Landing helicopters in DCS; Understanding the Rotor #1

[@hmleao]

"Today we're gonna talk about why your landings aren't so good". That surely baited me into seeing the video. Glad it did because the information is gold. Great work.

[@whippingstar]

"Slow is smooth; smooth is fast" was the first (and most important) performance driving lesson I ever got. Great video for a new DCS rotary fan!

[@GeFlixes]

My understanding of the forces on the airframe: Requested lift leads to needing higher AOA of the rotor (that's what you're directly controlling). Higher AOA leads to the rotor having more wind resistance and "working harder". This leads to the rotors slowing down. Slowing down is bad, because that means less lift, so the engine works harder. This leads to higher rotor RPM and higher engine RPM, which exerts force as torgue on all parts of the system (engine, transmission, shafts, etc). Added torgue needs to be counteracted by the tail rotor, which uses energy in the system (and thus, even more of max torgue). Pilots can influence the system by: - collective - anti-torgue pedal (more anti-torgue = more max torgue used. This can actually be used to help on take-offs by reducing torgue pedal, freeing up max torgue %). - throttle. Used to always stay at 100% RPM. Most likely, this is automatic. - speed over the rotors (airspeed +/- wind speed. You can actually be in ETL without any groundspeed due to wind). Is this correct? Did I miss something?

[@CasmoTV]

Pretty much nailed it.

[@ShadeAKAhayate]

One notable addition would be that usually helicopter is powered by a turboshaft engine working at extremely high (engine) RPM, and (engine) RPM% change implies increase in thousands RPM. And considering the rotating thingies are heavy and have a lot of inertia, this can't be done very fast, meaning a few second lag in set engine RPM and actual RPM. In turn, meaning a spike in power requirement would mean a guaranteed RPM drop. So not helicoptering the thing into conditions with those spiking requirements will be good.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@@CasmoTV >>> Also known as _"Flying a HELICOPTER."_ 🤭

[@vsTerminus]

That was a really nice setup for the "ah-hah!" moment at 15:15 with the line through the different torque requirements. Great visual. I may or may not borrow some ideas from it :)

[@CasmoTV]

As you like!

[@DiphonFX]

Pedal coordination through all of this paramount. Especially keeping your pedal inputs ahead of the nose swing. Your feet need to move with your collective inputs. Don’t wait for it to start swinging. This was one of the challenges I had in flight training. I would change pitch but would wouldn’t change pedal inputs until I saw the aircraft doing something. Once I learned to get ahead of the aircraft, landings and quick stops got a lot smoother.

[@Rabble1narms]

Just gave this a go in the Huey (DCS), massive improvement in landing, very much appreciated!

[@CasmoTV]

💪🏼

[@loneirregular1280]

As someone who recently started flying the apache, I cannot fully express my gratitude in Casmo's tutorials, they really helped me a lot in understanding and improving whats at play. I can now take off, and my landings have improved a lot!

[@lambflorpadorp]

As someone who frequently uses the Mi-8 while playing DCS, this is a wonderful watch to gain some theoretical knowledge behind the practical experience.

[@CakePrincessCelestia]

Reminds me of Wags: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJixlZibqp10pqM Jörgen Toll: I wanted to see Wags land that contraption without ending up in a VRS induced heap of smoldering ashes... ;) Matt Wagner: There is a reason I ended the video when I did ;) And since you're flying the Mi-8, if you haven't already, check out this great tutorial series as well: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYnShGWEaLJog9k

[@lambflorpadorp]

@@CakePrincessCelestia I'm very much aware of Terminus' series and watch some of his videos with joy, although I am beyond needing the tutorials to learn how to fly it :>. Good catch on the Wags stuff!

[@bazexo12.73]

I only just picked up the Kiowa Warrior the other day. And have flown it about 8 times now. It's a learning process.

[@mikesolyom6884]

This was a great explanation and an excellent use of a spaghetti analogy.

