FS2020: Helicopter Controls Bindings/Setup Tutorial - And How To Fix The SU11 Heli Bug!

A number of folk requested I make this video, so here it is. I do hope that a few of you are helped by it.
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⌚Timestamps⌚
Introduction: (0:00)
Addressing the SU11 Heli Bug: (1:22)
Clearing default Bindings: (6:02)
Binding Heli Flight Controls: (10:21)
Collective & Sensitivity bindings: (17:15)
Test flight Demonstration: (25:20)
#MSFSHelicoptersSetupTutorial #FS2020HelicopterSettingsGuide

[@Zekenificent]

Thank you so much for taking the time to make this video. This video was very helpful, mapping my VelocityOne like you described made flying the helicopter a little easier.

[@Huddison]

My pleasure, glad it's been of help.

[@MoonHowlerGaming]

Best detailed video I could find on this subject. Thank for the hard work.

[@Huddison]

I appreciate that, thanks.

[@Alcopop100]

I have watched many videos on this subject and never got to the end of any of them, but after watching this and writing your setting down, (quickly going through them again just to make sure that I was following correctly) By the way I use a X52 Pro and still feel confident that I will at last be able to control my helecopter. Your tutorials must be good to get through to my rather 76 yr old brain.

[@Huddison]

I must be doing something right then ;) Thank you; comments like this make my day.

[@yannisspyrakis6098]

As usual your help is greatly appreciated!

[@btan4209]

Nice job, finally a easy to follow stick setup video. I now know how to setup for different aircraft based on your very clear process. Thank you.

[@Huddison]

Glad it helped.

[@breff247]

Another great video! Personally, if your goal is to learn fly as realistically as possible then I suggest turning off all control aids right from the beginning. It will be crazy for a while but it means you won't have to unlearn 'easy mode'. Better to do a bit of pre-study to understand exactly what's going on mechanically and aerodynamically, that will go a long way to help you be 'at one' with the helicopter. There's no easy mode on real helicopters so you'll just be going through the same learning process as real student pilots (more or less). Take it slowly, break it up over a couple of sessions and it will become second nature in no time. I have personally found no use whatsoever for lateral rotor trim but a trim cancel button is very useful, especially if you want to reset after having landed with some trim still dialed in. That will avoid messing up your muscle memory for take-offs. I also advise learning on the Cabri, it's a great training machine and I strongly suspect (though can't confirm) that its flight model has been more accurately modeled than the Bell.

[@Huddison]

Excellent tips.

[@TWOKDOK1]

@@Huddison The instability your experienced is not caused by wind /turbulence it’s the consequence of the interactions which occur in the aerodynamic axis interactions. The primary function of the tail rotor is to stop the helo spinning as a result of torque reaction created when you increase pitch on the rotor blade. The more you pull up on the cyclic, the greater the torque reaction. So to counteract this you use an appropriate amount of ‘boot’. But this , in turn, when it balances the main rotor spin tendency, is also a net force from the tail rotor pushing the helo sideways. Applying tail rotor also requires additional power so you need to increase the collective to compensate, thus producing more torque reaction. Similar increases in collective are required if you alter the the pitch or roll because less force is available to push the helo straight up and so the merry dance begins. The Pilot’s Association recommends to start with both cyclic and tail rotor assistance (provided by the instructor in real life) and then switch the tail rotor assistance off first and finally progressing to both assists switched off. It takes practice but persist and after a while you will wonder what the problem was. The incorrect mapping of the tail rotor axis in the default XBOX helo default profile makes the helo impossible to fly. It took me several hours to discover that.

[@MrIanspeed]

@@TWOKDOK1 Should read "the more you pull up on the collective..."

[@ramonlnegron6120]

Awesome video, dude, keep them comming!!!

[@Huddison]

Thanks! Will do!

[@hueyfoo]

A man of his words

[@regal163]

Great video Huddison, just got a helo and this helped no end, thanks.

[@Huddison]

Great to hear and thanks.

[@KevinJohnson-je1pe]

Thanks for another great video and I have learnt allot.👍

[@Huddison]

Much appreciated, thanks Kevin.

[@danlance]

Hi Huddison, Quick tip that works for me to reset the constantly re-expanding control settings groups... If you click the Expand / Collapse All button (twice if necessary) so that all groups are collapsed, then when you next expand and save a setting, it will not re-expand all the previously expanded groups - no need then to come out of settings and back in again...

[@PeterR126]

Thanks for this, I was waiting for a Heli buttons setup. I will try this soon with he Hotas One.

[@Huddison]

Let us know how you fare.

[@stevejones924]

Thank you mate!😊

[@Huddison]

You're most welcome Steve.

[@biroleau]

Brilliant Work Huddison - works perfectly with my Logitech Extreme 3D Pro

[@Huddison]

Great to hear Dan.

