Uh oh...I discovered helicopters

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So I picked up the Cowans R22. The Asobo Cabri G2 was fun and showed me the possibilities of a smaller, lighter, slower aircraft when compared to the H160, and I enjoyed it. However, the modeling was a little “cartoony”.

So stepped up a little and picked up the R22 for 11 bucks. Like the look much better and feels more authentic inside and out. Boy she tough to handle though on landing lol. One thing with the Cabri G2 you can land pretty roughly and not much issues. R22 needs some finesse.

I’m going camping next week at Penrose State Park in Washington, so I was like, “oooh, let me check the area out in my R22 to look at the campsite and some roads to ride the motorcyle on.” Was fun, and managed to land without crashing at a small strip nearby, though I pretty much hovered for like 15 minutes trying to do it lol.

Now starting to get enough variety where I’m figuring out mission capabilities. The R22 will be my low and slow, high maintenance, sight seeing scout rotor. The H160 will be my luxury cruiser. Will leave the military rotors to DCS as I play a lot of that as well. Already got the Kiowa, KA-50 and Apache over there so I’m pretty set there (Will get the Chinook in DCS when it comes out in a good state in about 15 years lol…)

My camping area next weekend!

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Just got the FI 206. Thanks a lot thread…

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Isn’t the R22 about a tenner in the marketplace sale? I paid in a different currency and try to forget my spending so might be wrong. :sweat_smile:

To this office chair pilot the R22 is a better option than the mini 500. It seems to fly more realistically, it all works (unlike some of the inop in the mini) and it’s a simulation of a real helicopter that I’ve seen good pilot feedback for, not a made up body and engine combo that never flew. It’s also the most iconic heli for beginners, and for a lot of light weight commercial use, I’ve no idea how many were sold but it must be a lot. Don’t look up the accident reports for the mini, terrifying!

Edit: someone did build a turbine Mini 500, I was wrong before. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI5BMQayXq8

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Did you look at the R66 too? Also on sale and I can’t decide which to get (as my first paid helicopter). Both have great reviews and fit my use-case (learning and light sightseeing). R66 is bigger and a turbine, so I guess those the most relevant things to consider.

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Yes, when I said £10 I didn’t mean exactly £10, just around £10 because 2024 is right round the corner and I’m not massively into helicopters.

So the Wasp/ Scout could be good fun, then you see the R22 and all the Cowan Sim helis in the sale for around the same price too.

Then Baracus throws a spanner in the works by mentioning the Mini 500 which I didn’t even see/ consider either :exploding_head:

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No because I wanted an R22. I tried the freeware one a while back but it wasn’t great. When this one came up with good reviews I grabbed it. I have the Cowan MD500 already which I like. I’ll go with the flyinside bell if I want to go bigger.

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Another quick tip…
Practise circuits and approach the runway much the same as you would in a fixed wing (GA) aircraft. One subtle difference though, with each attempt gradually aim to reduce your forward airspeed so you reach a point where you will transition quite nicely from forward flight into a steady hover-taxi speed just a few feet off the ground.

It is important to know/understand how a helicopter transitions between hover and flight and back again. In hover, you will be using considerably more power and with the collective raised much higher as you are in your own downwash.

As you introduce forward speed (any direction really) you start to out-run the downwash and the rotor system becomes more efficient in cleaner air. The transition general occurs somewhere between 20-30 knots.

The same (or opposite) applies when you slow to land. As you start to reach transition speed you will need to gradually raise the collective as the helicopter rotor system become less efficient as you transition back into the helicopter’s downwash. Likewise the torque through the rotor system also alters so it becomes necessary to maintain your heading using the pedals.

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Both are worth having. I still maintain though if you are starting out with helicopters it is better not to chop and change too much. The R22 is a little more twitchy and arguably more of a challenge. But if you can work through that would ultimately give you a good grounding to transition to larger/faster helicopters. A bit slow though if you want to cover distances though.

The R66 is IMO quite easy but still very good to fly. I do not think it is a bad option as a first helicopter to learn with. It feels more docile and not as twitchy as the R22. Good for sight seeing and covering distances with a little more purpose.

