R22: hurt ego

  • I sometimes react before I think!

    That is how you ride a bicycle ! ! Try to think a few seconds ahead and have the correction ready for where you want to be after getting on top of the current divergence.

    Before you know it you will be following a straight path and your cyclic movements will reduce to almost nothing.

    Try a larger circuit on an airfield following taxiways and a runway.

    Use the normal control menu to set up rudder, aileron and elevator trim on your keyboard or joystick buttons. On my number keypad I have 8 and 2 for elevator down and up, 4 and 6 for rudder left and right and 1 and 3 for aileron. Having no constant force on the joystick is much easier.

    Well done and keep practising.

  • My trick is to use the horizon. The problem is that you easily lose the orientation on the current attitude of the helicopter in a simulator, especially in non-VR. Thus you get surprised that the aircraft is floating away. You then try to stop this movement but only make things worse. So I look outside keeping the main focus on the horizon and the aim I want to fly to, e.g. a helipad, at the same time. Steering must be subconscious.

    I actually do not know how to learn that in this sim besides trying and trying. Instructors do it by giving you one control only at a time. Thus you can program that into your subconscious mind until you do not have to think about it. The non-pro mode makes it too easy, but maybe a first help. I would like to see some modes in between.

  • My trick is to use the horizon. The problem is that you easily lose the orientation on the current attitude of the helicopter in a simulator, especially in non-VR. Thus you get surprised that the aircraft is floating away. You then try to stop this movement but only make things worse. So I look outside keeping the main focus on the horizon and the aim I want to fly to, e.g. a helipad, at the same time. Steering must be subconscious.

    I actually do not know how to learn that in this sim besides trying and trying. Instructors do it by giving you one control only at a time. Thus you can program that into your subconscious mind until you do not have to think about it. The non-pro mode makes it too easy, but maybe a first help. I would like to see some modes in between.

    One of the best things you can do: look away from the helicopter, not nearby.

  • The three things most repeated by my instructor:

    1.) "Fly the aircraft" - no matter what is happening, keep flying the aircraft

    2.) "Looking out" - as Sergio said above, look out towards distant objects to help keep orientation

    3.) "Stay ahead of the aircraft" - you must be thinking ahead to what the aircraft will do, not reacting to what it has done.

    Of course there are many more things my IP would say.

    I will add more once I get more time to fly in AFS2.

    While I don't have nearly the hours as some of the other members already commenting, I am a current Private Pilot primarily flying R-22s & R-44s on the reg.

    I will share my thoughts and comparisons to the real thing as well as the DF R-22 for XP11.

    Helicopters take time and practice and are inherently unstable. Keep practicing, all of the controls move in unison. If you adjust the collective, you have to adjust the anti-torque pedals, and in turn adjust the cyclic. Every time you adjust one control, you will have to adjust all of the other controls. It's a balancing act that eventually will just click. Small movements on the cyclic, hold it with fingertips and "weld" your wrist to your leg.

    If you're serious about helicopter simming, invest in good 1:1 controls. If its just casual, keep to the easy flight mode and a regular joystick.

    The basic flight mode, axis stability and joystick curves are in the software because of the limitations of user hardware, not because you are not as good of a pilot.

    Another saying I would hear a lot:

    "There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there aren't any old, bold pilots."

    In actual flight training the most important lesson is to not exceed your capabilities. Stay within your limits and you will survive to train and extend those limits. Pilots that exceed their limits often become statistics,

    Edited once, last by belatu42 (December 7, 2018 at 3:49 PM).