Flying Apaches made the DCS BlackShark make sense; hold modes and maneuvers

A video answering a few questions I've received over time about how I manipulate controls in the Shark as well as a few basic maneuvers. Just a different perspective than some as I've discovered in various conversations.
Sorry for my voice being a little worse than normal, it was 1am when I filmed this.
Added; also tracking the ratio is wrong on KZbin. My software upgraded and it reset some things and I didn’t catch it. I’ll fix it on the next one!
Join the Low Level Hell Discord; / discord

[@garrettchambers9005]

I do think when you’re answering questions like “how do i slow down without popping up” you might want to turn on controls indicator so that people can watch what you do incase you forget to mention it or discuss it in detail. I love these videos

[@CasmoTV]

Yeah I never pay attention to those so I kinda forgot about it. I’ll revisit on the next one. Thanks for watching!

[@slyderace]

YES! r-ctrl+enter should be used on EVERY tutorial video when it comes to DCS! :)

[@mikesolyom6884]

This was a good video. When you look at the training for fixed wing aircraft in DCS they have these detailed tutorials for landing the plane with a glide path marked out by bright green gates in the air and a narrator telling you what buttons to press. But with helicopters you get a big fat nothing. You're really on your own in that regard. So these tips were really helpful. Also, I like the fact that those of us in your Discord are now a "fringe element". haha

[@CasmoTV]

“Grass roots”

[@Wrootplonk]

That Force Trim Interrupt-button makes a hilarious amount of sense! I've never thought of it, but now it makes a whole lot of sense. Might be time to go back to the Shark :D

[@ltcasey6318]

As Im trying to get back into the ka50 after 13 years, you're videos help improve my understanding of helis. Thanks a lot. I'll be on LLH once I've done my home construction. Can't wait for the Kiowa Module.

[@ghashpl]

"think ahead of the plane" - I like that kind of bits, because we cannot find such things in manuals "autopilot of Ka-50 is black magic to me and I don't use it" - same :rofl: thx for another good video

[@paristo]