[@roz4762]

Huddison..thanks so much for the setting..awesome as usual…1 thing I do is config the trigger on the flightstick for cockpit/external view…knowing everyone has there own feel..again thanks👊🏻

[@Huddison]

Great idea 😎

[@trex70]

Thank you. It also works with my Thrustmaster HOTAS X

[@Huddison]

Good to hear.

[@slickx45]

Thank you for another helpful video!

[@Huddison]

Glad it was helpful

[@Myterriers]

Great video. I used your info to help understand the setup process. I am using a Warthog HOTAS setup with seperate rudder pedals so some of my settings varied from yours. However, the principle is the same. My main problem is with the trim in helicopters I find they always want to go up. Still like you say practice makes perfect.

[@Huddison]

Thanks. Use small adjustments with your collective whenever you trim and you'll be fine.

[@mike605]

Thank you for a great video. I am going to buy the Velocity one flight stick to replace my old one. i did order there Rudder pedals and will be here next week so I am a happy camper. flying a helicopter is something new to me so i am looking forward to learning it. thank you again for a good video.

[@Huddison]

Wonderful comments: enjoy both when they arrive Mike :)

[@donbeck170]

Thanks for this video. I am now enjoying helicopters. Just need the right control settings.

[@Huddison]

Great to hear.

[@danlance]

I have set up similarly on the Hotas 1, with the following additions / differences... Personally I have found it more intuitive to have all the trim controls on the (single) hat switch - to up / down / left right to longitudinal decrease / increase & lateral decrease / increase As others have mentioned, reset trim is almost essential, especially when attempting to fly without all the assists - I have this mapped to one of the thumb buttons on the stick (B1 I think) I also have mapped the increase / decrease tail rotor to the analogue buttons on the back of the Hotas One throttle (note on xbox you have to manually set one of the directions, as it detects both + & minus on this axis as the same direction - but it works fine once set). I've found this is really helpful to dial out the high rotational input at low collective settings on take off - but probably not helpful or necessary if you have rudder pedals. It's also helpful to have controls mapped to: - toggle governor - toggle clutch - rotor brake - mixture - start engine (cannot remember what this is called and AFK atm - but it's the other thumb button on the guimbal collective) - helicopter throttle This allows me to do a cold and dark start, and shutdown (at least on the guimbal) without having to contort around the cockpit to different views, and do most of the startup / shutdown form the device. Personally I have rotor brake / mixture / heli throttle mapped to axises on a different device (Velocity one hotas throttle quadrant in my case) as those are controls which rarely need to be adjusted much in flight) - but this is really only for convenience, as with the possible exception of mixture, these are only operated during startup / shutdown phases, and as such you can just use the mouse (and multiple camera views) Also - guimbal has a much better and more predictable flight model than the Bell - that's how it feels to me a tital Heli amateaur - but seems to be the consensus from people who actually know what they are talking about as well. This is probably not surprising as the manufacturer gave input during the development for MSFS, and I believe the developers had access to the aircraft during the process... but in any case, the Bell is really hard to get to fly at speed in anything close to a straight line (much more so than is apparently the case with the real thing), and does not develop the power which the real aircraft is rated for... And finally... does anyone have any thoughts re: sensitivity settings for the Hotas One - I'm struggling to get it feeling quite right... but don't know how much is just me! Probably does not help that my twist potentiometer is somewhat spiky and needs either a good clean, or rewiring :(

[@AirRyanTX]

Which key or joystick binding controls the actual engine RPM throttle? (Not the collective) Don't want to use a mouse all of the time to turn the engine RPM up and down. On the collective for say the CowanSim 500E, this is accomplished by rotating the handle inward/outward. Older helicopters required the pilots to beep the engine throttles up and down depending upon where they put the collective; what a PITA that must have been - I don't know how they did it!

[@schettnetx7109]

Thank you! Very cool 👍

[@Huddison]

No problem 👍

[@stevejones924]

I’ll try your advice. I have not tamed my Cowansim MD500E yet but maybe now lol😊😊😊

[@davesvegankitchen661]

You need one setting for the collective, and you also need a second setting for the throttle on the collective. This is necessary for autorotations and the like. I am trying to set up my "MaxFlightStick Helicopter Flight Simulator Control Systems" and am trying to locate the proper setting for the twist-grip throttle.