[@chrisd2704]

Love a good Principles of Flight lesson :P great vid Casmo - covering critical basics and we can push it out to new guys coming into the Squadrons and groups to help them improve their flying :)

[@marcoeland3405]

Greatly explained! The most common mistake I see in Huey videos is that people fly it like it had a FBW control system and all they get is a swinging aircraft. But the Huey and probably other large helicopters of that time have a hydraulic/mechanic control system that needs its time to follow the cyclic. Therefore every fast movement is only swinging the aircraft around. Slow and anticipating control inputs is key in the Huey and the relaxter the movements are the preciser and better is the landing.

[@Doug_Narby]

My landings are fine they’re just 6 to 9 yards too high. Seriously, good video, thanks!

[@sloppydog4831]

Good point you brought up: the 'hover' area in the Huey starts at 40 knots. Something to really pay attention to.

[@Blackcloud_Garage]

58D guy. Thanks for the walk down “memory lane” of table talk👍

[@TheRaptorXX]

Absolutely, totally, unmitigatingly GOLDEN!! Thanks Casmo.

[@timme9206]

Thanks for the description. That might help me to instruct our german speaking folks on dcs. Keep up the high quality input, Casmo 👍

[@tonicarrera9647]

What a fantastic video, explains some things in the UH-60L. I cruise at around 61% to 65% TRQ in level flight, and now I know why all of a sudden when I get lower and lower, my sink rate increase dramatically Thanks Casmo

[@MicrocatM14EBR]

Saving this for when the Hind drops! Will certainly make transitioning from fixed wing to rotors easier

[@raydolinger1980]

I remember my first few flights with the black shark and man it was eye opening... You have to be slow and gentle, small corrections, constant cross checking gauges, just a hand full at first...... much different than the ol' a-10 :)

[@chriszack4777]

I had to watch this a couple of times because I kept getting hypnotized by the waterfall in the background. Thanks for making this video though!

[@CasmoTV]

That was my vacation last month! We stayed at a cabin literally right on top of that thing. Loud af lol

[@Sidekick65]

Excellent explanation. Very helpful. Especially the tips on the Huey's little "quirks".

[@xxSWxxNINJA]

More of these please, this is fantastic!

[@Tridan24]

Thanks for this info Casmo I understood it all went and tried and my landings went from crap, splat, drat to the most controlled I've ever had it at. Still need to practice but it's great now I'm practicing the right things with the right info.

[@CakePrincessCelestia]

"Hey guys, I'm Casmo and today we're gonna talk about why your landings aren't so good!" - Best intro for this, cheers! I'm glad though that I've watched at least some of vsTerminus's tutorials already - and that I'm flying in VR which makes them a lot better. 0:45 Are you by chance watching JayzTwoCents? That channel has exactly the same stumbling-across-words-edits, and I love them! :D 4:59 And then the Huey is redlining at just 50%... 14:17 "beat the air into submission" - that's what these things do :) 14:45 Sikorsky S-66 entered the chat and tilts its tail rotor by 90° to turn it into a pusher prop. 27:29 GITSUUUUUUUM! :D

[@josemadarieta865]

I saw 127% once. Maintenance officer was NOT happy. Good thing he was my buddy

[@CasmoTV]

Basketball scores.

[@gwalker3092]

I do suck at landings it's why I'm here to learn from a professional it's why your videos invaluable. Keep up the good work on the channel. I can see when the ah-64 comes to DCS there's going to be a great deal of Internet looking for this type of knowledge 👌

[@ReflectedSimulations]

Excellent explanation of what's going on, thanks a lot for posting!

[@mcdjay]

This is hands down the most informative info and probably most helpful to every new rotor pilot on DCS. It all makes sense now. Going to see if I can apply it.

[@CasmoTV]

Good luck!

[@mcdjay]

@@CasmoTV First try in the Huey, landed within about 15ft of intended, and in Apache was even better. About 10ft. Thank you for this

[@CasmoTV]

@mcdjay awesome!

[@thunderace4588]

Thank you for taking the time to make this lesson for us CasmoTV.

[@phreak2424]

I literally just searched for sth like this yesterday and now this in here, amazing!

[@mastergunner309]

Great video. I hope you continue along this line of teaching. I also wanted to note the great illustrations. I thought I was watching a Bob Ross painting. The way you crafted those airframes, I think you may have a future in graphic design. Seriously, thanks for the video.

[@CasmoTV]

It’s both a gift and a curse. My artistry knows no limits.

