring centered it's a constant push.  I can def control the bird okay but was hoping for longer traverses to avoid the constant pressure.