[@pthine1]

excellent video thank you for doing it.otherwise i would be lost with my new flightstick

[@Huddison]

No worries Phillip

[@neilmackey9626]

You're an absolute peach, James! 😁 I've learned SO much in GA craft from watching your instructive videos...now I'm dabbling with helos. I got the Got Friends Mini 500, partially because of GF's level of details and flight characteristics and because it looked like a fairly forgiving platform to learn on. I'm on a Series X anbd have a V1 Flightstick. When you did your V1 "helicoptor" profile, did you take any queues from the "V1 Flightstick Xbox (helicopter)" profile that's already "built in"? I looked through that and it has some additional stuff like "rotor brake", collective on the left lever and throttle on the right lever, etc. Pretty daunting to look through it and I do prefer your more simplistic set-up to start out with. Under the Xbox controller, there is a helo profile but I think that solely for flying with just that controller and no other peripherals. I have seen, though, some folks advocating using both the Xbox controller and a seperate stick together, as in cyclic on the stick and collective on the right-hand controller stick. That seems a bit more like the real thing where your right hand is running the cyclic and left hand is working the collective but that's a ton of settings to learn and use. Your bindings on the F/Stick seem pretty intuitive but IYHO, will those skills, if practised and improved upon, translate into bigger rotorcraft as well? Cheers!

[@Huddison]

Thanks Neil. I briefly looked at the default Heli profile, but decided that I wanted to simplify the bindings. I've not flown larger rotocrafts, but the settings should get you off on the right foot.

[@mikecoffee100]

If I ever were to get into helicpoters..... I would start here on this channel first

[@Huddison]

Thanks Mike😊

[@888Huberto888]

I like yours videos, but I strongly recommends that you try helicopters in DCS. It is just another level of flying and feeling your plane. When I dont have time I simply start up my Huey and fly few minutes low on ground. Turn off assist, then fun begins xD

[@Huddison]

I really need to get back to DCS and mean to in the new year.

[@ActionSportsMaui]

Helicopters DO have throttles. And they are necessary for important flight maneuvers such as autorotations. The collective will increase the throttle because of the Correlator (that links the collective to the throttle), and the RPM is also governed by the Governor. Helicopters have a twist-grip throttle on their Collective lever (twin-engine helis have 2 on there). You use the twist grip throttle to override the Governor, or you override the correlator when doing autos, etc. So in order to Fly the MSFS Simulator like a real helicopter, you need to have one binding/setting for the Collective and a different one for the twist-grip Throttle. This should be possible as you can click the twistgrip with the mouse and move it, but I can't figure out how to set up the Control Options to be used with the MaxFlightStick, helicopter Control system (that has a realistic collective lever with twist-throttle).

[@Huddison]

Thanks for the additional info.

[@OZ1967]

This is great, very helpful and useful. Thank you. Can you please find out which button assigns to the engine start button located on the collective also the governor button next to the engine start button. I can’t find them in the control option assignment page. I found magneto and assigned it the button next to it couldn’t find either. If you could do a part 2 video Assigning Cold & Dark starting up buttons , that would be really appreciated ❤

[@Huddison]

Thanks, I'll aim to look into that.

[@helicopterovirtual-msfs6254]

👏👏👏👏

[@jacobust6080]

I have the hotas Xbox joystick, I removed the spring in the joystick and smooth the bump (at 50%) in the throttle. Now I’m not fighting the spring and fly’s 100% better with helicopters!

[@Huddison]

Fantastic!

[@clarkac1]

Very useful, thanks! Where can you buy the Velocity One Flight Stick in the UK, it seems to be only from the Turtle Beach website?

[@clarkac1]

Argos - answered my own question...

[@jjcdrumplay]

I'm pretty sure in the modded Airbus h135 Chopper, You could use the keypad for throttle. Now with MSFS bell even if i assign keyboard, the throttle doesn't seem to move unless I do it with mouse pointer, so weird!

[@Huddison]

Maybe people on our Discord can shine a light on this issue.

[@lhhansen]

Have you tried using Velocity One rudder pedals together with Velocity One Flightstick on XBOX?

[@Huddison]

I have just received the Rudder Pedals, so I'll do a future video for Xbox with them and the Yoke.

[@karlbeard29]

Great video worked on the msfs helis but hype h135 it don’t

[@Huddison]

I should invest eh

[@karlbeard29]

@@Huddison the free one friend but confusing the hell out of me now try again tomo but think I messed up the default now think I forgot to apply and save on something 😂😂

[@fsx2013mike]

Will do you settings work with the H145 thanks

[@Huddison]

It works in pretty much the same way.

[@nigelmorris4769]

I'm using this stick with the Logitech(saitek) throttle quadrant.. is there a way to adjust the travel on the throttle quadrant. As I don't take off instill the throttle position on the quadrant is 3/4 but in sim it reads 50%..

[@Huddison]

You can play with the settings under power management/throttle, to see if that'll help.

[@yannisspyrakis6098]

That’s complicated lol Update: Kind of getting a little better in flying so definitely I’ll try to disable the extra help in MSFS CelticsTyger. Wish me luck!