[@TheEnvy44]

Exactly what I needed! Liked it even before watching it.

[@slow9573]

It dawned on me, sitting here enjoying this video, you're the bob ross of DCS. That smooth, easy voice. Happy trees... happy trees...

[@NeightWolf49]

This was phenomenal. Exactly what I was looking for to understand the power/torque and aerodynamics of a helicopter (not being familiar with it).

[@WarrenPostma]

I've been looking for analogies on how I should think about rotary-airfoil (helicoptor) control, especially during landing, but also because, as a non-pilot who plays sims (XPlane,DCS) and flies helicopters in them, I can see that what real helicopter pilots say about the real thing is definitely something I'm feeling when I try to fly helis: 1. Sometimes my helicopter seems to want to beat itself to death. 2. The hover button is elusive. 3. If hovering is still hard, landing is gonna be even harder. Luckily I'm just doing this for fun, and so even when my on screen aircraft is destroyed, I just get up and have a beverage and try again when the helmet fire is out.

[@Void304]

I enjoyed the lecture. I don't know much about helicopters, but the bit about the engine's power band and the rotor's modus operandi seems similar to the mixture control and propeller pitch used by the old warbirds.

[@CasmoTV]

Pretty much.

[@tonymarcella13]

Thanks casmo learned a lot from this. I fly the mi8 mainly which teaches you fairly quickly not to yank the collective as you lose the generators. Still find landings quite tough but will put this into practice 👍

[@chuckp210]

Thankyou so much for this great video, its exactly what I needed. But I still can't figure out when it was you saw me landing. Again much thanks!

[@badger3899]

Bro good job on explaining through out this video. Everything made perfect sense coming from someone with no experience in choppers.👍

[@user-yk7dc9hu2k]

Super useful and easy to understand for dummies like me, thanks

[@srslywtfcl4p404]

great video. this is gonna help me a lot in DCS and hopefully make me not send the rotors flying any more

[@Arixodia]

"Why your landings aren't so good" Me looking at another smoking crater on the H pad "....go on"

[@NWGJulian]

you are literally the only channel on youtube i subscribed AND clicked on the bell! just cant wait for new videos! keep the good work up :) excited for new apache videos

[@zacgreen8401]

Super informative thankyou! really enjoy your soldier's 5 explanation.

[@kilianortmann9979]

This is my rotor. There are many others like it, but this one is mine. My rotor is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my rotor is useless. Without my rotor, I am useless. Can't wait for more.

[@stevea4053]

I can't seem to find it anymore but, I remember in flight school reading straight from the FAA Helicopter Flying Handbook the sentence, "rotor RPM is life." Most accurate and easy thing to understand in the whole book, haha.

[@ghostholand]

thank you for this! hope to see more of this kind of video!

[@Zatracenec]

Very nicely explained.

[@thebiggestoneyouveverhad]

Nice! We all need a little extra Schlitz once in a while...

[@captpabs9757]

Really good tutorials Casmo. Thank you. Needed these.

[@jasbails9857]

I think I am pretty reasonable at landings in the Huey and Gazelle, but I didn't realise why until this video popped up. Thanks. Also, I seem to recall some ex-vietnam vet telling me that those fast landings that you see on films were not the norm, and they were taught to touch down at no more than walking pace under any circumstances...not sure of the validity of that, but seems legit.

[@CasmoTV]

Very legit

[@aaronwhite1786]

If the video just said "Because you suck at flying" and ended...it would still be very accurate.

[@CasmoTV]

I’m kinder and gentler these days.

[@jubuttib]

Very accurate, but not really helpful. This way we can at least try to do something about it. =)

[@CakePrincessCelestia]

Well it does end with a SuperCap reference at least, so I guess that pretty much rounds it up :D

[@kkcsteven]

@@CasmoTV can you make a video showing the correct way a helo climbs and reaches the ceiling? I just started with KA-50 never flown higher than 2k m.Tx.

[@CasmoTV]

@@kkcsteven like a service ceiling? Never flown that high lol. But basically it’s just put in best climb rate speed and go. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@stevea4053]

Came for the video, stayed for the aerodynamics review! :D Hopefully one day I'll be watching Torque % but, I only have experience with manifold pressure (reciprocating engines) R22 for the time being. Can you do a video on how to know the difference and conditions between the rumble vs. VRS (Vortex Ring State) or Settling with Power. I'm interested in your way of explaining it. Thanks again for the entertaining and now educational videos!

