Flight Sim Helicopter Flight - Introductory Tutorial - X-Plane 11 Dreamfoil Bell 407

[@vicrobinson1366]

This is the BEST description of the controls I have come across and is most helpful if starting out with Helicopters 🚁

[@jimh.5286]

I taught myself how to fly a radio control helicopter, with limited success. Very difficult, especially when you accidentally fly into a tree. The simulator is the way to go. Welcome back!

[@erichleonhard3188]

Rich, its me again! Since my last Comment, I went ahead and modified a Logitech 3D Pro, not designed for extensions to make the stick a total length..base to tip of 43cm (~17"), by extending 19 wires to the stick end, 12 of which handle a mini keyboard on the base of the stick...near your little finger. Objective was to never have your RH leave the collective, yet be able to use force trim. Changed the original main spring to a very weak one lying around. Then, I really went the whole hog. Took out the rudder pot wires from the original twist yaw control and linked to set of rudder pedals, I made from scratch. Used a standard 270 deg carbon pot with a ~9:1 to cover the full track of the standard pot. Earlier, when flying the FSX BELL 206, I had linked the small throttle lever on the 3D Pro to a throttle/collective lever for an ~6:1 sensitivity increase. Needless to say. Fantastic sensitivity for flying choppers. I have just one problem with the 407. Coordinating the throttle and cyclic, and how you would recommend I go about this. F1 and F2 are a bit unrealistic for throttle control.

[@danp1975]

Glad to see your video! Hope you’re doing well.

[@flightsim481]

Not bad all things considered, thanks for the support.

[@imachavel]

this video while a basic lesson on flying in a simulator seems almost verbatim to an actual lesson in a helicopter from an instructor. Minus the pre flight checks. Newton's law. How without the friction from the ground Newton's laws make the helicopter want to yaw in a direction and tip over without constant input from anti torque pedals, collective input and control of the cyclic and its so sensitive often times finger tip touch pressure is enough to maintain control over 3 axis. Such a great video I almost believe playing this simulator would make me a better helicopter pilot. I just downloaded it. Will play after I finish watching this video. Great video. And yes helicopter is not effective for long distance flight like with a plane its to access areas in a way of flight you simply cannot with a plane. Your approach is nowhere near take off and landing angles, trim, weather planning for long distance, straight and level flight and maintaining high altitude on the altimeter as altitude in a plane is your friend to correct wrongly implemented maneuvers and angles of attack. Regardless of the physics though the concepts are the same and angles, weather planning, straight and level flight and maintaining control at altitude is still a basic fundamental of the physics of helicopter flight. So its almost like flying a helicopter would just make you a better airplane pilot even the concept of flaring in an airplane landing is applied to a low rpm helicopter auto rotation landing. Anyway like I said good video. Edit: after playing I will say they got the combined action of pedals and collective and cyclic right. If you cannot control all 3 you lose control of the helicopter. However the "finger touch sensitivity" only seems to exist with the anti torque pedals, and strangely in the student simulation you have to pretty much maintain the left pedal at all times as though you are flying in a really strong wind so strong you can only stay forward if you constantly apply input to the left pedal. The cyclic was pretty realistic in terms of lots and lots of corrective movement but much too much pressure is needed to move it at all so its impossible to make light movements. The collective seems to be near impossible to put in neutral. I guess there is no neutral though you are always adding upwards throttle or downwards on the governor somewhat but seriously this was the most sensitive input of all. Forward flight is pretty easy in the game. you turn with the pedals to correct and cyclic to complete any turning motion and of course as I said anti torque to maintain. I guess I should have not used a game pad controller. Perhaps actual control inputs that you buy pedals and a cyclic stick and collective would be more suitable for input sensitivity corrections. I guess the truth is they did simulate control of all 3 inputs to maintain constant control of the flight very well. But at random I want to say the sensitivity should be even and its not. At least not with a controller pad. Dare I say a real helicopter is not that hard to fly? I mean its pretty hard input on all 3 controls at once is a major necessity to maintain 3 axis control. Its not a plane I get that. overestimating one control and very little input on another control can result in too much movement forward, or up, or down, or sideways, or did not roll for a turn properly, or rolled too far and no aft collective = serious crash. The game is realistic also hovering is the hardest part. But "finger touch sensitive" is not a word I would use. On a gamepad controller that is. Perhaps with input controls you buy separately then yes. I guess so far this is probably the most realistic I have played. No idea why in training I need to shove down on the left pedal to maintain straight forward position. In a real helicopter tropical storm force winds would be the only thing making a turn in one direction quite so hard. Still great video explanation

