I suggest adding the option for a target UI element that can be enabled in the assistance menu. Maybe something like a dot that moves in a circle and the dot represents the sling load over the target area. Add to that a bar with a height indicator to see how close your are to 30 ft.
Unfortunately it is really hard to hover a helicopter in sim. There is just a lack of physical feedback and the inability to assess distances. Besides VR there is also the problem of looking around freely. I can use quick views but then I constantly have to switch around which causes the loss of any reference point for hovering stable. And from cockpit view it is just impossible to see where the load is because the mirrors on the H125 also don’t work. Some of that is just the reality of a sim, not much can be done here in my opinion (besides the mirrors).
Because of that we need other assists like described at the top. In real life you also have ground personal that give you feedback via radio. Maybe that could be implemented? Right now it is a frustrating experience to do SAR hoist missions or sling loading because you just have no idea where you are and it’s already hard enough to keep the helicopter in a stable hover
An assistance system representing the work of a winch operator is incorporated, both for hoists and sling missions.
Once these conditions are met, the system becomes active:
Target is in a 15 meter radius around the helicopter
Helicopter is moving with less than 20 kts in any direction
Helicopter is less than 200 ft above the target
here are two options:
→ Audio System:
The Sim gives audio feedback as the “winch operator” referencing the helicopters relative position to the target. Callouts could be:
“Target X o’clock, Y meters forward, Z meters left, altitude good”
“On Target, up/down X meters”
“On Target, altitude good”
reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi6pEPpM-L8&t=892s 13:00 Minutes
→ GUI System in the EFB
Graphical system showing a circle of 15 meter radius around the helicopter. A concentric circle every 5 meters inside for orientation. Orientation is Heading Up always. The Helicopter is represented as a symbol to scale and always centered.
The target is represented by a dot of 1-2 meter diameter.
Helicopter altitude is represented by a slider on a bar to the side of the circle UI.
The optimal altitude is represented as a green area in said bar.
It would be helpful if at sling loading missions there is more indication on where the load is.
Now its all guess work or using outside view to determine if the load is correctly on the drop zone.
In DCS there is a loadmaster giving instructions on how to move to get the load on target.
And there is a drop zone indicator you can make visible to assist.
This would help to get the load on the drop zone instead of the guess work that’s in now needed without any visual indication on where the load is.
Working mirrors would also help. There are mirrors present but are totally useless for there purpose
In the simulator, due to limited vision, it is difficult to determine the position of the helicopter above the casualty or the load. It is impossible for novice simulator helicopter pilots.
Currently, these missions are almost unplayable.
I ask the development team to please add a position determining display add-on to these missions.
It would be a great help if the co-pilot or other person would give the pilot instructions by voice or speech to raise or lower the helicopter, or to hover over the target.
In the simulator, due to limited vision, it is difficult to determine the position of the helicopter above the casualty or the load. It is impossible for novice simulator helicopter pilots.
Currently, these missions are almost unplayable.
I ask the development team to please add a position determining display add-on to these missions.
It would be a great help if the co-pilot or other person would give the pilot instructions by voice or speech to raise or lower the helicopter, or to hover over the target.
Would love to have a voice say “3 to the right, 1 forward” etc… you’re just lost and it’s just not realistic (and far off making fun doing such missions).
I also think that this is absolutely necessary, ideally visually and acoustically.
Apart from that, we need functioning mirrors and a better position of the EFB in the H125, the view of a mirror is partially obscured.
Another important device would be a scale in the helicopter. This would allow you to see when the full load is hanging on the helicopter and the load is touching the ground.
Can’t upvote this enough, without this it is really impossible for me to find the target on these precision hover missions.
Since the H125 is basicly impossible to fly in hover atm due to being waaaay too twitchy I tried the Chinook. There I can hover quite well, but find it impossible to actually WHERE to go in the hover once the target disappears below the copter. Even the existign feedback you get there is useless, because it is so delayed that you have drifted out of the pickup area before it tells you that you are in it.
I mean, this should in theory really be not that hard to implement, put something like a virtual helipad in the sky where you should hover to pickup and drop the cargo instead of this useless tiny circle on the ground. And even better would be a copilot that actually helps you hit the target instead sitting silently there and just yapping some useless flavour text when enroute…
Fully agree with the topic and upvoted too. However, I found on another thread an interim solution.
Zoom max in the tablet, this will actually work as a target UI. Also set the altitude radar to 30ft and keep it above for hovering.
It made my virtual pilot life so much easier.
