The helicopter training video is nice...but is there another way to somehow learn how to use the helicopters? It seems there is one speed...and how do you land? I was all over the sky...controls...where are they, aside from directional? Thanks.
Helicopter training
- Thread starter Stukadriver
- Start date
GO tutorial there's a "free map" sandbox where you a try transport and combat helicopters. Speed is set by a mixture of collective thrust and pitch.
I really hope they will add flight stick controls cause it's not all that easy / natural with mouse & keyboard.
Especially since you really need some free look & delicate controls at the same time which is hard to achieve with KB input.
I really hope they will add flight stick controls cause it's not all that easy / natural with mouse & keyboard.
Especially since you really need some free look & delicate controls at the same time which is hard to achieve with KB input.
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I have a problem with the landing on the sandbox map I phase through the ground 90% of the time when trying to land.
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Larbo;n2296263 said:
It don't matter where I land i still phase through. Even at the base when trying to land back at base on the sandbox
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Stukadriver;n2296079 said:
I only have a few hours in this game, but I do have 100s hours in H300 & H500 helicopters. To me the default M/K setup seemed clumsy so I use the following which seems more 'normal' to me or as much as you can without Pedals,Collective,Stick.
Advance Flight Model: Yes you lose too much collective control without.
Collective Lift Controls: Forward/Back Keys (W,S)
Mouse Turning: Roll Only
Keyboard Turning: Strafe Controls Yaw,Lean Controls Roll
Face look Keybind: Space (Hold) Walk Key (Space remapped to Walk from Jump)
Basically this allows Keys AWSD to control collective (up/down) and pedals (yaw) while mouse controls pitch and roll.
The main mistake I see from people flying helicopters in games is that they use pitch and collective incorrectly. In a plane you pitch up (pull stick back) to go higher, in a helicopter you use collective while maintaining the same degrees of pitch to maintain air speed. Low level flying in a helicopter isn't yanking the stick forward and back, its maintaining the same degree of pitch while lowering and raising the collective.
You can therefore fly across the map at 100kts just raising and lowering collective to clear obstacles. All helicopters are different and have an ideal air speed (pitch) for maximum rate of climb and descent.
Of course in a real helicopter you have to constantly balance every force, when ever you raise the collective the helicopter wants to yaw left at a faster rotation and vice versa when lowering. Game of course is very basic FM so don't need to consider that and prob just as well since no one would even be able to take off.
Landing I suggest just watching some videos of real helicopter operations. It's basically just a flare,level and then down at a velocity that wont break anything again this game FM is extremely forgiving on heavy landings. Normally you would fly a controlled decent, 500 feet 50kts 400 feet 40kts etc. Coming in low level at high speed requires a lot of practice, made harder in game since don't have TrackIR but also requires lot of instrument scanning.
However in game no wind to worry about, just dump the collective big flare 20/30 degrees in pitch, when airspeed drops to about 30 kts level off and land at under 20kts. Helicopters land and take off at low speeds very well and when heavily loaded it can be the only way to actually land or take off.
On instruments Airspeed,AGL and the Ball are most important, any instructor when your learning always yells ball ball, meaning the yaw is not center. Similar here, keep your eye on the ball its best indicator/aid in the game since there is no feedback through the seat.
Anyway its a big subject, devs here have done a good job imho just the maps are too small to really make helos effective.
Also I can highly recommend calling a local flight school just go for a 30 min ride with an instructor in a H300 great experience and he/she will go over all the basics.
Best of luck.
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Great input, Drakon! Thx.
A friend (now deceased) that flew the F-111 Aarvark in Vietnam and was a crop duster here for years before cancer took him, said he never could master helicopter flight. By chance, a fellow Vietnam vet was transporting a Bell UH-1 Iroquois to an airshow had mechanical problems and landed at his airstrip. The two of them got be good friends and when they shared some of their stories it was most interesting. (Wish I'd had a tape recorder going). Anyway, once it was repaired, Jackie tried flying the Huey but just never got the hang of it. I found it interesting that he could fly at mach speeds in an F-111 and just feet off the ground in his Cessna crop dusting, but couldn't manipulate a helicopter. Totally different experience (I'm sure he'd have gotten the hang of it with training).
A friend (now deceased) that flew the F-111 Aarvark in Vietnam and was a crop duster here for years before cancer took him, said he never could master helicopter flight. By chance, a fellow Vietnam vet was transporting a Bell UH-1 Iroquois to an airshow had mechanical problems and landed at his airstrip. The two of them got be good friends and when they shared some of their stories it was most interesting. (Wish I'd had a tape recorder going). Anyway, once it was repaired, Jackie tried flying the Huey but just never got the hang of it. I found it interesting that he could fly at mach speeds in an F-111 and just feet off the ground in his Cessna crop dusting, but couldn't manipulate a helicopter. Totally different experience (I'm sure he'd have gotten the hang of it with training).
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Yes just training, takes about 10 hours just to be able to control basic hover at low alt, hovering at higher alt more skill since you have no or little reference points other than instruments.
Helicopters constant balancing act between forces, they are also very sensitive, hovering it feels as if you just have to to think it and the helicopter will move to a point, very light touch is required.
Again intro flight at local flying school is the best value money helicopter ride you'll ever get, go on a week day when they aren't so busy and the instructor will have more time to chat.
Helicopters constant balancing act between forces, they are also very sensitive, hovering it feels as if you just have to to think it and the helicopter will move to a point, very light touch is required.
Again intro flight at local flying school is the best value money helicopter ride you'll ever get, go on a week day when they aren't so busy and the instructor will have more time to chat.
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I wouldn't recommend this key layout because the ingame flight model highly profits from having cyclic control for up/down on keys. This allows to decelerate airspeed quickly, and get into tight landing zones. (realistic quicstop by a flare is very badly modeled in the FM). When I have to make the sharp turns with the mouse I get off my mousepad.Drakon;n2296333 said:
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Gladius;n2296370 said:
Then turn up the sensitivity, helicopter controls are very sensitive, only slight movement gives 20/30 degrees pitch it's not a plane where you yank the stick into your balls. But go of course with what suits you, was just a suggestion. For me separating the controls and cranking up the mouse sensitivity was an improvement.
If Devs add realistic basic instrumentation and TrackIR would be an improvement towards better control and SA.
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The thing is that I need the mouse for the sensitive input. So I can't mess that up by cranking up the mouse sensitivity. despite from what we both know about real helicopters, what we have ingame is far from being realistic. So for my part I try to get out of the game controls what I can. I can't perform precise quickstops with that FM. So I do that with a sharp turn and for this ist's very unhandy to do with my mouse, that is set up for sensitive input. And good luck with the rubberbanding you get on most servers, when you have a sensitive mouse.Drakon;n2296403 said:
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Larbo;n2296348 said:
Grab a program called JoytoKey (Just google it). This allows you to map in game keys to your stick. I have been flying in games for years with a stick and I just can't get the keyboard mouse thing, just feels too weird. I got JoytoKey, mapped the in game buttons to the stick, and now I'm flying like I used to.
It's not perfect, but at least now I have a reasonable level of control, can attack well, land just fine, and hover if needed. Give it a go!
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