zentaos

I can't say too much, because the instructor had the controls and we did the exercise during my first hour of training, for those having trouble: are you trying to set up a glide and transition to a run-on landing? a typical auto does not allow for a hover before landing you should aim for a short landing run of 20 ft or so. the only time my instructor did an auto with no forward speed was during HIGE maneuvers. someone with more time chime in and correct me if I'm wrong.

you could try GrabClipSave Or MGrab

In reality, they are a lot smaller than you would imagine. The MD500 series are pretty cramped machines. With the door closed, your shoulder is only about 2 inches or so from touching the window. With the door removed, and your seat belt on, it wouldn't be far fetched at all to be able to lean over enough so that your sight line was past the floor. The 412 might be a little more roomy.

can the doors be removed before flight so we could lean out to look down?

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=125891&page=2 I would rather have this guage than have to use auto hover. I like the challenge of trying to hover myself.

yes...this is exactly the problem, it's also very unnatural to use the z axis on the CH pedals. I found myself keeping my feet on the floor with my toes on the heel rest when using them that way. they are better than nothing but not optimal. I'm working on something to help those of us on a tight budget;)

You also have to remember that when a helicopter pilot says add right pedal, he is not saying " go back to center, and then add right pedal " It's hard to get this concept with a twist stick joystick. Its even hard to get this concept with self-centering pedals like CH, Saitek, or Logitech. By a suggestion of another forum member ( sorry, can't remember who) I use the toe brake axis' of my CH pedals for rudder control because it's closer to the toe pressure feeling in a real helicopter. It's still not quite right though, for obvious reasons:rolleyes:

Rotor systems by design are not going to transmit slot of feedback. A lot of the solutions to rotary wing flight would negate any feedback to the cyclic. Example ... Hinged blades that can lead, lag, and flap will absorb turbulence.

What are you using for controls? I had similar issues in the community preview, so I calibrated my joystick and found the y axis was having interference with the throttle axis. I replaced the joystick and all is well

Sorry...i meant each guage individually. I'm hoping to be able to have a hover type HUD. DEVS... look into this. something simple and unobtrusive that replaces the seat of the pants feedback you get from being in the aircraft. this would overlay in the center of your view, the dot in the center of the circle represents which direction the helicopter is moving/drifting. the number on the left is the ground speed. the number on the right is the vertical speed and direction. Simple, but very effective at replacing the inner ear feelings heli sim pilots don't get, and since it follows your view, it would give you the feedback you need to stay in control while you are looking down, or watching your sling load.

I do agree. the collective is not right. You do descend with flat pitch, but not very quickly with any forward airspeed above 40knts. you can lower the collective to flat, and then have to cruise around a bit to bleed off speed to begin a descent. I also am using expert difficulty and don't have to use the pedals much at all. Seems odd that the FM is not behaving the same for everyone. Like I said. It is getting better. It is improved over CP8444.

it would be nice to be able to move the guages independently, or turn off ones you don't want on the HUD.

I think the beta actually looks pretty damn good. BIS have done a great job and picked good compromises. I dont have the greatest system and I can run with decent settings and no stutters. I keep my resolution low at 1280 but it still looks very convincing. Most smart pilots don't fly much below 1000 ft anyway. That would be an uncomfortable amount of time in the dead man's curve. Q8200(quad core) @ 2.33GHz, 6GB ram, ATI 4650 1GB DDR3 I haven't run fraps to check my FPS yet and I don't really care what they are, I just know it flies smooth. Besides, I care more about how it flies than how it looks.

I too think this FM is much improved over the preview. The descent rate is speed dependent. It's getting better. You can't just drop the collective going 120knots and expect to stop on a dime. The collective, torque effects and anti torque rotor still need some work. The cyclic feels good though. the Heli's seem to jump in the air without ever getting light on the skids, and at only 20-30% collective. And you can pull aft cyclic with no collective pitch at all and set the tail on the ground. There doesn't seem to be enough torque induced yaw(nose turning right) with added collective, you barely have to give pedal input at all, or release it when collective is lowered. The pedals are sensitive enough, but not effective enough at full deflection, heli should spin much faster with full pedal. All in all, I'm very impressed with the beta.

