I am just now getting into helicopters and having a lot of fun. For the heli pilots out there, what are your tips you wish you would have known at the beginning? So far, here is what I have discovered:
Be patient! And practice practice practice - you will crash and burn. That’s OK.
Once you get in the air, use your trim. But don’t expect the chopper to fly itself! You will be making small adjustments the entire trip.
If you have a centering stick, see if you can either reduce the tension or remove it entirely. I have an X56 hotas (yeah yeah, I know, but it’s all I can afford, although I am considering getting a VKB Gladiator) and I switched out the spring to the one with the least tension. This made flying the choppers so much more comfortable as it doesn’t take near as much force to keep it in place.
If you are used to using ATC (whether in game, you poor soul, or one of the external apps like BATC or SayIntentions), turn it off while you’re learning the helis. At least for me, it was just too much to manage while trying to keep this crazy machine from sending me into the ground. Eventually, I’ll probably add ATC back, but for now, I need all my attention on the aircraft.
Make small movements. Don’t over react with the stick.
For hovering, I find it best to just do a little touch on the stick (not even 1cm of movement) and then bring it back to centre, even if you didn’t perceive a change in direction. Then just do another movement and back to centre if you need. This way, it doesn’t get out of control and into an ever-worsening pendulum.
For approach to landing, try to aim (visually) 10 metres further than you want to land, and on a 45 degree glide slope. Try to bring your speed to near zero (progressively getting slower as you get lower) as you reach that point beyond where you want to land, and then you should be on target to take the rest of the vertical speed out and hover over the spot to land. If you visually aim for EXACTLY the spot you want to land rather than looking further, you’ll find you come down too early then have to add power/height, spoiling your controlled approach.
Land with a little bit of forward motion (tiny bit).
For lift-off, first try to find the “biting point” of the collective (power) and see which way the body wants to roll and yaw, then release the power a touch. Then correct the roll with the stick and pedals, and try the partial lift-off again. Is it going up evenly now? If not, let it back down (just enough to drop, so you know then next touch of power is already at the biting point) and repeat the correction until you can full lift up without the body rolling or pitching up/down. Only then add more power to lift fully but be ready with pedals to counter the torque.
Of course when you get more confident you can skip this and correct it “on the fly” much easier. Some Helis are a lot more forgiving than others in this regard.
But mainly patience and practice! Once it clicks, and becomes second nature, it’s really addictive. Then you can move on to more advanced control and really throwing it around at the limit.
In normal cruise they don’t fly all that different to regular aircraft.
Download this scenery for an awesome place to practice!
Can agree completely. Glad to hear another heli pilot is practicing in the sim! We are a small group, its a niche market, but we all have a lot of fun doing it.
The 2D screen just doesn’t do justice when it comes to feeling and precisely controlling a helicopter especially during hovering maneuvers. I highly recommend using a VR headset for a much more immersive experience. You’ll notice a significant improvement in your skills. A proper collective and rudder pedals are also essential for realism and fine control. I know the setup can get pricey, but hey it’s still way more affordable than flying a real one! Check out this link for some affordable collective controllers: Dragonfly Controls released B206 and UH-1 collectives • HeliSimmer.com
Personally, I love flying in mountainous regions like Mt. Cook and Glentanner in New Zealand, or around the Air-Glaciers base in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. Try landing on the edge of a cliff or the summit of some of these peaks. It can be challenging, but also one of the most rewarding experiences in helicopter sim flying.
I had the opportunity to take a ride in a chopper to the top of, I think, Franz Josef glacier in New Zealand. I don’t remember the kind as I was only 10 at the time, but it was an amazing experience. Once I get a better handle on these birds, I’m definitely going to try something similar in the sim, probably in the Hughes 500.
The H160 is a modern helicopter with lots of assists. It’s relatively easy to fly (no helo truly is, of course) and therefore a good choice for beginners. Learn to fly it and stay with it for some time.
If you want a bare bones helicopter, the TOAG H500 is the goto for MSFS2024, the TOAG Alouette III for MSFS2020.
If you’re struggling with the helos or your controller setup isn’t great, try turning on some or all of the assists in the sim settings (cyclic, collective, torque), they do make it much more accessible to beginners.
My tip would be - experiment with your sensitivity settings and curves to find what works best for you. It can make a big difference in helping you not to overcorrect, which is easily done in helicopters. There are some very good guides on Youtube. You may also want to make different profiles for different choppers - for example, the default Bell in FS2020 is MUCH more twitchy on the torque pedals than any other helicopter I have flown in the sim, especially at low speed/hover.
I found the FS2024 flight model to be much better. There’s a helicopter lesson in FS2024 with the Guimbal Cabri where they get you to find just the right setting to hover at a stable height in ground effect. Trying to repeat this exercise with the same helicopter in FS2020 is almost impossible - there is no single collective setting where it will sit stably like that, it will constantly oscillate up and down, and the same is true of most helicopters in FS2020. Hovering in place seems generally easier overall in FS2024 and I think that’s due to more accurate flight modelling.
Collect flight hours, without experience and failing you are not getting better.
Do not use any trim for the first 100hrs learn to fully control the helicopter.
Do not spend time on curves, etc. it’s the lack of experience and muscle memory to blame. Be patient.
Practice stops from all kinds of airspeed, low hovering and landing a lot.
Avoid over usage of cyclic, most times during flight you stabilize with your collective.
Get some pedals, preferably without spring, they are great for immersion and control.
Try to feel how helicopter reacts to your control input until this become memory.
Practice autorotation but keep in mind it will take time.
I found the best way to get better is to fly and stay into various formations with more experienced pilots. You will bounce a lot in the beginning, but patience will be rewarded.
Did anyone mention group flights yet? hint hint, tooting my own horn here.
(going on 5 and a half years now)
Sometimes having folks in a voice chat can help to answer your questions faster and easier than through back and forth via message posts.
Following a group, like @tomeye says, can help with accuracy, and watching others do landing practices, etc.
If you’re already a helicopter pilot, then remove all sim assists because the helo will not act like a real helicopter acts and it will drive you nuts and may also make you dizzy when using VR goggles !! I would almost throw up until someone here told me to remove the assists and now since it feels like a real helicopter, and since my eyes see what my brain is expecting to see when I do a control movement, I’ve never felt sick since.
If you’re not a helicopter pilot don’t do what I suggested above and it’s better that you take suggestions from those here who have learned how to fly helos using this sim.
If you plan to be a helicopter pilot in real life, I highly suggest that you only use the sim to practice what’s you’ve learned from a real CFI (instructor) because all bad habits that you pick up in the sim, it’ll be way harder and it’ll cost you a lot more money to fix them in real life. You can learn using the sim, but I would only do it if I can be beside the student and can tell him why something is happening when it’s happening, so I can correct mistakes early before bad habits ans frustration set in.
I have learned a lot flying helicopters.If you want to land pull the nose up and loose your airspeed to almost zero.Than slowly lower the collective until you are almost to the ground.But not to fast.Than slowly lower the collective more until you are on the ground.I am doing helicopters for quite a while now.I have learned to use the pedals as anti-torque ,but they dont respond good enough.
