I am OK with climbing but if you enter controlled airspace without clearance it’s not OK.
The HeliSAS system mentioned earlier, is it unrealistic in real life? If I am not mistaken the Youtube video shows it working ok. If it doesn’t have NAV mode I’m ok with it. HDG, VS and ALT will do.
I rather have an Autopilot available and not use it than not have an autopilot and need it.
A headwind from the community is fine with me. This is a wishlist anyway. Not supposed to be a discussion to delete this from the wishlist.
End of the day every person’s needs are different. If you don’t want an AP in your 407, then simply delete it from your panel.cfg file when/if it is released.
Please vote, even if you don’t need an AP. Show your support to the OP. Next time if you add a wishlist to add a missing DUZ screw on the engine cowling, we might show you our support in return.
finally this topic moved to direction what I wanted, expected. Here are 2 opinions groups how I see them:
IRL procedures close pilots and Game players.
Then all is said, I can agree with Ephedrin87 opinion but also hope this topic will not go to bad direction. Generally, as I said, question of Topic user is depended to specific avionics and heli type, not any heli and AP. To this question I also answered.
I rather want to point something out that “might” be beneficial… maybe.
I’ll look at it purely from a realism standpoint although that I totally get that everyone prefers to use the sim differently, no worries and please no argument =)
There are plenty of good examples of how well helicopter autopilots have worked even though no FBW was available, for example the Hind in that other sim. It’s a electromechanical system basing on gyros and impulses that keeps the helicopter stable – if tuned correctly IN FLIGHT. Without fly by wire you have to carefully trim the system and adjust it all the time so the helicopter will continue to fly safely and predictably. Keep in mind that you need to stay in control of any aircraft all the time (in reality) and must never become a passenger. autopilots in helicopters are anything but press-the-button-and-forget, they need care and attention and are meant to allow the pilot to take the hands off the controls, just as you describe for example to set the radio, work on the GPS etc.
The thing is that the B407 in MSFS lacks a very important system, force trim. There is this rotor trim that works exactly like in an airplane which is done wrong. It’s just there for fine adjustments after applying force trim. While control inputs in flight are barely visible the cyclic position is totally different between flight and hover and needs to be recentered all the time. In MSFS that’s not (yet?) implemented and therefore it’s hard to control the helicopter correctly and precisely. If you had a correctly installed force trim system you would probably have no problems with the aircraft climbing away just because you look down to the radio. The left hand doesn’t need to stay on the collective all the time, it’s arrestable or has a strong friction and once it flies straight ahead a helicopter is a relatively stable aircraft as long as there are no external influences.
So instead of asking for a general autopilot it would actually make a lot of sense to ask for the force trim system. Sure, an AP is not wrong for many tasks… But your problem comes from something else that’s missing.
now to that force trim, hope I don’t say something wrong but all depends what is available inside sim, also SDK to devs with that options because if not, then it need to be bypassed or set with other type of functionality what can be wrong, not like as IRL.
I agree adding a generic unrealistic autopilot is not recommended. But seeing and remembering the HeliSAS product, and if it performs like a good autopilot, then I see no issue with MS adding it.
To be honest, I would rather like to see the Garmin 1000 NXi for helicopters rather than the steam-gauge version. If they add an AP in the Garmin 1000 version, and not in the steam gauges version, I will not cry over spoilt beans. Especially if I can pop out the Garmin to a separate monitor.
Someone, please add a wishlist for a glass cockpit Bell 407. I will vote for it gladly.
When setup properly with cyclic lateral and longitudal the b407 is good controlable for me
And with trim controls added and propperly managed it is easy to let go of the cyclic and the heli pretty much fly it self.
With cfd on you can see what and how all inputs have effect once familiar with this take of and try
Dont forget to turn off the supporting of the controls
So for me no need for ap yet, for i have not find the need for it
But it wont harm if they build it in i mean you do not have to use it or assign buttons to it if your not intend to use it.
Happy for tha fact helicopter have arrived officially in the simulator
Thanks Asobo and Microsoft absolute fabulous
That is my main reason also why I would like to have some sort of AI autopilot even if the real helicopter doesn’t have an autopilot. I fly the 407 on VATSIM a lot, and operating radios and Garmin is like a circus act (I fly VR exclusively).
i am working on an addon autopilot, ported from my xplane and fsx versions; currently alt, ias, vs, hdg and nav are functional. I‘ll post it to flightsim to once it seems ready; the ui is based on a bell 412 fd mode panel and can be controlled via fsuipc (either keybinds or for those who have the paod fsuipc version also via an external webbrowser).
and yes, of course auopilots are needed in helis - even more so, since they help to survive spatial disorientation in inadvert ifr and provide safety during complex navigation procedures by holding attitude stable or even alt and heading. Some helis dont come with them by default, but that‘s more a cost factor than anything else. for the hands on guys, there is still plenty of handon flying during approach, landing, hover and takeoff i would say, so fear not!
In real life, while fiddling with the radio, you still have enough peripheral vision to see what the helicopter is doing and have good situational awareness. On a sim with only 1 screen and because the radio sits so far down and you have to look down (and zoom in), you lose the vision a real pilot would otherwise have. An autopilot helps with that it is keeping the helicopter straight and level while you fiddle with the GPS and radio.
I suspect that this is not really on their list of things to do. I think that one of the community managers would have let us know if it was a priority at all.
I’m going to start pushing it hard in the Developer Stream. Hopefully Seb will want to go forward with it. He does seem to like Helicopters and the physics.