[@rcburse112]

Rich, I am so happy to see you back. I really just recently discovered you after watching some older videos from Mrcobolman who gave you big hugs. Then I learned of your unfortunate health problems which I am so sorry to hear about and do hope you are better. Glad you are back.. 😁 BTW, speaking of Mrcobolman, do you know where he has gone. I miss his videos. Glad you are back!!!!

[@flightsim481]

Hi Robert, so sorry I missed this first time around. Huge thanks for the kind words. I haven't spoken to MrCobolman in a while but I'll pass on your regards. Thanks again, Rich

[@andyking5358]

Nice to see you back Rich hope you're recovering well bud

[@harag9]

Just looking into buying X11 but might wait for X12. I'm more interested in helo flight than planes and found this tutorial very informative. Many thanks for taking the time and sharing!.

[@awjvdheide]

I as a fellow helicopter simmer say thanks for this awesome video about how to fly a helicopter. I also want to say that you NEED to fly the R22 in Aerofly FS2. It is optimized under suppervision of one of the greatest real life helicpoter pilots Claude Vuichard. Furthermore you can on EVERY surface in the scenery. I have landed on top of the brroklyn bridge in New York. So the R22 in FS2 is GREAT helicopter fun. Especially in VR.

[@cristianlusci4658]

One of the best video, probably the best (for me) about the basics of 🚁, very well explained , clear and concise, great idea to use xplane visual forces. Thank you .

[@maxwellcrestborne4251]

So very glad to see you posting and that you're doing well. I've missed your videos and like the rest of the chaps here I'm so chuffed that the ducks are conspiring with rather than against you - Welcome Back!!

[@flightsim481]

Thankyou so much for the very kind words, they are hugely appreciated. It's great to be back as I've missed creating videos for a while. Thanks for the ongoing support, Rich

[@GWAIHIRKV]

Thanks. Up to the usual standard. Great to have you back👍

[@searchbarwebs]

Good to see you again Rich! Hope all is well.

[@colinhunt1095]

Hi Rich. Glad to have you back and sounding in good health. Another great and instructive video. Keep them coming. Regards.

[@Gro2healthheirlooms]

Thanks so much for making such a detailed video on helicopters. Helicopters are my favorite flying machines and learning to fly them in a simulator is such a rewarding experience. Great educational video.👍

[@richavery66]

Hi Rich, great to see you back - I hope your health's holding up well. Thank you for this video, once again both informative and entertaining. I've never tried flying a helicopter in X-Plane but will now try with a default model. I must admit thought, I couldn't concentrate through part of this tutorial - my mind started wandering as I thought of aeronautical students doing exams asking them them how many bananas of force would be required to lift a helicopter off the ground!

[@robingoergner725]

Great work at helping sort out the mysteries of helicopter flying for those of us who have attempted to come to grips with rotary wing flight. Best wishes, cheers and take care.

[@RPPerry1984]

Because of your great video and thorough tutorial I've added this Bell to my fleet and it's a true joy to fly. My landings are still terrible, i try to descend too quickly and I need to be more patient with the collective, but I'll get there. Great Video! Subbed!

[@flightsim481]

Thanks, so glad it helped and you are enjoying the Bell :)

[@alanmortimer5808]

What a great introduction to simulated helicopter flying, Thank You

[@garyhodgson8344]

Nice to see you back Great video and I hope all is well with you

[@sickpilot]

Good to have you back, Sir! I was worried about you, considering your health issues. Can you imagine the relief i felt seeing the notification for the video that everything is OK and there is another interesting video from you! Hope you`re feeling well and be able to make videos more frequently. Cheers!

