Hi helicopter people,After using FSX for 1 year, I finally decided to try the helicoptermissions. I can do pretty much everything except land the sucker ona *specific spot*.Specifically, I cannot kill forward speed to hover over a specific spot. I have a Saitek AV8R joystick - throttle and stick. I've beena passenget in helis enough to know that having foot pedals wouldhelp, but that's not in the budget. My trick now is to rise several hundred feet above the landing area from several miles away, drop the nose, and speed up. I gradually bringthe nose up to slow down as I near the "H". This makes my flight profile look like a roller coaster. Any suggestions would be very welcome.Thanks all,dan "lensman" davison

This is a bit of a complex topic, but - in very basic terms, you should be making your power (collective) changes early in your approach and in very small decrements, along with your forward airspeed. I find it very hard to do in FS - harder than IRL - but most of the time I can come close to my "spot" with zero or very little airspeed. I do typically "run it on" to the ground with just a little bit of forward airspeed (a LITTLE bit), and let the skids' friction stop me. A hover transitioning to a landing is harder!Your descent profile should be gradual, with a fairly constant descent rate of 500fpm or less in the later parts of the approach (lessening as you descend), and ideally your descent rate will be 0fpm and your forward airspeed will be at or near zero when you reach Your Spot as I said above.Your collective setting will be quite low on short final - I haven't flown the sim in a while but I'd say no more than 40% (Bell 206) at the very most; probably less. You'll have to pull in some collective pitch at the end (during your flare, if you make one) to not make a hole in the ground but your forward airspeed should not increase at that point and your altitude should stop (no greater than 5 or 10 feet AGL) or continue to slowly go down to touchdown.When/if you can afford it, I strongly recommend a separate "collective" and pedals - these do make it easier.BTW this probably won't help you but I reverse the axis direction of my "collective" (FS throttle axis) for helicopters, since that sorta kinda emulates the collective's power directions (up/back for more, down/forward for less).Good luck and keep at it,Dave B.

Dave,Thanks very, very much. You explained much more in your note than the tutorials do in FSX. First thing I will do is try reversing the stick as that seems much more logical for trying to control a heli. I'll follow your collective settings and suspect that they will help greatly, since they are almost the reverse of what I do now. At the risk of repeating myself, right now my "normal" flight is up and forward to 1000 ft, then down and forward to pick up airspeed, up again if the airspeed or altitude drops too low. I usually arrive at my destination with too much forward airspeed - but you've explained why. Have you found that the Bell 305 is much easier to control than the Robinson? It may largely be my severe lack of technique, but either the Robinson has much tighter tolerances on control than the Bell, or it is much lighter perhaps.I've done all the 'beginner' helicopter missions using both the Bell and the Robinson, and the Bell seems to be much more stable, at least in my hands. I'll give it a shot and let you know how it all goes. Thanks very much for the advice and happy holidays!dan davison

Remember that, other than in takeoff/landing/hovering situations, the helicopter is flown much like an airplane (other than not requiring pedal input on turns - turns at speed are made with the cyclic only). In other words, you'll tool around at 50-100 knots or so most of the time. (Very expensive tooling I might add!) But, the helicopters in FS have to be flown with more finesse (aka speed and altitude control) than the airplanes in my experience, in order to be successful at approaches and landings.It sounds like you're quite serious about this stuff... One thing I suggest you research is the Height-Velocty diagram. All helicopters have one in their POH, and generally they are quite similar (at least for single engine ships). Basically, the HVD will have crosshatched areas - combinations of airspeed and AGL altitude - that are to be avoided. The idea is that if you have an engine failure, you'll actually survive it by being in a position to be able to execute an autorotation. Autos are not modeled particularly well in FS but it's something to keep in mind if you want to fly realistically.I haven't flown the FS-X R22 too much - it was totally non-autorotatable in FS9. I think it's better in FS-X but it's been quite a while since I took it up. (BTW I think you mean "206" not "305".) But certainly the R22 is a much twitchier ship - much much 8^) . I did most of my training in Schweizer 300s but have about 15 hours in R22s... I'm still not terribly comfortable in them to be honest. I much prefer the R44, which (being heavier) isn't so touchy.Good luck and may I say that it's nice to see some activity here. I'd about given up on this forum and don't check it as much as I used to.Dave.

I'll reverse the axes and give that a try. I became interested when I worked for a company that had multiple locations and transported staff between sites via helicopters.The copters were SH-22 or something like that, and one of themwas configured so passengers could sit behind the pilots. (Therewere always two, and wow, they were busy!). Some of the flightstook us over the terminal buildings at Newark, which was scary.One morning I got to the FBO very early while the pilots werepracticing touch-and-go and autorotations from about 50 feet. Iguess the skids are designed as shock absorbers? Whatever kindit was, it seems that it was much more stable and still aninteresting challenge. FSX makes it clear that the petals arereally necessary, sigh. It'll be a long time before I can affordthose, if ever. I'm going to do a net search for HVR diagrams. Thanks for the tips!dan davison

Just to let you know how I started out with rotors. I would take off and try and stay in one place. Rotating to left and right with my Logitek Pro. Then trying to go up higher and fly around the airport, pick a spot and try to score a "hit". To land as close to the spot that I picked. Going higher and higher with a lot of swearing I managed to get myself sorted. Long establishment as to where you want to land and then to descend at a good rate. 500feet is what you should be aiming for. Remember pushing your tail into the ground too hard is going to give you the "rollercoaster" ride. Lowering rpm with tail tilting requires practice. Increasing the rpms as you get closer to the ground should give you a soft landing. Once you have this combination working well, landing it will be the best part. I sometimes still get it wrong, but then I am flying in small areas where my approaches are obscured by trees or something. Hope this helps, in some small way.Corrie

This is my first post on this site :( . To land smoothly is alot about small inputs. I use the same stick that you are using so reversing the axis is entirely up to you, just remember which direction is "more" and which is "less". Yes I did fly real helicoptors (look at my name). You can make a simple approach by raising the noise and taking out power to slow down and descend. Do not move your stick around like your churning butter. Small inputs with your power and only, only pressure with the stick is all you need. Find a little srip and practice picking up to a 3 ft. hover. I know it's hard but remember "pressure, not movment". Practice, practice practice!!!! When you want to land from your hover SLOWLY take out power. It is easiest to see your relationship to the ground with spot view from behind and make sure you cast a shadow. Mastering hovering is the key to landing, real life pilots will tell you it is the hardest manuver in flying (untill you can figure it out, then it's the easiest). Step 1. Hover and land Step 2. Hover, move 5 ft. land at another spot. Post when you have this figured out and we will discuss traffic patterns. Happy hovering :( (before) :( (after)

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