Oh yes, most definitely.
I also wonder about differences in systems. I donât have VR or any helicopter-specific peripherals. I think my frame rate is OK, though.
Yes, I would agree with all you described but to me, the model floats off balance far too easily. I also saw another post where someone suggested the models have too much inertia along the rotor axis. This could explain why the helis seem so easy to over-control. I think they climb far too easily.
Sorry, I searched but could not find the video I saw with the perfectly still hovering. In that video there were other helis also hovering in place but I couldnât identify the types. Here is a good example of something I can NOT do in MSFS.
Is there any specific moment in the video that you would point out as an example? I watched it real quick but at first glance, I didnât see anything that would be impossible with the Cabri in the sim.
Thanks for the video,
If you look closely at the in ground effect hover, heâs making constant corrections with the cyclic and pedals. In the out of ground effect hover the control movements are less obvious but if you look to the left canopy frame you can see heâs drifting quite badly in feference to the ground features.
The other things people miss are the length of the cyclic from its pivot point and the fact that helicopter pedals are very close together for fine pressures with both feet and the heel is anchored to the cockpit floor, look at the movement of his knees. Then look at his head and eyes, constantly moving to update his situational awareness in space, hard to do in 2D when looking at the whole screen some 18 inches in front, VR certainly helps for helicopter sims.
Trying to achieve fine control with a standard length joystick thatâs not between the knees and sliding pedals is certainly not helping.
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Moving from (cheap) sliding pedals to (better quality) vertical movement pedals was a complete game changer for me. You really need that super-precise control for helicopters.
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The obvious point of interest in the video is his easily hovering in place and taxiing perfectly aligned and without variance in altitude.
As I have said, I can not settle the hover as he does or control it as he does with his obvious minor adjustments. It feels to me like the mass is too high and inertia is too strong, both along the rotor axis. OTOH, controller resolution and possibly VR appear to be relevant. My controllers are old but not cheap. I would hate to have to accept that the only way one can simulate heli hovering and taxiing in the sim is with VR and âspecialâ (read âexpensiveâ) peripherals.
BTW, I like to fly the hills and mountains like the guy in the video. MSFS does a very good job of simulating beautiful mornings.
thought we mentioned it lots of times now⊠itâs training 
⊠if other users can manage that, you will be also able to hover.
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Iâm able to fly in somewhat similar behavior in the sim, as we see in his video, using short standard length joystick, Hotas Warthog joystick and affordable rudder pedals. I just have removed the spring from the Hotas Joystick and my rudder pedals are the TFRP which often encountered friction issues.
The key is, with sim, make extremely small, precise and small inputs on every single axis, way more than we would think, together with proper in-sim axis calibration. I donât use VR and have a single or two monitors setup depending on flights (the 2 or 3 monitors setup would help a bit without VR, though all lay into the smooth axis management and proper calibration as already mentioned)
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yes⊠the only idea I have, why @StruckZebra9 struggle a bit while taxi is, that the current bell407 is sensitive to the collective movements on ground. So far I remember, these was also already part of a discussion in this topic, where users depict specific sens-curves.
All others, like stick-movement, pedal movement is not really hard in case of the Bell. Adjustments are necessary, but its just a helicopter and what I see in video, looks exactly what I do in the sim.
I use the bell mod and also increased ( yes , increase ) the sensitivity of the axis so that it more feels like helicopter in DCS and I not forget âhow to fly helicoptersâ 
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I think the adjustments seem minor because with increased experience and muscle memory, you learn to anticipate the required adjustments and thanks to this, are able to make small, very precise and perfectly timed inputs. At least that has been my experience learning to fly helicopters in the sim. All it takes is to put enough hours in and aquire the muscle memory, it will come in time, donât worry. Different people with completely different peripehrals setups are able to do it, so I donât think you hardware is a problem.
The only hardware-related thing I will stress from my experience is that cheap, sticky pedals like the Thrustmasters I used previously will make life really difficult.
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Man, I love this forum!
Great info here - thanks!
Someone posted a link to a govt-published general manual on flying helis. Thank you! That manual is very good, especially chapter 9. Anyone with any experience at all probably already knows 90% of whatâs in it but itâs that other 10% that really fills in the blanks. Again, thanks for that link!
The trouble with adjusting controller curves is that controller resolution is reduced. Thus, a low precision (8-bit?) controller is limited to a small part of its already small resolution. The result is not much to work with but, I imagine, still usable.
For those insisting that this issue is about training and/or muscle memory, I should point out that I have somewhere around 80-100 hours of helicopter simulation time including some time in a military 6-dof.
Summary: I still believe that the flight model seems top heavy and possibly has too much inertia. Iâve been flying the G2 lately because the best in-the-cockpit video Iâve seen is in a G2. It is easy to see the pilotâs control movements. For whatever reason, hover takes FAR more control movements in my setup and even so, I can not maintain the stability the real pilot seems to maintain so easily. This is compared to my actual experience in professional-grade simulators.
But anyway, you guys are great. Thanks for your input!
Happy New Year and happy flying!
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The FAAâs Helicopter Flying Handbook is a great resource!
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I had some time and took some spectacular shots of the Nemeth Designs Bell 407 helicopter. Amazing helicopter model.
Hi, could your video post be in error?
Itâs titled âNemeth Designs Bell 407â, but the video description on YT says itâs about the Cowan Simulation Bell 206 JetRanger B3 
.
Also two thirds of the video are static shots on the ground and the rest just some cruise flight.
I donât see any of the âspecial maneuversâ the video description talks about, not even a simple hover.
Are you sure youâve uploaded the right video?
Cheers.
Sorry, I wrote it wrong. I correctedâŠ
seems like this guy got upset with people complaining about the mod. I think he gave up.
i mean iâm not surprised. Flight simmers can be annoyingly perfectionist.
From his last comment in December, it sounds like he still has plans for future updates.
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Which is more than weâve heard from Asobo about it.
I see nothing in the new beta notes about 407.
correct⊠We all can read what he wrote,
and thats nothing about
and it makes sense that he stop the project for a while, which was mainly created as a quick-hack to change some little issues of the first version of the bell 407. He also will not do too much stuff, because may be the second version of the bell 407 will change things per default and then the work he spend into the mod was useless. The other reason is, that he work in parallel for the commercial H145 project and others, so he is in same situation like lots of us which are not already in pension: less time.
I have completely same opinion as the mod creator âRafaelRafosoâ:
I am happy with how the 407 flies in normal operation (that is, when youâre flying like youâre supposed to) right now âŠ
Like others here I also waiting for some improvments in the original Bell 407 , but in a level which relates to the fact that the Bell is a gift we got for Free.
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