[@gusw8961]

you refer to you having rudders, Have you tried the rudders yet with flight stick ? Do they work (xbox)

[@Huddison]

I only have the T-flight Rudders currently - will have to try them (although that'll also require that I have my Hotas One connected).

[@roly5250]

Thank you. I can't delete existing bindings .. 🤔. Trying my new WinWing Orion2 with VKS-Pedals .. 🧐👋

[@Huddison]

Come and show us your settings in Discord and we might be able to help.

[@roly5250]

VKB-Pedals i ment .. 😌

[@yannisspyrakis6098]

Having hard time to fly the helicopters in msfs, hopefully I learn something on this video and then update my post guys. …I believe that flying with a helicopter someone enjoys a little better the scenery. :)

[@Huddison]

Keep at it - I'm aiming to make a video for Choppers with all my gadgets unleashed ;)

[@yannisspyrakis6098]

@@Huddison Yeah!

[@Scot-land]

Does anyone know if the thrustmaster T flight hotas one works for flying helicopters using a Xbox series s

[@Huddison]

I used it for flying Helis on the Series S - it works fine.

[@MsTheCops]

I haven't remapped or changed my basic setup or bindings (yet) that I use for the 8 heli's that I own. I fly with all assists off & a couple heli's were challenging to gain control & hoover from forward flight. However, MSFS Bell 407 is next to impossible ...& ironically ...it says it is a very easy heli to fly. I have seen KZbin video's stating that it is broken & needs cyclic & tail rotor assist turned "on". I have fought with this heli's for weeks & have gotten little better ...all other heli's are flyable using my existing HOTAS settings & all "assists" turned off. (X-56 with rudder pedals). Is this "bug" you refer to the problem with the 407?

[@Huddison]

I believe the said bug I was referring to, has now been fixed. We have a few keen Heli Pilots in the Discord who might be able to assist better.

[@ajobis1881]

Do you know if they got the issues worked out to where you can roll on and off on the throttle on the collective? Or do you still have to click roll on and off?

[@Huddison]

I've honestly not kept up my proficiency with Helicopters; but I know we have quite a few professionals in our Discord, who will be better placed to help you.

[@ajobis1881]

@@Huddison copy that. I’ll hVe to check it out. Thank you for the reply.

[@rva1945]

I can't get any helicopter to work in my MSFS2020. Either it will not appear in the hangar or worse, MSFS will freeze at startup.

[@Huddison]

Yikes! Come and ask for help in Discord about this one.

[@tomrisar5492]

What would cause an inability to rise off ground? No lift at all. Velocityone Flightstick

[@Huddison]

Difficult to say, but you can share your settings in the Discord (link in the description).

[@tomrisar5492]

@Huddison I arranged the stick settings as shown on this video, and now it works. Tks

[@Huddison]

@@tomrisar5492 Great to hear Tom.

[@martinpatterson9015]

Tried This Fix Unfortunately Didn't Work for Me on Series X Hopefully They Fix it in 2023

[@widowmaker461]

Is a shame that you can't use an "ini" files with the xbox or upload and share your configuration files with other people

[@JobuRum]

Does the cursor only get stuck on xbox?

[@Huddison]

On the V1 Flightstick?

[@JobuRum]

@@Huddison same here. Really annoying.

[@bcsimpilot3497]

Awww, how come Im the only one having troubles. Huddison, if I send you $20 would you Face Time with me to see what Im doing wrong? lol

[@Huddison]

You can get lots of free advice in our Discord ;)

[@Stringbean421]

Notice he didn't do a landing. Just ended the video with the heli up in the air. Lol.

[@Huddison]

Yes for brevity.

[@ellonysman]

Im retarded!! I still cant fly my Cowan 500...help. can somebody facetime with me and see my settibgs etc...and get me flyingmy r😅otors? Please...just help the guy would ya? He just wants to set his joystick right ..would ya help?? Cmon

[@Huddison]

Discord might be your best bet for that.

[@DiddMag]

Hello, there is no need to tamper with the parameters of physics. The problem is that there is an error on the default setup of the Flight Stick. The mapping is made to control the tail rotor with 2 triggers which is not correct to the twisting of the stick. In addition the longitudinal compensator does not work to be controlled by the velocity trim wheel (it lacks the compensator function -50% + 50% for this action in MSFS). After a lot of trouble I was able to find a setup that works nice, I can't, pass you the screenshot of my setup here, try at this address => scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/318312442_2295237790652305_6366742352616608722_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=7iKrqO-DF38AX8eT51-&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg2-1.xx&oh=00_AfDOAhtr_4OXPB1RWkVDf5KQ02Bbr2YrJIDWO8nhQ5bxzQ&oe=6394FF62

[@TWOKDOK1]

Had similar problems with trim and rudder issues. Can’t access your screenshot