Autorotate on choppers doing emergency landing?

[Kynxx 0]

hello. i have a small question. and so far i'm not sure where i should ask this question. but here it comes:

15 minutes ago i tried to do a emergency landing with a chopper in ArmA. i were flying in high altitude. then i shut down the engine. when i was falling to the ground i couln't handle the chopper in any way. face straight to the ground and crashed. IRL, the props on the chopper autorotates when engine is stopped cause of the wind when the chopper is falling to the ground in 40 - 100 km/h when almost crashing to the ground. then the pilot can take the "joystick" and take it backwards. and preform a controlled landing. in ArmA: BOOM! so i wonder. can some of the devs of ArmA come up with such a thing? autorotate when falling to the ground with no engine power. i think this will be a very plecent thing if flying, emptying the gas tank and is too late to reach the ground before engine power is turned off due to no gas. sorry for writing in bad english. and i hope people will understand what i mean. BTW: ArmA is a great game. cheers to all those who made this war simulator.

[andersson 285]

You can auto-rotate.

Read about it here.

[somebloke 0]

edit, nevermind

[Kynxx 0]

i know it's a game. but still. i dont like using the eject button hehe. i want to land a helicopter even if it is a emergency landing. for example: when crashlanding in a area with lots of friendly troops. jumping out will maybe be a disaster. due to the risk hitting friendly forces. if i can control the helicopter, i can warn friendly troops when crashlanding. and maybe make it land somewhere safe. if someone should die. it's me. in the chopper. i'm the pilot. not other running around on the ground not knowing a huge chopper dropping on their heads and even if i have troops in the back. they shouldnt have to flee only because of a emergency landing. something can even go wrong then too.

andersson: thanks for the link. i will try this now and see how it works.

[gumby123 0]

it was in 1.05 and only worked for the blackhawks, but then bis commited suicide by releasing 1.07 beta and apparently the autorotation went bye bye.

plus you need to be going straight for some reason in order for it to work. oh well

[LeftSkidLow 1]

it was in 1.05 and only worked for the blackhawks, but then bis commited suicide by releasing 1.07 beta and apparently the autorotation went bye bye.

plus you need to be going straight for some reason in order for it to work. oh well

I don't know about the Blackhawks but I was doing autos in the MH-6 last night with 1.07, I did try to do a 180 auto and it just isn't possible your rotor RPM will decay in a turn (which is the opposite of what happens in a real auto).

[4 IN 1 0]

a) it is there since OFP

b) it is there since ArmA 1.00

c) it is very possible for most chopper in the game

d) it is only possible if you use time to train up the skill you need

e) a bit OT for AM:D

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Quote[/b] ]I don't know about the Blackhawks but I was doing autos in the MH-6 last night with 1.07, I did try to do a 180 auto and it just isn't possible your rotor RPM will decay in a turn (which is the opposite of what happens in a real auto).

It's simple, man. I don't know what keys you blokes have mapped, but I just hold Z once my RPMs start dropping, and the rotors stay turning easily long enough for me to get to the ground and/or nearby trees.

The chopper doesn't "glide" in an ArmA autorotate, it goes down, however it goes down at a survivable rate. All you have to remember is that if you stop descending, your RPMs will decay and it's a pile of debris for you and your chopper. You can turn, but you have to be descending simultaneously to keep the rotors turning.

Once you hit the ground, run, run for your life, cause every tank within 3km will have you lined up on their uberradars.

[LeftSkidLow 1]

I managed to get a 180 degree auto from 200m just a min ago, but its all screwed up how rotor RPM builds in arma, I had to do almost the opposite of what you said and slow down my rate of decent with aft cyclic through the turn while bleeding off airspeed and it still almost decayed to the point of no return. This was the only way I could get it to work. In a real auto as soon as you crank in the turn your rate of decent increases because you now are using some horizontal component of lift and not all vertical, as the rate of decent increases more upflow is introduced to the rotor disc and you have to actually check some collective to keep the rotor RPM from exceeding the limits. As you roll out of the turn and begin the flare you have this excessive rate of decent from the turn coupled with exposing the rotor disc to even more upflow from flare itself and just tons of RPM to work with to put it down safe. In arma it just bogs down down down almost too much, then you flare and you are on the deck hard, and thats if you are lucky.

[Kynxx 0]

everything still goes "BOOM" for me ;P

[Maddmatt 1]

Autorotation doesn't seem to work in 1.07. The chopper just explodes even if it had no damage before. It works in 1.05 though and will hopefully work again in 1.08 which will be out on Monday,

[Kynxx 0]

then i cant wait for monday.

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Autorotation doesn't seem to work in 1.07. The chopper just explodes even if it had no damage before. It works in 1.05 though and will hopefully work again in 1.08 which will be out on Monday,

Lies, all lies. I'm sick of hearing "autorotation doesn't exist in version blah blah blah." It has worked in all versions, and if people can't get it to work, then they're just crap pilots.

Here's an exciting little montage I just made for you, using the latest v1.07 beta. It basically involves myself piloting an AH-1, and a little radio-activated trigger which removes all my fuel when activated, thus rendering my engine useless.

Watch, and for the love of god, don't say autorotation doesn't exist after I manage to set the bird down with minimal damage from 200 metres in the air.

Note: altitude 196. Just about to activate the trigger.

