How the heck do you guys mange to hover?

[soupdragon 10]

I have the new Helo DLC and I am only just now trying to fly any of the helos in ARMA 3. I am having a real problems trying to hover the choppers.

I use an X55 and have followed Dislexi's advice regarding axis settings and deadzones, but I find that the chopper is either moving forward slightly or going backwards slightly and I just can't seem to hit the sweet spot, the controls seem to be hyper-sensitive. What settings do you guys use for your axis and deadzones?

I can fly and hover fine in DCS but this is starting to become a lesson in frustration.

Do you guys use the auto hover function?

Cheers

SD

[warlord554 2065]

i'll engage auto hover and then disengage when stable, but im just lazy and its easy :)

[Night 1]

Even without the advanced flight model I still tend to drift around a bit. I think its just practice so you get to the point where you can control it better and better and eventually being able to think and act before the heli makes any drifting movements.

[firemane 0]

I have an X-55 too.

Lower sensitivity to around 20% on all axis. Do this for the throttle too. Make sure your throttle is mapped ONLY to one of your twin throttles. If you map both they add up, which gives you some trouble managing collective and torque.

Map your manual trim set and manual trim release to something handy.

Before starting your mission or taking in troops make sure you come to the closest possible approximation to a hover and set your manual trim. It is okay to have a bit of forward speed, but you should keep it under 20 kmph. Once you trim to a hover you can let go of the controls to test it. It should make things easier for short hops. If you have a stable wind you may want to do this facing the wind direction.

Look at your third Gauge from the left. There is a cross on the center. The intersection point or center corresponds to the point where your mass is balanced and you are hovering (simplified explanation). If you put the white dot on the center of the cross you'll have a hover. That's your indication for pitch and roll. As for yaw, press your yaw control (pedals? or joystick twist axis) until the "winged V" in your HUD lines up with the wandering flight path indicator.

[forteh 11]

When you're trimming do you use the trim set/release or do you bind the individual directional trims to hat switches? When trimming with the set/release I guess you get the controls in a steady position and press the switch? For some reason that doesn't work for me and if I re-centre the stick after setting stable it drifts all over :(

I use a warthog with rcs pedals, I have to set sensitivity to pretty much zero otherwise it is uncontrollable.

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

You can't just hold still, you must constantly change and fiddle in order to maintain a perfect hover.

[ajsarge 10]

How do I hover? Very carefully.

But really...

If you watched Dslyecxi's videos, you should remember him talking about "being ahead of the helicopter." This means knowing what will happen to your bird when you apply your controls a certain way in a certain situation, and what you need to do to get the desired result.

If you're moving forward slowly, and you pull back on the stick, you should know that you'll slow your forward velocity, then eventually you'll start moving backwards. If you're trying to move into a hover, you'll need to first slow the helicopter with aft cyclic. Because the controls aren't instantaneous, "being ahead of the helicopter" means that you know you need to apply forward cyclic and level the chopper before it starts moving backwards. The better you are, the closer to 0 you'll get. If you over-shoot or under-shoot, you'll have to compensate. Often, this results in a see-saw motion that becomes even harder to correct. At that point, it's easier to get moving again (a "go-around" or "wave-off") and try it again.

Unfortunately, it's not that easy in action. Practice makes perfect!

[firemane 0]

When you're trimming do you use the trim set/release or do you bind the individual directional trims to hat switches? When trimming with the set/release I guess you get the controls in a steady position and press the switch? For some reason that doesn't work for me and if I re-centre the stick after setting stable it drifts all over.

I have both types mapped. Hat-trim is not very useful. I use it for minor (micro-tap-tap!) corrections after I've set my manual trim. In other words, fine tuning.

As Dark side says, some drift is unavoidable, if only due to shifting wind direction and speed. The idea is to trim to the point where...

- You only need minor corrections to keep in the general area.

- Releasing the controls will take you to a relatively stable state rather than instantly losing control and performing the maneuver known as "the inverted lawnmower of fiery death".

- You only have to deal with the "delta" (or difference from) the hover when on final approach and landing, rather than the unruly behavior of your particular platform. Meaning that you can better predict and stay ahead of the helo by canceling some of its natural tendency to try and murder you. Specially the mediums and lights.

- You seem to be actually performing a graceful air ballet rather than an 8 second Rodeo.

[DancZer 65]

The easiest way if you pick one near object and watch it how it's move and your helicopter based on that. If the object moving out of your perspective, search for another. E.g.: lamp post, tree, brush, tower

In real live you feel the movement of the helicopter, in AFM you can use the accelerometer and maintain hover based on that.

In AFM it is really hard to maintain hovering/landing if you use keyboard+mouse.