Does MSFS (maybe in dev mode?) have anything similar to the controls indicator in DCS? That’s invauable for working out if your controls inputs are working as expected.
Are you trying to use manual throttle as well as collective pitch? That’s pretty much reserved for managing an abnormal engine control condition these days. It’s a very high workload even for an experienced pilot.
The aircraft has FADEC (full authority digital engine control) so you just use the collective and the throttle is automatically adjusted by the system to match fuel required to maintain rotor RPM. The old days of manually twisting the throttle as you raise and lower the collective have long gone.
Exactly. The assist modes already make it super easy. If people can’t fly helicopters with those enabled there is still a bug or control binding issue happening or they really need to realize that a gamepad is not the right tool.
starting from cold, I do use the throttle initially and slowly raise rpm to around 450ish, but then I switch on governor which takes over the throttle. So no, before I even leave the ground or touch the collective (other than to ensure it’s disengaged), the throttle is not really used, and when in air I don’t touch throttle at all.
you can go to the sensitivity settings in control options and view in real time how the controller is responding…all of my controls seem to be doing what they’re supposed to.
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One other thing I’ll add, and it might be a bitter pill to swallow. Helicopters, much more so than fixed wing aircraft in the sim, benefit from higher end flight control hardware. Physical pots that are noisy, and xbox controllers, are going to make controlling the helicopters that much more difficult. It becomes much easier with high end equipment, that uses contact free magnetic pots with 4000+ measurable positions, letting you have very fine control of the collective, and cyclic. With lower end controllers that have physical pots at 2048 positions, or xbox controllers, you might have to use an assist or two, until you learn how to compensate for the more coarse control of cheaper hardware.
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IRL heli pilot here (with zero $07 time!). However, sorry to say, there is no silver bullet! It takes time, some more time and just when you think you have nailed it…some more time 
However, lets see if we can help.
- Slowly lift collective, until you what we call skids light - this is where the heli is about lift, but is still on the skids. From here you can adjust the cycle and peddles to match.
- once you are stable, slow bring the collective up a little and a little left peddle (for 407). At the same time you need to move the cycle forward and left (this will just take time to understand by how much, it will be different based on the W&B of the heli.
- Once you lift, stop all collective movement, look out to cockpit and focus on something on the horizon, dont look at the instruments and dont pick something close to the heli
- When hovering, think about the heli being balanced on half football. as you slip off the side to the right, you need input to the left etc.
1a. set the sim to realistic, it will take time to master and when you do, you will find it easier set on hard.
2b. check you bindings
3b. play with the joystick curves to something that feels good for you.
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That would be nice but you really don´t need it because one of the greatest things in game is that rotor controls are actually visible in the 3D model. To check controls you just need to observe rotors. Collective will make blades pitch while cyclic will operate the main rotor plane (you will see the disk moving). Pedals will make tail rotor blades pitch too. If movement is consistent and there´s not flickering (potential sign of controls conflict or being assigned to multiple joysticks by mistake) everything is fine.
Cheers
There´s nothing wrong with controllers. They help, sure, but at the end they just give more precission. You can achieve similar results by adjunting sensitivity on a cheap joystick so that a big movement produces a small input. But indeed you can fly with just a mouse and keyboard if you know what to do.
People just need to get used to them and that just needs some adaptation time. But it´s not impossible because thousands of pilots fly them and thousands of simmers do it as well. With some speed they are basically like any other airplane. But at low speed or while hovering they are a completely different animal and players just need to forget anything they know about airplanes because they do not behave like that, not even close to that.
You need to battle the forces created by rotors and they are going to be significant and in the 6 degrees of freedom because rotors change a lot during regular operation and their axis are not aligned with nose as the airplanes engines are. Additionally the plane of the main rotor changes itself, what is not happening in airplanes as there only the blades change their pitch. First thing to understand is what each of the controls do and what is physically changed on the rotors when you do that.
For instance: back cyclic will make the whole plane of the rotor to pitch backwards. In an airplane that can happen when you climb as the engines axis will point up as well. Indeed in the helicopters it´s the same, but as rotor in on top that creates not only a nose to pitch up but a reverse movement as well. If you changed the propeller axis in that situation you can obtain more airflow. In the helicopter it´s the same when you do it with collective but as the rotor is on top again the airflow results in additional lift.
Cheers
This is still where im struggling though. As soon as i raise collective enough to be ready to ascend, but still on skids… it just goes crazy and i spend ages just trying to dance around countering all the motion that’s happening, but it’s just impossible to get steady. Turn assists on and it’s suddenly possible, but without them, even before lifting off, it’s just mental haha. As I’ve said, almost definitely a ME issue, but i do feel like i definitely can’t progress at all without the assists… but with the assists, I’m probably not learning much of anything?
From known issues (https://flightsimulator.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360016027399-KNOWN-ISSUES-Last-update-November-17th-2022-):
- Uncontrollable helicopters because of Legacy Flight Model Gyroscopic Precession not at 100%
-
Workaround:
- Set to the “Gyro” to 100%
- Open Microsoft Flight Simulator
- Go to Options > General Options > Flight Model.
- Change to Legacy.
- Set Gyro to 100%. Hit Apply and Save.
