Hi
can someone help me with joystick sensitivity settings for the Bell 47J. I cannot fly it
as soon as I put collective this things go backwards and is unflyable, I am not an helicopter pilot so excuse me. I am using a X52 saitek and logitech rudder pedals
I fly with full sensitivities and no null zones. For purposes of troubleshooting, have you ensured that you don’t have any conflicted axis. Also, what are the wind/weather conditions?
To fly helicopter you have the pedals which is very good to control the tail rotor - but it may be best to remove the springs. For cyclic and collective you do need sticks with no center-return spring action, so you can move the stick anywhere easily without fighting the spring. I use a couple of old-school analog joysticks that have slider switches enabling all spring tension to be released. On my left I have the “rudder” (tail rotor) on X axis and the collective on Y axis. On my right hand I have the other joystick set for cyclic using X and Y axes. With this setup I learned, after much practice, to get good control.
With helicopters, each time you change any one input all the others need re-adjustment and this is a continual process moment to moment - that’s why you don’t want springs in the controls.
With practice you’ll learn to gradually increase collective and adjust cyclic and tail rotor to keep straight or tilt forward just a tiny bit just as you start to lift off. Takes a very fine touch on all controls at this point. Take it from there.
Hi SeaCelery,
Thanks very much for your explanation, It think you are totally right, I will try to loosen the tension of the springs of my X52. For the rudder pedals I have done that but the residual tension is still too much. I have found a good setting which to extend the “extremety dead zone” to +60% which reduce drastically the inputs, but anyway I will try your suggestion.
Regards
Yves Lefevre