[@LesLewis150945]

Les Lewis Brilliant tutorial, just what I needed. New to Heli Sims and needing advice. Just what the doctor ordered. I would like to see some more like this. Well done and thank you. Regards Les Lewis

[@aedale1]

Great to see you back on the channel!

[@MaxWaldorf]

Rich! Happy you're back. I was hoping to see a new episode. Cheers

[@T33Killah]

Thank you very much for this great video. i enjoyed it a lot. Five days ago i got myself the same aircraft. Till today i had some good times with it practising a lot in the switzer alps. Landing on platforms near the Matterhorn at Hörnlihütte and down in Zermatt. Than i discovered the smart menu of this helicopter, by clicking the upper right corner at the dashboard. There you can setup your loadout and other interesting things like the stability augmentation in %. By default it is set to 50% at every axis. I set it to zero now and ... well... Now i am nowhere near able to handle this beast anymore XD I set it up to 25% by now to have a little bit more of a challenge but not be completly frustrated :P The stability function is engaged whether or not you have pressed the "SAS" button at the autopilot. I am no professional in any therms of flying. But i would like to know how you have to setup this function on order to match the real behaviour of a Bell 407. Any ideas? Update: Now i tested it once again everything at 0%. - No issues at all. Everything is fine. Maybe last time it was a very windy day, and i didn't recognize it. Flying with real weather.

[@belgeode]

GREAT to see you back!! It's been a while! I like your choice of aircraft too. Helicopters can be so rewarding.

[@aedale1]

Great video, thank you. Helicopters and I don’t really get on, but thanks to Graham at Reflected Reality, I’m attempting to fly the Bell 429.

[@jmamcj]

Nice video! Just one little thing to say: I highly recommend to use headtracking AND (important) disable any kind of deadzone. It´s true that it requires some time for your brain to get used to it, but when it does, something wonderful happens: Your brain drops out the static reference points, and converts them into dynamic reference points. As a result, your brain becomes aware of the helicopter as a 3D object. It becomes aware of the dimensions of the aircraft, and that helps a lot in confined LZ´s. When you reach that skill of brain training, you can fly and maneuver looking through your side window, you can control orbital flight, sidestep flight... Everything gets better. ;)

[@jmamcj]

I´ll give you an example of what I am trying to say: When you do a flare, if you can move your head down at the same rate of your nose up maneuver so you keep the horizon where it is, you´ll be a lot more aware of your pitch (of the whole helicopter attitude, in fact). You will also keep the terrain in sight. This is very important when making quick stops at low height, for example ;)

[@Bearviation]

Really fantastic video and I'm so glad to see you back again producing such excellent content. So excellent that I need to blame you for making me want to purchase the Bell 407 after I watched this a couple times (and I'm heading to Prop Strike Studios as well). So it's all your fault! ;-) But seriously... great content and I'm glad you're back. I wish you nothing but the best! -John

[@ellonysman]

You have been officially invited to do a fly over of Vancouver to Chilliwack, BC, Canada! Would love to see what our area looks like in ORTHO...in a heli too would be awesome!

[@DamonMcEwan]

Glad to see you back.

[@scottishwings9648]

What a brilliant video, answered soo many questions I have had for a long time... and yeah, can never have enough bananas! Great stuff and thank you!👍

[@andreaskalaitzakis5688]

Now that is a nice surprise - little youtube notification! Glad you are back, got a little worried to be frank.. As always, material that really deserves the title review or tutorial! Oasis on a desert with clueless people that "review"..

[@klaush.6032]

Excellent, easy to understand tutorial. Many thanks for that!

[@Moki1123]

Excellent video good to see back in the sim.

[@MrPaolosio]

Absolutely brilliant video. Thanks. Just wondering if youself or anyone in the chat has removed the centering spring from the Thrustmaster T-flight 4 to improve copntrol stop /flighting against the spring? I've seen how to do this for the logitech x-52, but I dont think it has analogue control for the tail rotor. I'm not sure what HOTAS to get for under £200. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[@erichleonhard3188]

Hi Rich, Hope you are doing well healthwise. I must tell you how thoroughly I enjoyed this fantastic tutorial, jam packed with info, including controls. Upto now, I think I must have watched, both whole and in parts of interest more than half a dozen times. So very comprehensive. I now look forward, all agog, to your next. I have just one query. What extension length on your Wartog did you find effective for you for you because your hover and fine forward/back and left/right movements were so precise. Meanwhile, I wish you the best. Regards, Erich. .