Few points what are better done otherway: *1) **_For me_** the Flight Director (FD) is meant for emergency situations when some of the AP channels are inoperable/non-functional (flashing).* The KA-50 manual says that FD is the primary flight mode and not the automatic route modes (making little sense really for other than combat use) but it likely is more to maintain skills to fly as otherwise you don't even need trimmer at all for other than set the current speed, altitude and heading to memory that computer would use to guide pilot back to it. The trim button hold down is exactly same thing as FD is, so there is no need to use FD at all than in emergency. When performing the gun or rocket run, you want to have full control of the aircraft and that is when you just hold trim down through the attack and then when you come around you release it for the safer maneuver with AP. For a HMS tracked cannon attacks, you want to be in a good trimmed flight when you utilize HMS for aiming and firing, why you can't have your thumb on trimmer button and Shkval uncage button same time. Using the Auto Pilot makes easy terrain observation possible. You can example set KA-50 to fly wanted altitude, speed and heading, while looking nicely all the time outside, and have even Skhval automatically scan forward of your heading in wanted rate. So spotting targets further distance ahead is easy without trying to fly simultaneously (in a KA-50 modernized Sh version the FLIR will automatically track and lock the targets on FLIR, like tanks and such). *2) Don't disable/enable the different AP channels to get your heading.* There are sub-modes for the Yaw channel. And you want to keep the dampening all the time active, so it is just "Hold Trimmer and Release" method all the way down if needed (can be done by trimming often, easier that way for many). Many doesn't realize that just right of the AP channel buttons, there are two switches, just under the FD button. - The left switch is sub-mode for altitude AP channel, as it controls that is the altitude read from the radar (forward) or from the barometric (aft) or neutral (disable the sub-mode, no altitude hold). - The right switch is "Desired Heading" (forward) and "Desired Track Angle" (aft) sub-modes. Those controls that does the AP try to steer the aircraft toward the waypoint, or does it try to steer it on the track to the waypoint. *And then it has the Neutral position in center, that disables the waypoint and track sub-modes, and _this is important difference_, this mode stores the magnetic heading (I think it is not a TRUE heading) of the aircraft on each trim button release and AP try to keep it flying in that direction, regardless of the waypoint or track positions or directions!* I don't know exactly why this is enabled by default as a "Desired Heading" (waypoint) instead the disabled sub-mode so you can program the KA-50 to fly to your wanted direction, but I think it is for default assumption that player wants to fly to the next waypoint direction instead as wanted heading. But that switch is used across various phases of flight. When you take-off, you keep it in Neutral mode (center) and you take-off straight forward as you trim before take-off. When you start to fly the flight plan you flip the switch to either two positions depending your altitude, your distance, environmental threat conditions and so on. - If the flight plan is properly done so it has all the legs, and you want to fly the track between waypoints, you will flip that switch to aft. Now you get in the HUD under the track position to your left/right, and the AP will turn toward the track so it can capture it smoothly and then fly the route for you from start to finish when enabled in collective. - If you have inputted just the coordinates for PVI-800 like a target coordinates, you can use the "Desired Heading" to have AP automatically fly toward that point where ever you are or in what angle you are coming to that waypoint. _So simply if you want to fly in your wanted direction, set the switch to neutral/center!_ *3) "Route Autopilot" switch allows pilot to control the AP maintained heading* in the sub-mode that is set with the switch on the right side. - If the pilot wants AP to fly the flight plan or the route to next point in PVI-800, then set the right side switch to "Desired Track Angle (Aft)" and enable "Route Autopilot" on collective. - If pilot wants the AP only to fly toward the point in PVI-800, then set right side switch to "Desired Heading" (forward) and enable Route Autopilot on collective. - If pilot wants AP only to maintain current heading, then set right side switch to "Neutral (middle)" and enable Route Autopilot. The new heading is stored each time trim button is pressed, or the Route Autopilot switch is enabled. *If collective "Route Autopilot" switch is not enabled, Autopilot will not try to fly in any heading or route.* It will only maintain altitude, speed and roll angle depending their values. Pilot is constantly in the control of the AP programming with the trimmer button and then the "Route Autopilot" switch in collective. Nothing else is really required to be touched in typical flight. *4) The collective brake lever is important because each time it is released it will program the current altitude* (sub-modes again, is it barometric or radar) in to AP and it will start maintaining it with constant 20% authority. Pilot can have KA-50 flying the route or attitude, only adjusting collective to set new altitudes as long keeps collective brake lever squeezed. Why the altitude hold lever is important is that one can move with just cyclic without caring the altitude so much as AP will adjust collective for that. So flying NOE is easy when performing the approaches and all is just horizontal and vertical can be let AP to be handled. *5) The pedals allow AP flying speed and altitude, and pilot only use pedals to define the heading* and then use trim button to program heading change to AP to maintain it.

[@valentinofogarty9943]

Nice, learnt a lot. You should do the same in the Apache when it's released

[@performance13able]

CasmoTV: An in depth comparison of helicopter flight dynamics such as the transition of forward fight into a stable hover and how best to employ the KA-50's stability augemtation and control system (SCAS) during in-fight maneuverings. Very nice presentation. Thanks!

[@bneil4059]

Excellent video, you just sold me on this module.

[@craigmoran893]

Watching KZbin made the BlackShark make sense lol

[@drussell15]

Great stuff!

[@oldmannoob8105]

Great info for a newbie. Thanks

[@matk4731]

I learnt something 👍🏻. Thanks for sharing 👍🏻👍🏻🙃🙃

[@CasmoTV]

Then my work here is done. Thanks for watching!

[@ScrollTroolz]

Thanks for sharing! One ask: In future videos, could you please include your axis display (R Ctrl + Enter)? There's a lot of subtle information that we're missing out on by not seeing what you're doing with the controls.

[@CasmoTV]

Sure. It’s funny cause I meant to do that when I rehearsed it in my head but then, cause it was hella late, I forgot. Thanks for watching. Getcha on the next one!

[@NorthernGrim]

The only button i have bound for clicking on and off is the one just to the right of the set of 4 hold buttons, it overrides those auto pilot buttons and makes it fly like a normal helicopter (sort of like the apache/mi24) that way you can fly around "freely" so to speak, but then when you want to auto pilot and relax for a bit I turn it off and then it goes to hold modes.

[@jisellan]

First, thanks for these videos. Are great ! from the point of view of how te setup a mission to these that you explain how to fly and look on your surroundings. One question that I have the "force trim" in the settings of the game, how you have it configured ? to return to the center ?

