Help Landing Helicopters

[FlightSimElectronics]

I really, really, REALLY enjoying flying Heli's in x-plane, but no matter what I try to do I cannot get landing down at all. I have watched several youtube videos and watched the BK 117 landing video (which, I am most likely going to purchase today btw) but even if I just try going from one end of the runway to the other and start to descend I always hit like a big giant "magnet" that pulls me to the ground, hard and fast. There is no recovering or stopping it. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

[ilias.tselios]

There are 2 things that you must have in mind during approaches with helicopters.

1. There is an area in airspeed (about 16 to 25 kts), where transitional lift phenomenon takes place. At and below that speeds, and at an altitude greater than 50 ft, the rotor goes into its own downwash, so there is a "sink" to the ground.

2. At low speeds (<40 kts) and hi rate of descend (more than 500ft/min), also the rotors goes into its own downwash.

So, the best technique is to maintain 40 kts till about 10-20 ft above ground, and descend with less than 500 ft/min.

[Nicola_M]

I read somewhere that military pilots are told to avoid descending at more than 300 ft per min, but in essence airfighter's correct. The "magnet pulling you down" is the result of coming out of translational lift which xplane vastly over-exaggerates.

The only way to really overcome it in xplane is to descend slowly, ie no more than 300fpm.

It just takes practice.

PS I'm going to put together a few tips about setting up your system for the BK, as some parts are not as user-friendly as they could be.

Edited September 2, 2011 by Nicola_M

[AADX]

http://en.wikipedia....ling_with_power

Rotorcraft Flying Handbook

http://www.faa.gov/l...a-h-8083-21.pdf

The severity of VRS experienced in x-plane helicopters has a lot to do with the rotor airfoils.

Pilot technique will always be the a factor in onset of VRS. I recommend the Rotorcraft Flying Handbook for the best information and description about it, and flying techniques.

Edited September 2, 2011 by AADX

[FlightSimElectronics]

I read somewhere that military pilots are told to avoid descending at more than 300 ft per min, but in essence airfighter's correct. The "magnet pulling you down" is the result of coming out of translational lift which xplane vastly over-exaggerates.

The only way to really overcome it in xplane is to descend slowly, ie no more than 300fpm.

It just takes practice.

PS I'm going to put together a few tips about setting up your system for the BK, as some parts are not as user-friendly as they could be.

Thanks! Really appreciated! I just purchased the BK-117 and I am speechless! WOW. Simply, WOW. Outstanding in every single way.

[Nicola_M]

Great. You've got a bit of learning to do, and a few improvements to load, but they can wait. I'm just posting up some setting-up help in the next 5 minutes.

[Nicola_M]

Okay, setting up hints are here:

[Simmo W]

What controller setup do you use? A crappy joystick makes heli flying very hard!

Now you know the reasons, try to anticipate it and adjust collective a little earlier, it makes a big difference.

And listen to Jason/aadx, I've seen him fly in xplane, he's knows his stuff!

His 206 taught me that I could fly helos after practice :-)

[FlightSimElectronics]

Thanks Nicola for the setup tips, very helpful. I'm setting up a similar system.

I dug out an old Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, and using a Saitek throttle quadrant for collective. I didn't think the Saitek yoke would be a good choice for a Heli. Rudder pedals are homemade. I figured once I got some practice in I would start working on a custom cyclic and collective because I see myself flying the BK-117 a LOT.

[Nicola_M]

ur welcome. i'd been planning to put those tips into print for eons but never got round to it.

Having rudder pedals definitely makes it a whole lot easier than learning with a twist grip, but yeah, I think it's the best heli there is for xp.

I had the same speechless impression when I first got it too.

[FlightSimElectronics]

Well I think I finally had a breakthrough! I was just messing around seeing how fast I could skim over the ground and then from there started practicing reducing my speed. That evolved into slowing down to a hover and gently setting her down. I must have done 50 touch and go landing like that in a row lol. I'm still a little ways from landing on a helipad but I'm slowly making progress

I think the main problem I was having before was trying to hover at 2,000+ altitude and trying to set it straight down. Seems like that always made me get pulled in by the "magnet". But coming in with a little airspeed then starting a hover once close to the ground has made a huge difference.

[Nicola_M]

Just don't leave your landing flares at late as this...

[FlightSimElectronics]

Yikes! All they needed was some chalk fixed to the rear and then they could play hopscotch

[Lukasz]

One more tip, with regards to translational dip. Try to decelerate forward speed in as slow manner as possible. Pitch up to no more, than 5-10^o and let it gently decelerate. Lower deceleration rate, when coming near the dip region and be prepared to add collective - or even better - add it before the dip happens. A little bit of climb is better than a lot of descend.

Watch the gauges, torque and airspeed in particular:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mt7M3Ak_jQ

[UH-60 Blackhawk]

Brett S put it best, and really did the trick for me, 2 things. First, every change of one control requires compensation from a few others, and second, smooth.

[FlightSimElectronics]

Thanks so much for all the tips everyone, it has really helped. Today I decided to finally start working on cleaning up my hard drive, I need to reinstall linux as the latest Ubuntu release broke some of my other programs. So while making sure I had everything backed up I gave it a spin under linux and I'm not having near as bad of a problem. I think I may have way too many addons in my Windows install as I'm getting some choppy fps. Under linux it's smooth as silk. I was actually in disbelief that I was flying so much better.