- Change back to Modern. Hit Apply and Save.
- Start a new flight.
-
Workaround:
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Yeah, I did that and it didn’t change anything for me unfortunately.
Ok, I just tried flying the other helicopter for the first time. No assists, modern flight model.
It is completely flyable for me. No issues at all.
The Bell flight model must be bugged for me.
I mean, immediately when I take off in the Bell the heli starts pulling so hard right that even pulling full left rudder doesn’t stop it from twisting right. This is with just enough collective to get it off the ground. The only thing that will stop it from pulling hard right is if I lower the collective to about 20%, but that of course causes me to hit the ground. If I release left rudder the heli starts spinning comically fast.
The other heli doesn’t have this behavior. It slightly pulls to the right, but I can easily counter it by gently applying left rudder. It is by no means “easy” to fly, but it behaves like other helis I have flown in other sims like DCS.
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Using Collective axis claim concentration and very slow down movement, I use to move axis millimeter by millimeter to get the most precise and smooth displacement while flying and pay attention to keep similar attention on take off with the slowest and smooth movement on collective and anti-torque. Performing jerk on axis is inappropriate while piloting helicopters. What we see in arcade mode is not the way to follow.
At first check if all axis binding are correct, read the two first posts here, then check again if some adjustment is required and done : New Axis binding for Helicopters since 40th Anniversary Build
At least if you’ve not already tried, install the Mod : Bell 407 improvement mod » Microsoft Flight Simulator, then check again
Don’t miss to practice and in any case, helicopters are something higher than only gaming, thus requires a lot of patience …
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I’m almost positive the Bell is bugged for me.
Like I said, I’ve flown the Blackshark and Huey at full realism in DCS and had zero issues. Even the other helicopter flies fine in this 40th Anniversary update. It’s just the Bell.
I bet that it’s a bug that only affects certain setups/configurations. I’m hoping that Asobo figures it out.
I agree it was a bit weird at first in the Bell 407, then after performing proper axis binding and set the required properties related to realism, the whole behavior became at least correct to make the Bell 407 more flyable and I’m now able to perform smooth take-off and landing, not to say there’s currently other well-known bugs, which are already taken in account for future fixes
Please check again the previous mentioned axis assignment
Also check MS and Asobo advice here and reported below
HELICOPTERS
Flight Model
Uncontrollable helicopters because of Legacy Flight Model Gyroscopic Precession not at 100%
Workaround:
Set to the "Gyro" to 100%
Open Microsoft Flight Simulator
Go to Options > General Options > Flight Model.
Change to Legacy.
Set Gyro to 100%. Hit Apply and Save.
Change back to Modern. Hit Apply and Save.
Start a new flight.
Loss of pitch control in helicopters because Anti Stall Assistance is enabled and helicopter pitch assigned via elevator control.
Workaround 1:
• Set Anti Stall Assistance to Disabled
Open Microsoft Flight Simulator
Go to Options > Assistance Options > Piloting
Set Anti Stall Assistance to Disabled.
Hit Apply and Save.
Start a new flight.
Ensure proper nose-down trim on take-off in the Cabri G2
Workaround 2:
Assign helicopter pitch control via the dedicated longitudinal cyclic control rather than the elevator control.
Ensure proper nose-down trim on take-off in the Cabri G2
Bell 407
VR controllers are not fully supported by the aircraft.
The rotor brake does not slow the rotor blades down.
Cabri G2
Cyclic (pitch) trim is inverted on cyclic of the Cabi G2. Key bindings work fine.
The Flight Plan page of the GPS does not show course and distance information for the legs of the flight plan.
The first leg of a flight plan may not activate in the GPS.
The bearing to a waypoint in the GPS is true bearing instead of magnetic bearing.
The Direct-To flight plan cannot be consistently cleared from the GPS.
Occluder is missing rain/snow/CFD and can go through the cockpit.
Given what I’ve read elsewhere I’m very much inclined to agree. Particularly if you’re confident in DCS helis, which are considerably more challenging (more realistic?) in my experience.
I have the assitance options turned on as well as the auto trim turned on in the helicopter. At least I get around with those settings. Not pretty, but I get around
Yeah, from what I’m reading here it sounds like a lot of people’s Bell flight model seems fine.
I’m leaning on it being a bug that affects some and not all users
I was also thinkng that the Bell was uncontrollable until I discovered that my controller settings were causing eratic tail rotor adjustments.
I’ve a Thrustmaster TCA joystick and Logitech rudder pedals. I had initially selected the helicoptor preset for the joystick and left my rudder pedals as default. This proved to not work well. I noticed that the tail rotor was all over the place and I kept hearing what sounded like something banging in the virtual cockpit. I finally discovered that this was caused by the z-axis of the joystick. Even though I had it physically locked, it’s center sensitivity was causing the tail rotor axis to adjust (increment / decrement) wildly. The uncommanded tail rotor adjustments were the source of the banging noise that I kept hearing.
To correct, I edited the control profile of the joystick to clear the inputs for its z-axis. I also created a new rudder pedal profile and set its axis to tail rotor axis. I adjusted its sensitivity to be linear. This made a big difference in making the aricraft way more controllable for me.
Hope this helps others.
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