but not to make newbies nervous : It is not necessary to spend thousands of dollars if you want to have a look into helicopters. I still fly with a normal joystick, throotle, pedal combination and that since hundred of hours in helicopters. The most important device which is necesary are pedals, thats it 
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For me itās all 'bout immersion 
But youāre right, good pedals are a must!
I assume not all users have the possibility to build a completly home-cockpit for airplanes or buy a completly setup that your devices are similar to a real helicoper. As example the mentioned joystick I also use for MSFS civilian airplanes, where we know there is not a joystick. But if I sit in the A10C in DCS these joystick-combi is the exact replica and so I get may be 5% more immersion, if I ignore my TrackIr on my head , the screen in front of me, the pc which is crying because it have lots of stress, etc 
But of course, if you have the chance to setup a more real setup, why not.
But newbies not forget: it is not necessary.
PS : why I mention thatā¦ I knew lots of people which never started with helicopters, because they got allways the info āyou can not fly that thing with normal āairplaneā setupā , or " you need in each case special devices " or " you must remove the spring from your joystick ". And because I personal hope more users get into helicopters, so that developers can develop more different models etc. , I would it mention
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These are wise words 
I fly a lot with guys who have the sim on an XBox.
Some of them are using the XBox Controller.
And they do not fly or land worse than I (even if we land on the prong of a stamp in our //42 KitFoxes)
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True. āImmersionā doesnāt need $$$$$. it just needs your brain and fantasy. As the feeling to live doesā¦
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Until the scenery is vastly improved at ground level Iām not even thinking about itā¦
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Yes I have learned to use my Honeycomb Alpha holding onto the left side of the yoke, the Bravo throttle for the collective and I have the MFG Crosswind V3 pedals. Its definitely a force feedback when pushing forward if seems like. Eventually I will upgrade to something more.
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Yes I watched the Q in A from the devs talking about improving the photo scenery but would be over a couple of years unfortunately.
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fly Heli with a yoke sounds interesting 
ā¦ but I assume its all possible. If not, then a not expensive joystick for the start will be sufficient too.
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I ordered my Virpil collective!
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A JetRanger III or a Hughes 369HE or HS should also be released.
I wonder if there will be special assists for using helicopters.
One thing to keep in mind is that, to my knowledge, all helicopters in real life have the cyclic stick in the right hand and collective lever in the left hand.
As others have stated, I would recommend getting at least an inexpensive stick to start out with to get a feel for helicopters, as trying to use a yoke for cyclic would probably lead to a lot of aggravation for most people.
At the rudimentary end Iāve been flying the H145 for ages with a budget end Hotas One with no pedals.
You can use the throttle axis for combined throttle/collective, the stick z rotation axis for āpedalsā and the main stick X/Y axis as ācyclicā . Works fine and is totally useable. No need for special accessories if you just want to test helis out. I can recommend the H145, it is an excellent product. The freeware H135 is a good place to start though. Both have been available for months.
Tip : start on a runway and just try to hovver statically a few feet off the ground then do tiny control inputs to move heli around until you get the hang of hovvering and the controls. Tiny control inputs are best to learn with.
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If Iām going to move to helicopters Iām going all in, lol. Anybody have expericene with Bell 206 Jetranger UH-1 Huey and OH-58 Kiowa Helicopter Flight Simulation Controls
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Iām not preparing, no need to.
Already flying freeware ones using external flight model (mostly H125 and R44).
Hoping that the Asobo flight model isnāt worse than what i already use.
Hopefully they add the Asobo helicopters to the beta so people can see how it is, and ideally fix any glaring issues prior to official launchā¦
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I suspect Asobo will spend good deal of effort to make helicopters accessible. This might for example include trim features in helicopters that really lack trim (most small helos?).
What people are often looking for in dedicated helicopter controls is either force feedback or dampers for the joystick and pedals so that they can be used without springs without becoming floppy (without trim the stick and pedals would be somewhere else than the neutral position all the time).
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As a dcs player who mainly flys the UH1 , black shark and the apache, im looking forward to the helicopters in the sim for a different pace than flying my normal GA aircraft
I did try the H135 but i didnt like the FM. I have just purchased rudder pedals so im curently trying to relearn my muscle memory rather than using the twist stick on my X56 before the release
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Iām watching repeats of Whirlybirds with Kenneth Tobey and Craig Hill.
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Would love to have VATSIM controllers controlling traffic at an international airport and then have a 3rd part police livery helicopter running police calls.!