[@therealCG62]

I'd be interested in seeing how you've got your controls bound up for the Hokum- I hadn't ever thought of using one of the four ways on my stick for the hold channels. The Hokum is an odd duck, you can definitely tell flying it that it never really advanced past the prototype stage (at least for the single-place versions, the 52 is a quite well-refined aircraft from what I understand). I imagine it'd be hard to find a Hokum pilot to chat with nowadays, I believe the -50s have all been retired.

[@CasmoTV]

I’ll throw that up next time. Thanks for watching!

[@bartacomuskidd775]

Excellent vids, ive really found new interest in DCS with the Helos. Would love to see these vids in 1080, the HUD and instruments are a little tough to make out. Helos just make sense to me, i took to the HIP like a duck to water. At least when im already moving and off the ground. She just dances for me. Sling loading, hovering, pinpointing a landing zone, thats whats giving me the pains in my neck. Going to map the interupt right now.

[@CasmoTV]

I just upgraded my rig this past week so you should see notable quality change and some streaming. Thanks for watching!

[@winstonsmith2539]

I think that one of the reasons for the quirkiness of the KA-50 apart from being Russian not western in it design philosophy is that the project never really got of the ground. One could claim that it never got past some kind of prototype stage of development with just 15 to 18 built. But on paper it was adopted by the Russian air force. Development was started in 85, and due to the economy and then collapse of the USSR it was a mess with feature creep and moving of goalposts. In the mid 90s failed efforts was made to sell it on the international market again shifting the requirements. The main concept thru-out the project was an high performance automated helicopter that had gotten rid of the gunner. In the later stages of development they added and tested in combat a new concept where a pack (2 in the tests) of KA-50s worked in conjunction with scout/command/designation platform that was based on the KA-29 but with quite a bunch of stuff added to it. The test were quite successful and proved the concept, but in the end the project was scrapped and funding moved to the more traditional KA-52 that has its own sensors and a gunner. Here is a link to a article PDF well wort reading about the experimental combat groups exploits in Chechnya: forums.eagle.ru/attachment.php?attachmentid=75432&d=1357148409

[@CasmoTV]

Yeah it’s def got an experimental feel. Thanks for the link I’ll check it out!

[@winstonsmith2539]

@@CasmoTV lucky for us, since it was not in active service anymore and the way Russia worked back in the early 2000s someone decide that all the info and documentation about it was no longer classified. And ED got their hands on the documents, and made the module.

[@CasmoTV]

Yeah that makes sense. I absolutely hated it when I first started flying it but at this point it’s the most believable flight model for me. I can feel the weight of it.

[@delayed_control]

The reason the AP modes aren't on cyclic is because pitch, roll and yaw modes are supposed to be always on, unless there's an emergency. You're not even supposed to hover with them off, because turning them off disables all stabilization. If you want rate damping/sas instead of attitude hold you either hold the force trim button the whole time (which is how it's usually done when changing direction in cruise, unless route AP is on) or turn on the director mode (the additional button to the right of the other 4) - this switches attitude AP from attitude hold to rate damping and displays the hold commands on the HUD instead (to show what autopilot will do when director mode is disabled). The new hold targets are still recorded when you press the force trim button as displayed on HUD. The altitude autopilot is kinda different, first of all the target is set with the collective break lever release, second of all even in director mode it limits the collective authority, so when all collective authority is needed the altitude autopilot is disabled. Essentially the Ka-50 is supposed to be flown with attitude channels always on, director on during heavy manoeuvring and altitude on in cruise. It's not as necessary to have them on stick since the only time pilot would access them is to change altitude hold between baro and radar (with all autopilot channels already on), turn altitude channel on or off (with attitude channels on and flying the aircraft for them) or to turn director on and off - the latter being the only potentially dangerous case, as the pilot would need to hold cyclic with his other hand while turning it off, but then again, they'd also have to use force trim first to reset hold command to current attitude, so it's less of a problem than it seems. What's more annoying is that the fire control system modes are also on buttons like those, but on the left.

[@CasmoTV]

Yeah it makes more sense the more I understood the shark.

