It is a little disappointing that folk with no IRL helicopter experience are commenting and critiquing elements that they clearly don’t well understand.
I have flown helicopters in the Military for years; civilian heli experience too. I really enjoy DCS helicopters and THAT has been the marque to live up to for quite some time.
I recently bought the Allouette III on MSFS - and it is extraordinary! Not because of how it looks (though that too is extraordinary), but the flight model!
So far I have purchased, and extensively flown, every payware helicopter on MSFS. From that experience, several truths are evident. The developers are getting a better and better take on how to develop a type-appropriate flight model for MSFS! By that I mean, a semi-rigid rotor, versus a teetering head, versus fully articulated…. the products are coming ahead in leaps and bounds with every new release.
I will have to test further but one ‘observation’ that I have made relates to the behavior of any helicopter when you are trying to land just one skid/wheel on an object (e.g. pinnacle) and how that triggers ground effect. In every helicopter to date it seems to trigger from a single activation point immediate below the center of rotation of the main rotor. That means that if you are trying to place your right skid on a Rocky outcrop, for example, you will experience none of the ground effect that will, IRL, try to repel you gently like a reverse magnetic field…. instead you get no ground effect until you move that one, central trigger point over the same surface (hover too far over the outcrop) at which point you get ALL of the ground effect at once and the heli launches 20’ into the wild blue yonder.
I thought that was down to the MSFS flight model restrictions in development until I flew the Allouette III. They seem to have solved this!! And I am thrilled that they have. I need to test it some more, but so far I am gobsmacked by the realism - again, as a real world helicopter pilot also flying helicopters in the sim since they were available (in fact, after seven years of flying helicopters in the sim I bit the bullet, switched uniforms from Air Force to Navy and flew helicopters off ships IRL! Love helicopters still!!!)
It is still not perfect. I still can’t pick up the ‘repel’ of the ground effect when hovering with part of the main rotor over an obstacle. For example, when crossing over the stern for a deck landing on a ship at sea, the increased ground effect wants to push the main rotor back and you have to gently overcome that reaction to maintain a smooth forward trajectory for the deck landing. DCS models this well.
BUT, as the latest releases show, it is getting better and better. Right now it is incredible. And it is a simulation. Fly it like the real thing and you will be rewarded. Want to look out the window? Then fly something with an autopilot, or select a simple helicopter model instead. Turn on the assists.
When I climb out of the Allouette and into the Longranger, I have to change the way I fly. Instead of the small, progressive and precise moves of the cyclic in the Allouette, I have to do the ‘teetering head dance’; very small movements in a number of directions to herd the main rotor in the direction I want it to go. Literally in your head it’s “1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3,….” Like a dance. And this is COMPLETELY REALISTIC.
Yank the cyclic? I think they mean yank the collective? Yes you will get a massive yaw - left or right depending on the helicopter - and this too is realistic.
Take ANYTHING for granted and any aircraft will bite you. A helicopter though, will bite you and not let go!!
Cheers to the developers. You rock. Simply cannot wait for Blackbird to get their UH-1 and UH-60s out there now!!!