Autorotation landing

[Rynthas 0]

It'd be really nice if there was a more obvious indicator of engine failure. The current alarm would be a good pick, I think. Most of the time when my engine dies due to small arms fire hitting my helo, I don't notice until it's too late to throttle down, just because my only cue is audio. By the time it sounds like it is dead, I'm already well on my way to a nasty wreck.

[jmclaugh 0]

Okay.. increasing the collective increases the lift of the rotor but also increases the drag.   You can imagine this uses up energy, slowing down the rotor.  Decreasing it decreases lift and drag.  You can imagine this loads the rotor with energy.

So, what you want to do when autorotating (that is, having the rotor rotate itself), is load the rotor with energy so you can use it later to slow the decent of the aircraft down.  What you want to do is load the rotor with as much energy as possible in the initial stages by slamming down the collective and pitching forward to get some airspeed.  Then you want to return to neutral pitch as you decend.  Finally, when you flair, pull back on the stick and return the collective to neutral.  If you're about to smash into the ground, ram the collective up, which will take all of the energy out of the rotors and put it into decellerating the helicopter one final bit.

Actually, you do not want to pitch forward. You want to maintain as even and neutral a pitch as possible. When you pitch forward, you're actually reducing airflow under the rotors which will allow them to slow down (probably not as quickly as if you had not decreased collective in RL, but I don't know how much fidelity there is in game to simulate this).

I got this information in the previously posted wiki article (it even has graphics to explain why you don't pitch forward), and it definitely does apply in game. If I don't pull back on the stick and level off relatively quickly I find that I crash and burn on landing a LOT more often than if I do level off.

FSX is a great game to practice autorotation in as well, and if you can master it there you can certainly handle it in ARMA. The only part more difficult in ARMA is the unrealisticly rapid loss of rotor RPM if you don't pretty much preemptively lower collective. In real life, and in FSX, you definitely have at least a slightly larger amount of time to do it.

[max power 21]

Okay.. increasing the collective increases the lift of the rotor but also increases the drag. You can imagine this uses up energy, slowing down the rotor. Decreasing it decreases lift and drag. You can imagine this loads the rotor with energy.

So, what you want to do when autorotating (that is, having the rotor rotate itself), is load the rotor with energy so you can use it later to slow the decent of the aircraft down. What you want to do is load the rotor with as much energy as possible in the initial stages by slamming down the collective and pitching forward to get some airspeed. Then you want to return to neutral pitch as you decend. Finally, when you flair, pull back on the stick and return the collective to neutral. If you're about to smash into the ground, ram the collective up, which will take all of the energy out of the rotors and put it into decellerating the helicopter one final bit.

Actually, you do not want to pitch forward. You want to maintain as even and neutral a pitch as possible. When you pitch forward, you're actually reducing airflow under the rotors which will allow them to slow down (probably not as quickly as if you had not decreased collective in RL, but I don't know how much fidelity there is in game to simulate this).

I got this information in the previously posted wiki article (it even has graphics to explain why you don't pitch forward), and it definitely does apply in game. If I don't pull back on the stick and level off relatively quickly I find that I crash and burn on landing a LOT more often than if I do level off.

FSX is a great game to practice autorotation in as well, and if you can master it there you can certainly handle it in ARMA. The only part more difficult in ARMA is the unrealisticly rapid loss of rotor RPM if you don't pretty much preemptively lower collective. In real life, and in FSX, you definitely have at least a slightly larger amount of time to do it.

I'm talking about ArmA only. You do what works for you. I find the extra forward speed really helps in flaring.

[OblivionX 0]

I dont know about you guys, but I would scream so loud that the people on the ground thought it was a Stuka attack.

Autorotation on YouTube 2

[4 IN 1 0]

I dont know about you guys, but I would scream so loud that the people on the ground thought it was a Stuka attack.

Autorotation on YouTube 2

it have always been very rapid to do this, but your sence of speed is limited for the fact that its a video game

No flare one could only be used on a wheeled landing gear it seems?

[OblivionX 0]

I dont know about you guys, but I would scream so loud that the people on the ground thought it was a Stuka attack.

Autorotation on YouTube 2

it have always been very rapid to do this, but your sence of speed is limited for the fact that its a video game

Yeah you must feel the speed in your whole body in real life, just like a rollercoaster ride. Well Im gonna go and check this out in ArmA. I never knew it could be done, either in ArmA or in real life. Thanks for the heads up.

[Guest]

Slightly offtopic....

But

Im looking to recruit really good helicoptor pilots for the Iraq movie Im working on. If you can pass the stunt course, then you could be one of the main pilots fo the scenes we are filming.

back on topic.... I also read Chickenhawk almost 20 years ago. Absolutely great book, I picked up again and reread it again recently. A must read for any huey enthusiasts.

[andersson 285]

From version history patch 1.08:

Air.pbo

Ah1Z fire geometry fix

2D optics models enlarged for 16:9 aspect

config.cpp

        set damageResistance

        balanced helicopter armor and hitzones, so they survive emergency landing but remain vulnerable to AA gunfire

Tweeked texture of 2D optic

[Daniel 0]

Brilliant! Especially good news for units that don't like using respawn. Guess now we have to drag our downed pilots' asses out of the shit.

[celery 8]

Last night I saved my squad by autorotating my Littlebird to the ground after getting a nasty hit by a Shilka. One unnamed fellow panicked and jumped to his death but the rest were pretty happy with me.