[@WilliamBugeater64Simpson]

Another wonderful video. I'm an big time HUEY guy and also really enjoy the KA-50 but have an horrible time try to use the Hover Hold. Any suggestions to figuring out the KA-50 Hover Hold? I never was any kind of pilot during my career but spent hundreds of hours in the HUEY UH-1, Blackhawk and Little Black Bird between the 70s and 90s.

[@CasmoTV]

She’s a fickle B. Gotta get it pretty stable before you flip it on. I still fight it quite a bit. I need to look but it MAY allow for some drift on purpose unless you start completely still.

[@WilliamBugeater64Simpson]

@@CasmoTV Thank you very much for the advice and I'll keep practicing. Like the HUEY, the KA-50 is great fun flying in VR.

[@tequila6955]

"Charlie don't Surf."

[@Mesusir]

Great video, thank you. I like to fly with director mode so i don't hold all the time trim button when maneuvering.

[@CasmoTV]

One of these days I’ll get comfy with it. Maybe it’s just all in my head. Thanks for watching!

[@TechGaming45]

Another great vid.. did you export the vid in the wrong resolution?

[@CasmoTV]

Yeah my software updated and I didn’t catch the change.

[@MichalPlichta]

You could make a video how and when use pedals in BS. FD mode work like forced trim, but I prefer forced trim, somehow I feel I have less authority with FD then with forced trim.

[@nacionalistadaesquerdacent9069]

I don't know if it's illegal for you answer this but: When you say that, in Apache, you can see through the cockpit, do you mean you guys have a helmet mounted display like in the F-35 with the infrared vision or do you mean the Apache's cockpit has better visibility? Your videos are rare jewels. Thanks.

[@CasmoTV]

Everton M. Yeah I just mean with the PNVS which is a camera located on the nose you can see from that. So when you look down in the cockpit you actually see what the camera sees a few feet in front of you.

[@CakePrincessCelestia]

@@CasmoTV AFAIK the PVNS can just be slaved to the head just like the TADS and you'd literally see the image on the IHADSS, right? In other words, for the ones who don't know, imagine something like this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmfGp4CpZrd6kKMm48s (that's a fun sim BTW, not as realistic as DCS obviously and with some fantasy aircraft, but a great VR experience, handles quite well even without any HOTAS, just with Touch controllers)

[@tequila6955]

Does the lack of a tail rotor reduce maneuverability in comparison to the Apache?

[@CasmoTV]

No not really.

[@gerardheil8303]

Correct me if i'm wrong but can't you just press the single autopilot flight director button to overide the pitch, back, and heading hold for more dynamic flight? It's the fifth blue button at the top right slightly seperated from the other 4

[@CasmoTV]

Yeah that’s the flight director. I believe it cancels SOME of the control from the other four modes but it just doesn’t feel right to me. Maybe I’m just dumb. 🤷🏻‍♂️. Thanks for watching!

[@gerardheil8303]

@@CasmoTV so the button your holding, Is the the trim reset button? Or just the trimmer button? It's been about a month or so since I flew the Ka-50. Trying to learn the F-16 and the harrier while keeping the Ka-50 in the wheelhouse while I also don't lose what I know from the F/A 18. Not enough time lol. Once the Mi-24 and MiG 23 come, my brain will be full

[@M0R4NT4R]

@@gerardheil8303 I guess it's trim button.

[@M0R4NT4R]

@@CasmoTV Autopilot channels in ka-50 have two roles. Holding and dampening. Director turns off holding function but keep the dumper on-line. That's why it feels different.

[@CasmoTV]

Yeah I don’t like it lol. Thanks, I’ll have to keep playing around with it.

[@xXxXENcoreXxXx]

6:34 this is my problem I always trying to bring an action.

[@aDutchy1975]

Just keep the trimbutton pressed while manouvering. 70% of the flight I keep it pressed. Makes your flights much more enjoyable

[@Johnwilkinsonofficial]

what is with the indication on the door do not throw the door ? does this have something to do with messing with the aerodynamics in flight, or does it just mean dont lose your door and obliterate some poor peasant in the town below

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@CasmoTV >>> 👍👍

[@calmac938]

So all I need to do is spend 4-6 years of my life joining the airforce to be able to fly the ka50? Good thing I don't have to do much to fly it haha

[@CasmoTV]

Try 10 years and the army.