R22 - the best flight model on a desktop simulator?

1st Official Post

    R22 in AFS4 is considered the best helicopter flight model on a desktop simulator. And it probably is. It is actually used by some helicopter flight schools, and it is confirmed by real world R22 pilots as a great training tool, if I'm not mistaken. I always enable expert mode for a proper challenge. :)

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    Quote from Overloaded

    I have a (very) tiny experience of a piston single helicopter, if anything the PC version should be twice as hard. Mobile should not be fundamentally easier.

    Getting better with a training helicopter should be like sweating blood.

    Hm, that's interesting. I think it depends highly how do you setup your control hardware, although in AFS2/4 there is no control of extreme deadzones, only sensitivities can be adjusted by adding slower response around center, and that is not realistic, although it can help with some hardware. I use VKB Gladiator NXT EVO without centering springs, and it has dampening with adjustable tension, so I find flying helis in any sim extremely enjoyable now, and way less frustrating. I can properly hover for the first time in AFS4, even with expert mode enabled.
    When you land R22 properly and smoothly in AFS2/4 for the first time, there is no going back, you are hooked for life. :)

    Also, training in AFS2/4 to fly R22 in expert mode, will help tremendously flying helis in other sims, also as their flight model is somewhat more forgiving/easier. I bet it can help a lot in training for a real life heli license, at least with the "brain controlling 4 axis" part.

    • Official Post

    The flight model of the R22 used in flight schools differs from the one in Aerofly FS 4 and is sold separately by our partners in Switzerland: Loft Dynamics (previous VRMotion). That version was certified with real world flight test data and the sim runs on a motion platform with a VR headset.

    In Aerofly FS 4 all the "expert mode" does is remove the trail rotor assistance. It should be labeled "tail rotor assistance" in my opinion (with inverted logic) because apparently users still think it changes the flight model which it doesn't.

    Regards,

    Jan