[@josselin9301]

Thanks for this !!! Very very interesting and useful !

[@bigcat514]

"I have never crashed." I take that mans advice any day over a "correct" theory book! :D

[@esciflightsimpublications6050]

Great lesson.

[@fenny1578]

One of the biggest things I think that have helped me a lot in the last year or so has been just slowing down. Taking more time than I think I need to land, start slowing down and setting up earlier. Stop throwing the helo around like a fucking doggy chew toy. Once I got more consistent while going slower then I start speeding my actions back up again. Doing so let me learn the movements much more smoothly, it would probably help some folks to use the dcs function for slowing down time as well. Walk yourself thru the action at a nice easy pace before trying to do insane drops where you try to go from full speed to skids on dirt in 2 seconds.

[@tacticalpete44]

I really surprised myself the first time I auto-rotated a DCS chopper after I was messing around on the keyboard trying to find a keybind and turned off the aircraft.

[@dmitriyw.germann2118]

Hi, Casmo! Do you plan to do more Apache systems related videos? Very enjoyed previous ones and looking forward for moar.

[@CasmoTV]

Yeah had to take a break. They were exhausting lol

[@ImpendingJoker]

As a former 68D/15D Drivetrain Technician, I spent day in and day out doing M/R & T/R track and balances. The Huey was the toughest the Blackhawk was the easiest. I never did an Apache or 58D but I did do a bunch of 58Cs, and they are about the same as the Huey. I did the most on the Huey though(Sinai MFO 99-00).

[@toomany9635]

At 2:55, he meant to say rpm... You do not wanna be flying having to pull 100% torque continuously to maintain lift.

[@jwest7369]

Good video and explained well. Thanks. Grizz

[@whataboutbobyt]

informative, thank you

[@hansangb]

At the very beginning, It's like you *really* know me! :) Love seeing the Bottom Line Up Front theory of military writing. There was also "no paragraph should be longer than a thumb" but you'd look silly putting your and on the monitor these days. LOL. But seriously, the BLUF style of writing has served me well in the corporate world. It's amazing how many words are wasted and how non-succinct most emails are.

[@tequila6955]

Very cool vid.

[@tombstone4362]

I do great until I'm in ground effect range and the huey starts to dance around on me, can't seem to settle down. Great vid.

[@mattwagnerismylordandsavio5169]

Why the dislike? Sometimes It's hard to comprehend why people dislike videos like these unless it's full of misinformation.

[@CasmoTV]

Some men just wanna watch the world burn lol

[@toddw6716]

Great tips thanks chief

[@CasmoTV]

There’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time... a long time.

[@pinkfloyd7572]

Great video! Thanks.

[@CasmoTV]

Thanks for watching!

[@flighttherapybullisticfpv133]

Aa-Naa-Laa-Gus ;) lol Love the show, thanks Casmo

[@drussell15]

Great stuff!

[@stevedavey1343]

Great vid. I love these lessons. ;) Especially because,. fixed or rotary, I'm a bloody awful pilot! Oh and I see you've moved from your frankenT16000M to a Gunfighter with the extension. It's great isn't it? Have you tried the clutches yet? If not, and you want to keep the springs in, it I'd recommend a teensy bit of Nyogel 767A on tightened clutches, gives a lovely damped feel, or at least it does to me anyway. ;)

[@albundi2985]

This video would save close to a 100 DCS helicopters had I seen it sooner. I've always had trouble with the descent so thanks for explaining this in so much detail. I have a question about autorotation though - does the rotor spin in the opposite direction when gravity pulls you down?

[@CasmoTV]

Nope. Same direction.

[@TrickerDCS]

Since I'm a subscriber, when are you going to write my name on your whiteboard? Good stuff!

[@CasmoTV]

I pumped you up on stream last night for all your help! Thanks again. Let’s go shoot some baddies soon.

[@FinsaneLorist]

Thanks for this free lesson. My question is, for example in KA-50, do you manage the yellow throttle levers basically to get "ahead" of losing torque, such as in landing when you pull collective the engine is going to lose some? Do you pull the levers up a bit just before raising the collective or how?

