Learning how to fly the R22

  • The Robbie is very twitchy in real life and will take practice to master.

    IT doesn't look that twitchy here :D

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    BennyBoy. I5 8600K @ 4,3ghz, 16 ram, GTX 1060 6G @ UW @2560 X 1080. Sim: AF2 & P3D V4

  • Another interesting one guys

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    BennyBoy. I5 8600K @ 4,3ghz, 16 ram, GTX 1060 6G @ UW @2560 X 1080. Sim: AF2 & P3D V4

  • I can fly it like that too. I said somewhere, I have only seen one guy fly a helicopter first time out in 25 years. Don't get me wrong, flying a helicopter is not hard, even I can do it. But it does take practise, and most people will struggle out of the box. 8o

  • What I have defined for airplanes in the settings menu (trimming buttons) also works for the helicopter.

    It is unfortunately in German. The inner buttons 12, 11, 3 and 4 are from the CH Flight Sim Yoke, the outer buttons 3, 5, 4 and 6 are from the Logitech 3D Pro joystick. They all work also when I fly the helicopter.

    Got it. Thank you so much!

  • Profi mode assumed.

    With normal sim trimming the R-22 cyclic lever moves, torque pedal trim needs to be tried and fine tuned.

    Here is the default seat position view of the trimmed out cyclic lever. Look at the 'L' on the horizontal cyclic bar aligned with the centre of the CDI needle of the VOR gauge and also the bottom of that part of the cyclic aligned with the 'ten to two o'clock' postition of the VOR compass dial (actually 5 degrees on the compass above the 01:50/ten to two). The compass card rotates but here it aligns with 305 degrees and 055 degrees.

    There is no trim display shown in this aircraft cockpit but this is trimming the sim-hardware interaction not the R-22. In the same theme the rudder force can be trimmed out (zero any yaw with a high but less than take-off power set) so that the R-22 becomes as docile as a lamb when lifted off. The trim needs minor adjustment with speed and power changes but it does tame much of the profi mode liveliness.

    With the HUD displayed the pitch and roll can be kept within very tight limits and providing the rudder force is neutralised a good hover is surprisingly easy.

    Here is the 'proof of the pudding' ...... sorry just 'displayed proof' Tübingen 8)

    Using the HUD shows the effect of very small attitude changes.

    Edited 2 times, last by Overloaded: Rogue emoticon (December 9, 2018 at 10:14 PM).

  • Thank! Helisimmer is a wonderful site. I've been visiting it daily for a year now!

    Good stuff there. Nice reviews and a lot of fun to read. Keep up your great work.

    Do you know what happened to hovercontrol? Have been searching for two weeks for answers but cannot find anything.

    Thanks a lot

    Jozeff

    Jozeff, HoverControl shut down. I am writing a little piece with a former staff-member about it. It's a real shame... My passion with helicopters comes from the time I spent hours at HC's forums, learning with everyone there.

    HeliSimmer would not exist if not for HoverControl.

  • With practice I can now lift up fairly smoothly in Pro mode and start cruising. But landing is another matter. I tried to land very slowly, carefully decreasing collectives little by little, but when I approach a certain height, the helicopter will suddenly increase descending speed automatically, and then everything is out of control...:(

  • Votex ring state indeed has to be considered when descending vertically or almost vertically, but I think your problem is about more basic helicopter physics. You need to know that a helicopter needs a lot more power in hover than in forward flight. So generally speaking, if you decrease speed, you need to increase power (at least at low speeds)!

    Here it is quite well explained, also with a power-to-airspeed diagram: https://www.rotorandwing.com/2017/10/10/und…power-struggle/

    Tricky thing is, once you approach the ground, ground effect also plays a roll. While you need a lot of power to hover out of ground effect, your power needed in ground effect is a lot less.

    Regards

    Martin

    Regards,

    Martin

  • Thank you all for the guidance. Make great sense to me. Looks like IPACS does take great pains to model the aerodynamics of a real helicopter. In other sims I can land the helicopter more easily, which might be less realistic as I understand now.

  • Forget real world helicopters for a moment. In the simulator there is no feedback on the controls so trim is only useful to fight the physical joystick centering spring tension which is being used to control the cyclic. I used to use this method when I started out with traditional gaming joysticks. I soon learned that a much better solution is to remove that spring force from the joystick all together.

    It’s a drastic step but if you’re serious about mastering control of a well simulated helicopter then that spring is the biggest blocker to progress. Without it you no longer need trim and can focus on keeping the cyclic where it needs to be without any tension working against you.

    In my experience, short of buying proper helicopter controls it is a much better solution than using trim.

  • You need to come down diagonally and do not descend at a higher vertical speed than 300FMP.

    You have a few nice readings about VRS above but I would also like to add some notes:

    - When you decrease speed, you will lose translational lift as you pass below the 25-ish kts mark. Check this article about taking off and landing: https://www.helisimmer.com/how-to-fly-hel…takeoff-cruise/

    - As you approach the LZ (or any hard surface), you will notice the helicopter will tend to rise as it enters in-ground effect (IGE). Be ready for it but don't floor the collective. Some pilots "play" with translational lift and IGE as they enter IGE while losing translational lift. This has 2 benefits: you lose less altitude and you will need to move the collective less.

    If you are wondering why moving the collective less, remember that each time you change the collective, you change your torque as well. So you need to deal with a lot of different factors.

  • drhotwing1 (IPACS) December 7, 2018 at 4:04 PM

    Changed the title of the thread from “Helicopter flight for beginners, don't crack up! (Profi mode, less relevant)” to “Learning how to fly the R22”.
  • I found some information about trim mechanism of R22: http://helicopterforum.verticalreference.com/topic/15554-r22-trim/

    Looks like R22 does not have the same trim as in a airplane. It's just something to help keeping the cyclic in position and reducing fatigue.

    And it should only be applied during cruise, not during take off, hover, and landing.

    That is correct. The R22's trim is either on, or off. You pull the lever up from the console to engage. It feels like it's attached to a big rubber band. It reduces control pressure on forward cyclic only in a cruise.

    They have it wrong in that thread about the trim knob though. The knob that they are referring to is not trim, it is friction. You can add or lessen friction on the both the cyclic and collective controls.

  • Sadly, I have had little time to practise, maybe 10-15 minutes a few times a week. Yet I seem to learn in my sleep. After a few days off, it all just seemed to come together and, though landings may still have a bit of a thud, I seem to be able to put the R22 to where I want it to go. I actually had to quit and check that I was still on profi mode, I just could not believe how much more controllable it felt. It's certainly great fun and very satisfying to fly.