Note: altitude 146. No fuel, rotors still at good RPMs.

Note: altitude 57. No fuel, rotors still turning. About to ease up on the controls to soften my landing a bit.

One landed AH1, if you please. Now, tell me how I managed to land my chopper if autorotation isn't working, hmm?

[Kynxx 0]

so i have to have the helicopter in this angle all the way down? horisontal? ;P (i know that question makes me look dumb, but i had to ask)

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Not necessarily, I made the example overly simple, for people who have trouble coping with more difficult concepts.  

Of course, if you want to survive the landing, the horizontal position is usually a good way to go.

[Kynxx 0]

ok. i'll give it a try. and will record with fraps. then post a link here troubleshooting if i'm doing totally wrong

[Kynxx 0]

yes! i made it. here is a link to the video i recorded with FRAPS: http://dump.no/files/343e0ddc57e0/ArmA_emergency_landing.wmv - size: 9,83mb

[CameronMcDonald 146]

OK, incontrovertible proof.

So, here I am flying along in my HueyCobra at speed over Rahmadi, when, oh shit! I accidentally pushed the "dump fuel all at once" button!

"Good golly cap'n," quips my gunner, "it's a good thing nasty ole Suma and co. programmed this thing with autorotation abilities! And heck, even in the 1.7 beta!"

"Damn straight," I say as I straighten my trucker's cap, setting the chopper up for a flare and emergency landing.

Autorotation Video - v1.7 BETA - size, about 6MB.

[Kynxx 0]

hehe. now i know why i didnt make it in the first time. well. i must say thanks. i learned something very useful today. the video from my last post proves it. i landed and survived. even in 1,07 beta ;P

[Maddmatt 1]

...

That's good, but I still find that the chopper seems to take more damage in 1.07. Care to write, step by step, what you did?

The fact that the chopper still takes some damage bugs me, since if you have some serious damage from a shilka or vulcan, it makes it nearly impossible to land and survive. It's easier to just eject, which shouldn't be possible (except in the KA-50, which has an ejection system in real life according to what I've read). A real chopper shouldn't take damage in a landing like in that clip, should it?

[Maddmatt 1]

I just tried doing autorotation in both 1.07 and 1.05. I put my cobra 200m in the air and did what was shown in the montage on the previous page.

In 1.07 my chopper just blew up all the time, but in 1.05 I landed even harder and survived.

I am using the 5157 build of 1.07, from here.

I don't see why I can do it fine in 1.05, but in 1.07 I just can't. My landing wasn't any harder than what was shown in the video.

So a step-by-step guide please?

[CameronMcDonald 146]

You need to ease up on the Z (or whatever you're using to descend) when nearing the ground, or you'll smack down but good.

Here we go.

1. Engine stops, or heli runs out of fuel. As soon as the rotors start dropping in RPM (should be immediately) press Z (or whatever you're using to descend for controls). Hold Z until I tell you not to hold Z.

2. You will need to bleed speed, if moving quickly. Check my video for reference. Flare with your chopper until you've reached (hopefully) -5 to 5 airspeed. 0 is preferable. Note that you may gain a little altitude during this part, but don't let go of Z, if you do, the rotors will stop, and you'll be very dead very quickly.

3. You should now be moving slowly, while descending. Continue to do so, don't hesitate, keep Z pressed. When you are about 5-15 or so metres from impact, let go of Z to slow your descent. Your chopper should "flop" to the ground, taking very little damage (see montage, and also my video - in the video I took almost no damage full stop), I'm not sure if Kynxx let go of Z, he struck the ground pretty hard.

Good luck.

[Maddmatt 1]

The problem was that I wasn't increasing throttle just before I hit the ground (in some cases I was, but too late or too soon).

In 1.05 I took about the same small amount of damage as shown in the video. In 1.07 I survived, but took major damage (about 70%). So it does seem as though the choppers are much weaker in 1.07.

Anyway thanks for that

[Daniel 0]

Quote[/b] ]You need to ease up on the Z (or whatever you're using to descend) when nearing the ground, or you'll smack down but good.

Thanks for the tip.

[LeftSkidLow 1]

OK, incontrovertible proof.

So, here I am flying along in my HueyCobra at speed over Rahmadi, when, oh shit! I accidentally pushed the "dump fuel all at once" button!

"Good golly cap'n," quips my gunner, "it's a good thing nasty ole Suma and co. programmed this thing with autorotation abilities! And heck, even in the 1.7 beta!"

"Damn straight," I say as I straighten my trucker's cap, setting the chopper up for a flare and emergency landing.

Autorotation Video - v1.7 BETA - size, about 6MB.

Very weird technique but it worked, I've been trying to do them the way they are done in the real world and it doesn't always work. If you did an auto the way you do in the real world, it would still auto rotate all the way down but everyone would die, when you hit the ground. You are doing 0 airspeed autos, which basically use a much higher rate of descent to maintain the same upflow required to keep the rotor RPM in the green. They are only done with very high power recoveries because there is no way to arrest the enormous rate of descent required, well except for hover autos but thats not quite the same. Anyway I have to remember this is Arma and you have to do what works in ArmA not real life, I'll try to get a youtube of the way I'm doing them in a little while.

Edit: can you upload the fuel script somewhere I get tired of flying for 20 seconds waiting for the fuel to run out.