I love flying helicopters, and so far the experience in MSFS2024 is really quite positive!
When I mapped the buttons on my Virpil CM2 cyclic (had to do it from scratch), I assigned the "set helicopter force trim release button” function to the switch under my thumb, without really expecting it to work.
But to my surprise, it actually does exactly what it should, at least in the Asobo Cabri G2, Carenado Robinson R66 and Nemeth Bell 407. Unfortunately there is no trim at all in the Asobo H125 at the moment. Have not checked the bigger helicopters (H225, Chinook, Ericsson) yet.
If you don’t know what force trim release (FTR) does, in reality on many helicopters it moves the “neutral” position of the cyclic to where the stick currently is, so you don’t need any force to keep it in this position. In the sim it works a bit differently, and is mainly useful if you have a joystick with a centering spring. You bring the helicopter to the attitude you want, hold the FTR button, move your joystick to the center, and release the button. While you hold the FTR button, moving your joystick does not move the cyclic in the sim, but changes the neutral/center position.
So I checked the other default helicopters as well. The Chinook and Ericsson both support FTR. Even the MSFS2020 Bell 47J Local Legend supports it, which makes me think that any helicopter with trim support will also have FTR.
The HPG H225 is a bit different. It has the custom HPG Stability Augmentation System (SAS) implementation, currently with follow-up trim enabled for both hover and cruise. In the H145 and H160, you can choose on the HPG tablet if you want it for hover (realistic), cruise or both. This means that it flies more liek an A320: point the nose where it should go, and the SAS takes care of everything, no manual trim needed.
I assigned the SET HELICOPTER FORCE TRIM RELEASE BUTTON to my joystick, but this does nothing for me.
Holding FTR and move the joystick, release the FTR the cyclic in the helicopter will snap back to the center.
Normal cyclic trim seems working. Also, even the FTR button cannot be clicked in the Bell 407.
Ok it’s working in some way but the trim is reversed. For example, holding the FTR while push the cyclic forward would result trim moving backward.
Also it’s locking the “trim position” instead of the cyclic position, so you might able to set the trim to far forward but cyclic would still remains centered. TBH this whole thing is broken.
I think the idea is that you e.g. have the joystick in a 50% forward position. Now you don’t want to push the joystick forward all the time, so you press the FTR button, move the joystick to the neutral position, and release the FTR button. While the joystick goes from +50% to 0%, the trim moves the opposite direction fom 0% to +50%. The end result is still a cyclic deflection of +50%.
So with this FTR implementation you press the button when you move back to the center after you have reached the desired attitude, and the trim automatically compensates your joystick movement.
It is different from the HPG H145 with the spring joystick setting, where you press the trim release button before changing the attitude of the helicopter, to override the Airbus SAS system.
The force trim works as expected, but I noticed that the trim also works (at least in the Cabri) by setting “DECREASE ROTOR LONGITUDINAL TRIM” and “INCREASE ROTOR LONGITUDINAL TRIM”.
Which force trim mapping are you using? I’ve tried some listed in this thread (quick trim and force trim release) and am not getting any kind of appropriate force trimming.
For the force trim I followed what JasonMuc2112 explained in the first post. For the trims I set “DECREASE ROTOR LONGITUDINAL TRIM” and “INCREASE ROTOR LONGITUDINAL TRIM”. Both methods work for me, except in the H125.
Link to a button on a controller, then press and HOLD, re-position your joystick and RELEASE the button. Heli trimmed (unless you’re trying to enjoy the H125 … which will just laugh at your futile efforts).
Does the same as Increase/Decrease Longitudal Trim only much faster, plus you can also trim roll with the same single click-reposition-and-release action.
Thanks for the tips, I can finally trim the helicopter. I didn’t use to how FTR works in MSFS2024 after spending a lot of time flying helicopters in DCS.
However, the current FTR in some helicopters are completely wrong. For example, the cyclic in the Bell 407 is always at center position despite the trim, in other word, the cyclic cannot be repositioned.
I really hope Asobo can make this right and bring more FTR re-center options for users with spring centered joystick.
