I’m having a few issues establishing a sight picture on straight and level flying. I fly the R44 and Bell 407, with the R44 mostly consistent, but the 407 doesn’t seem to be quite right at times. I’ve watched lots of helicopter videos and they seem consistent, so I wonder if it is the modelling, VR or a mistake I’m making.
In VR, ‘straight ahead’ is a bit funky anyway due to the position of the camera and perception within the curvature of the cockpit. You also don’t get any feedback as you would in the real world of being level. So the gyro and turn/slip indicator ball (the ball) should indicate the right amount of pedals and cyclic to get an initial idea for visual reference. The direction of travel with these centred should indicate where straight ahead is as a visual reference, also reinforced by the ‘weathervane’ effect.
However, I notice that changes in collective, which are corrected with the pedal change to maintain level flight on the gyro and the ball to be centred, has a different ‘straight ahead’ reference to the cockpit. This would mean that the body isn’t lined up for straight flight all the time.
I think I may have ignored the gyroscopic forces with pedal correction, may require the helicopter to not actually be level to maintain straight flight under certain collective amounts at certain speeds. By using the instruments instead of straight visual flight, I’m not flying straight.
But the question then is, at what speed, control amounts and instrument settings do you establish the correct ‘straight ahead’ reference point on the glass of the cockpit?
The yaw string on the Cabri is good, the R44 doesn’t help much, and there isn’t one on the Bell 407.
I would still think that at cruising flight, the string and instruments indicating level flight without yaw/slip should be the same.
Could some of you more experience flyers set me straight on this.