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Ugh… the FI 206 is so good to fly!

Folks say it is hard to fly and I guess it is (no assists for me), helicopters typically are, but I find the flight model to be intuitive, the inertia just makes it look and feel like it moves right, gets the right amount of turbulence, and it was the first helicopter I ever flew in so it is a sentimental favorite.

I really don’t have a lot of experience in MSFS helicopters but I find the 206 to be pretty easy to fly. It is landing that is tricky.

Not the sharpest model in sim but in the cockpit it is all window so it hardly matters. The flight model more than makes up for it. When flying feels this good, you aren’t looking at the detailed exterior of your helicopter.

I think the last time I spent as much on an addon for a vehicle as simple as this it was the A2A Comanche. And like the A2A plane, the FI 206 seems to cost so much more because of its bespoke flight model.

My other favorite helicopter is the Chinook which is quite the opposite. Very stable, and it feels like computers help you fly (I just imagine it is a slightly newer version with FBW), autopilot, and way too much power. Why use autopilot in a helicopter? Well the radio AP in the Chinook keeps you hugging the ground so you can play virtual tourist and look around while the chopper flies for you. I am not on VR (Xbox) so I can’t just turn my head.

I want to say landing is broken in the 206, but that is probably as much a comment on my current abilities as anything. My hover game still needs a lot of work.

Not a huge fan of hand flying. I split my time evenly between hand flying and AP and usually look for planes with an AP (learning each new computer system brings me joy) but this 206 is up there with the Tiger Moth and Wilga on my list of favorite hand flyers. Remarkably nimble and fun. Excellent barnstormer.

Really exciting to finally be bitten by the rotorcraft bug! So much to learn.

Now, if only we could get HPG to release their helicopters on Xbox. I really want something that can do IFR.

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FI 206 is not difficult to fly, it’s difficult to hover. Try to lift off and stay in place 1-2m above ground level. I struggle to keep it in this position for more than a few seconds. Every other helicopter in MSFS or DCS is 10x easier to control.

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I’m not a fan of the FI flight model either. Just because it’s harder doesn’t mean it’s more realistic. I’ve never been able to find the right settings to have it fly or feel like a real helicopter to me.

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My only real critique of it at this point. And while I spend little time hovering, take off, taxi, and landing are more difficult because of this. It will take some real practice but something about it also seems a little off (what do I know?). Once in motion it is almost an extension of my arm.

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The Flyinside 206 is very difficult to hover. Also finding the cyclic center on first lift off takes me 3 or 4 times. Then once I am off the ground a few feet (pure guess work here) I practice practice practice and if I am lucky I can manage to hold it for about 3 seconds. The practice is very helpful for landing on rooftop helipads in downtown Las Angeles. Now I can manage to plonk it down on top of the US Bank Building…
I do have a decent helicopter setup with collective,cyclic and pedals which does help, but the 206 is definitely a challenge.
I fly other helicopters for a rest :smirk::smirk:

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If the cyclic doesn’t have spring return, and it shouldn’t, how exactly are we to know the neutral position? Even using the cyclic center light,for me it’s still guess work.
It’s not a big deal really.
I would love to know how that works in a real helicopter.
Lots of experience I imagine.

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In a real helicopter you can feel and see when you’ve found “center” as you get it light on the skids. Between your peripheral vision and your sense of movement, while looking out you can easily find it. It’s much harder to do in the sim. Even with VR.

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That’s kind of what I thought.
I imagine that you could feel a change in your butt cheek before your visual sense picks it up.

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Yeah, you feel it…but a lot of it is the sight picture and peripheral. I can’t tell you how often I anticipate a big or heavy movement just from having the VR headset on.

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Zooming all the way out in cockpit view helps me on Xbox. A wide FOV really helps me anticipate what the chopper needs.

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Thank you, your observations are muchly appreciated!

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Update on hardware.

Ordered the Virpil Shark grip and the Plus collective with counter balance. Shark on back order so will need to wait, but super excited for it.

Feathering that collective seems so important. Still having a blast.

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