[@W4lkerWings]

Great video, looking forward to the next. I wish both my framerate and my sim-helo flying were half as good as yours!

[@flightx2473]

Amazing explanation. Thank you very much! :)

[@andrevdw747]

Thanks for the very detailed explanation 👍🏻

[@DChamp56]

Loved the video completely! Hope you do another!

[@flightsim481]

Thanks. reminds me I need to do helicopter videos.

[@MrPaolosio]

Hi again, the T4 seems like a really good start and with ability to assign rudder to the throttle and not the stick (don't fancy that twisting). But may i aks - I'm considering the T16000 instead and assignining the rudder to the paddels on the T1600 throttle. Any ideas if this might be just as effective, but with the nicer stick of the T16000.

[@WarRadish]

Very nice tutorial. Thanks a lot.

[@lucywucyyy]

i didnt know removing springs from a joystick was a normal thing to do, i thought i was a weirdo for doing it, does help so much tho epecially with helis

[@Poseidenfan]

Hey Rich! Reckon you’ll put up a video with your impressions on Microsoft’s new flight simulator coming out next year? Would love to hear your thoughts on it.

[@ngryyellow1533]

Mate... I watched your video again... and I am going back at installing x-plane to try that sweet 11.50... since I am a VR user. Let me ask you... do you have some joystick curves profile to recomend when dealing with a 30cm extension? I did my maths wrong and now I am having a hard time finding the sweet spot... 🙃

[@WacUK]

Awesome, a new video! Thank you. :)

[@pa4tim]

If I could I would give 2 tumbs up. I can fly those things around thanks to experience with RC choppers so I was in doubt to watch but I struggled with the controls like force trim etc so I watched it and I loved it,.. For most the "engineering" flavor. (please go into quantum mechanics :-) I only know the electronics related part of it)

[@hm2118]

A really excellent tutorial. Thanks.

[@ellonysman]

11 months ago....isn’t there anyone flying a 407 in a newer video??

[@theflyinggasmask]

So happy to see your video in my sub feed :)

[@MousyOrla]

Still can't get my helicopter off the ground. I was hoping to see an explanation of what specifically to map for controls, but this video doesn't help with that.

[@codehound8033]

The "Force Trim" command, is that in X-Plane or just in the 407 sim? All I could find for the freeware helicopters were the normal aileron, elevator, and rudder trims which seem to work a bit different than what you described.

[@talespinner4863]

I think it is unique to each individual add-on; since I always find it in the specific control of each (e.g. the X-Trident AB412 has some "412" commands to bind).

[@9brian99]

Great tutorial, thanks.

[@nguyennguyenuc6490]

Hello how can i get that garmin ?

[@regwatson2017]

"Settling with Power" and "Vortex Ring State" at 55.20 are not the same - they are two different things.

[@chriskeogh2316]

Not really. Settling with power is what happens to the heli, vortex ring state is the aerodynamic phenomena that causes it. The reference of the condition is all the same.

[@regwatson2017]

@@chriskeogh2316 The FAA sees them as the same whereas Transport Canada sees them as two separate things. This video by BC Helicopters shows why Canadians think they are different with practical examples kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5m5aqmCo6d8eac

[@Oz_Gnarly_One]

Good introductory video, not sure why I haven’t come across your channel before now. I can highly recommend anyone who wants more in-depth information to checkout Helicopter Lessons in 10 Minutes or Less channel. He is an Apache Helicopter Instructor in the US Army. Fantastic series with easy to understand sessions.

[@flightsim481]

Thanks for the kind words and I'm glad you enjoyed the video. :-)

[@tylerw1418]

Hey rich. Glad you’re making helpful videos but if your going to keep asking me for gas money I’m going to need you to start it when your ready to fly lol.

[@henriquescudeller5542]

Podia ter legenda em português

[@flightsim481]

Sadly I don't speak Portugese, sorry