[@CasmoTV]

I don’t touch the power levers to land. It’s all Collective.

[@soundaccount8546]

Very helpfull. Glad to be the 800th person who thought Thumbs up!

[@rehil123]

good vid sir

[@CasmoTV]

Thanks Phil!

[@soarimagery6870]

Good info, how about the settings for your throttle (Warthog) if you are using it as a collective to get a smooth transition of power?

[@Basilone45]

Something causes the huey to rapidly drop speed around 40 knots? I assumed that was just the pitot losing effectiveness.

[@TheNicestPig]

I have a lot more problems with VRS in the Hip, maybe because it's a much heavier helicopter than the Huey. But well the lead developer for the Mi-8 flew it for the Russian Army so how off can it be eh.

[@CasmoTV]

I still feel like it’s a bit excessive.

[@thetraveller869]

Has he been reading Wagtendonk...? ;-))

[@bartbroekhuizen5617]

Thanks for the video, but how can you differentiate between riding the shudder vs a vortex state ring. And how can you avoid a VSR while descending / hovering? So how relates a VSR to your descend rate / Torque and RPM.

[@CasmoTV]

Avoid more than 300 fpm rate of decent

[@vicius9269]

Hi, thank you for your video. Do you know some nice book on helicopters? Thanks

[@Munky332]

So here's a Q for you Casmo, Doing a bit of research, found that the Huey we have in DCS is modeled after the AB-212, which uses a P&W PT6T, which would technically make the huey we have a UH1N (as it is a twin, it uses two PT6A's to form a "twin-pac") not a UH1H (which uses a Lycoming T53). Do you think the Huey is over performing? I've seen some *wild* shit from some of the dudes who mainly fly just the huey. Some of the charts are a bit off from what I've seen in game as well. Also, is the "Mast bump" over modeled? Seems like it would definitely take damage from doing something like that, but would it instantly snap like it does?

[@CasmoTV]

Couldn’t tell you.

[@RaindomCeains]

man looks fresh outta a Marlboro ad

[@Rodeo07]

Either you can start with a bunch of hours as a fixed wing like me, and then be so confused that you have to become and Arma rotor head, spend a hundred some hours there, and then mess with the Blackhawk…. Oooooor You could watch this video

[@bartacomuskidd775]

I love Pizza.

[@CasmoTV]

I love lamp.

[@aarnoman1088]

I think something went wrong with the rendering, there seems to be a lot of interlacing.

[@CasmoTV]

Not seeing any issues on my playback. Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on?

[@jimmehjiimmeehh9748]

I don't mean this to sound insulting in case it comes off as insulting at all. You sound a hell of a lot younger than you are. Back when you were still flying for the army, did you ever have problems of people not believing you were who you said you were over the radio since you presumably sounded even younger back then?

[@CasmoTV]

Never heard anything like that till I started KZbin. Then I hear it all the time. Weird.

[@jimmehjiimmeehh9748]

@@CasmoTV Might be something with your mic setup makes you sound younger than in person. You sound like you're in your early 20's.

[@CasmoTV]

Wish my knees felt like they were in their 20s...

[@andredias6190]

Valeu!

[@chullabatschi]

I want to see this video again. But my eyes hurt

[@CasmoTV]

You should contact your family physician.

[@timtams5283]

I just wanted to play a video game....ended up getting a degree in aerodynamics 😭

[@martf8014]

Only got to 0:48 of the video and then thought nah!!

[@MeppyMan]

Helicopter pilot here. That’s all I have to say.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@CasmoTV >>> 👍👍

[@swenic]

analogues ?

[@CasmoTV]

That can’t be it.

[@swenic]

Well, it was funny, thanks for a good vid!

[@maxanonym7966]

Graphs are useless if you don't explain what we see on the x-axis and what's on the y-axis. Also, in the beginning (first graph) you speak about RPM but then all of a sudden speak about "percentage of torque" multiple times while you meant to say "percentage of RPM"? Very confusing to me

[@CasmoTV]

Sorry you’re confused. It’s not for everyone I guess.

[@S3NTRY]

Really great stuff! Thanks!