I'd rather they didn't waste their time setting up a patch for download and install. The full game will be here in 22 days.

ahh...but what about dissymmetry of lift. it will roll ..., but don't forget gyroscopic precession, and this effect... I love all of these discussions. Some of us may have a good understanding of some of the physics at work in helicopter flight, but it is very difficult to understand them all working together and understand the effects that they will have and the control inputs required to counteract the effects. I have actually flown in an R22, I have less than 3 hours, and have ridden in the back seat of an Astar 350. So i have more experience than some. I still, however, no enough to understand that I really know very little. I can't wait to hear the impressions of all the real world licensed pilots on the flight model of the beta and full game, because they are the only ones who have a true understanding of all the forces working together.

iaxEadDSW1M build 84444 short video to show performance on an average system: Q8200 @ 2.33GHz, 6GB RAM, ATI4650HD w/1GBDDR3 Logitech ATK3, CH Pedals, TIR 2

In some of the videos I have seen a green military style telemetry HUD. How do I enable that?

I was really hoping that was not the case. I think the sim needs a "hover HUD". There are several HeliHUD's for Xplane and MSFS that really help handling the heli when your view is not centered. I posted about this here:http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=121033&page=52 The idea is that there is a simple HUD centered to your view, but unobtrusive, that will give you indication of attitude, direction, & vertical speed. I feel it is very important to have so as to replace the lack of inner ear(balance) feedback you would normally get from being seated in the heli. That way, if you are leaning over looking down at your slung load for drop off, you don't completely lose your sense of stability. the guages are helpful, but they don't show if you are translating sideways or backwards. and they are too far off center to be effective. And if they were centered, they would be obstructing your view. practice hovering without autotrim, manual trim, or autohover and try looking sideways and down. it is very hard to tell that the aircraft is shifting.

are all the axis' enabled in the TIR software profile?

+1 this. I did have the same problem. enable TIR where you customize controller inputs.

in most helicopters the PIC (pilot in command) sits on the right. unless they are instructing a student, then the student sits on the right, and the instructor ( still PIC) sits on the left.

I hope that the HUD is not disabled in Expert mode in the final release. I think it's a valuable replacement for situational awareness. Here's an example: say you're slinging a batch of Christmas trees on a logging site and you're leaning out the door looking down (or in the bubble if so equipped) as you approach the drop off to hit the box. see this video: you won't be looking at your guages to see your attitude. as a pilot you have "situational awareness" where you can feel minute movements, changes in pitch, balance, etc. I think the HUD is a good replacement. It should follow where you look giving you a ball in circle attitude indication, ground speed, vertical speed, and direction. my computer chair does not give me much feedback...

I agree. I had to disable the extra 3 axis, I only have pitch, yaw, and roll. (look up,down, left, right, and tilt left/right. the zoom in was ultra sensitive and there was no zoom out control. I have a good track IR curve, but I'm new to BIS games and don't know their internal settings.

most helicopter trim has electric motors on the cyclic. There are no trim tabs on the rotor blades like there are on fixed wing control surfaces. I have only ever been in two types of heli's, a Robinson R-22 which a have a very low 3.62 hours in my logbook for, and an Aerospatiale A350 Astar (squirrel) which I was in the back seat for the ride. A robinson has a right trim knob next to the mixture control. basically this takes the left pressure off the cyclic for cruising. you pull the knob, it relieves the left pressure you have to hold on the cyclic. The Astar had a top hat trim on the cyclic. The pilots told me, once you have your flight attitude established, you use the 4-way hat to relieve cyclic pressure. I've read that some systems have a "force trim" that is more like what BIS have done in TKoH. where you basically hit the button and the system removes all pressure from whatever position you have the cyclic in. to my knowledge, there aren't any trim controls for the pedals. you have to hold left pressure until you have enough forward speed that the vertical stabilizer takes effect and relieves pedal pressure. maybe some ships that have more sophisticated autopilot/autohover systems have pedal trim, but I have no experience with them. In aircraft, trim is not meant to help stabilize your flight, that's the pilot's job. Trim is meant to relieve control forces to reduce pilot work load to hold the desired aircraft attitude for cruising.