Helichoppers 101 - Instructor Pilot Flies in MSFS - Lesson 2: Takeoff, Altitude vs Airspeed, Landing

Lesson 2 kicks off with simple takeoff and landing techniques as well as maintaining altitude and airspeed!
00:00 - Intro
00:43 - Taking off (Constant Angle takeoff)
03:01 - Holding Altitude and Airspeed
05:34 - VMC Approach and Landing

[@RhotoActual]

Stumbled upon your channel yesterday by chance and watched your Blackhawk Landing video. Immediately subscribed. I've always been fascinated by helicopters and love to fly them in games, but I've never actually learned HOW to fly them well and how they actually work. I cannot wait for more of these instruction videos!

[@hrbeta]

Thanks for your videos, I was a private helicopter student pilot some 42 years ago. I trained in the Bell 206 Jet Ranger and the Hughes 500 D. I didn't graduate, life got complicated and I needed to focus my attention on other matters. I got some 200 hrs flying time under my belt and miss flying helos like you would not believe. The MSFS program and the PFR Puma X heli controls have been like the best toy ever for me. Your videos have served me excellently to refresh most of the things I was taught as a student. Cheers.

[@SnakPakFlight]

Glad you like the vids man! Preciate the comment.

[@cabdude2]

Fantastic videos, please keep them coming. You have an amazing way of easily imparting information and a sense of humour with it. I'm a fixed wing pilot and I've always been intimidated by helichoppers, but after watching these videos I'm actually learning and getting better in the sim. Also "this used to be allllll orange groves"

[@SnakPakFlight]

Thanks Chris! Glad you're enjoying them. Much more coming. More fixed wing stuff too!

[@mehdidjeebet4614]

I think you are going to do really great on your channel..So many flight sim'rs out there need better and more precise training on helicopters.. Good luck bud..

[@SnakPakFlight]

I hope so!

[@stickdeath1980]

Love this mate my mother was a Heli Instructor here in New Zealand (RIP) she would of loved watching these and flying with me thank you for the tips :D brings me back

[@SnakPakFlight]

Very kind. Need to come visit New Zealand soon.

[@mgtowacademy8433]

You’re gonna become the official helo sim guy on KZbin-can’t wait to learn more

[@SnakPakFlight]

That would be dank!

[@techguy1393]

Unique content and great training. Fixed wing pilot but haven't been airborne in years. Near engine out as a student at 50 hours by myself and 3 brake failures on final (plane rentals) gave it up. Have an hp reverb g2 on the way and any vr setup videos with msfs 2020 settings are welcome! Enjoy the military perspective. Great channel. Thanks for posting.

[@MrBarstow]

i haven't really tried to fly a helicopter in DCS or in Flight Sim despite always wanting to learn , but seeing your videos has inspired me to learn with confidence. I really look forward to seeing your tutorials progress. Thank you! Honestly I feel that learning good habits and practices in DCS/Flight Sim from someone who is well versed in both flying and instructing would put me at an advantage if i ever get the opportunity to get a helicopter pilot license in real life.

[@rackum44]

Slowing down when you find a spot to land is the hardest part with keeping a helicopter stable to hit your landing spot but hopefully with your videos I will master it

[@SnakPakFlight]

Yes, the trick is to keep looking to the side to see your rate of closure. Most helicopter pilots take their time on landings. A few degrees nose up when you begin your approach should be enough to get to 0 knots by the time you are about to touch down.

[@kitt28]

wow, another great video, please keep them coming

[@tubeztoonz]

Very helpful-thank you! Subscribed.

[@ryanw1433]

It’s true! My great uncle owned one of those old orange groves.

[@astrodude9146]

This is invaluable, thank you!

[@RealChrisinAZ]

You make it look so easy ;) Thanks for the video, very informative.

[@predragmucic9894]

Best YT channel ever! EVER!!!

[@SnakPakFlight]

Thanks man!

[@predragmucic9894]

@@SnakPakFlight excuse me, what VR set do you have? All your videos are amazing presentation of educational potential that computers these days have, when we talk about learning and enjoying flying of course. And your flying and instructor skills are amazing too! More videos like this, pls! 👏👏👏

[@budddyboy100]

My new throttle quadrant arrived yesterday and I have been having a blast flying these new helicopters. Really appreciate the new video! I have been having a hard time with my landing and really think your video has helped me! Still need more practice, but at least I now don't feel like I am snapping the skids off every time I land haha.

[@SnakPakFlight]

Great to hear!

[@dmitrya513]

IRL I fly B-777, but I've been always wandering how are the helicopters flown. Thank you for your informative videos.

[@januszkunowski2963]

thank you sir

[@allandavis8370]

awesome videos, subbed. can you share your vr settings in MSFS?

[@markuspetersen6072]

Ok, now i want a setup for my PC so i can learn helicopter controls.

[@doubleKlutch]

At high airspeed, neutral cyclic results in massive pitch up. I thought maybe the tail straightens the helo to level, but it goes way past that and the nose is pulled nearly straight up until it stalls. What causes that intense upward pitch at speed? That's with no trim, no auto-trim, no assists. (I thought that if I pushed full forward on the stick, the aft rotor lift would persist and push the nose down to invert underneath and the helo would somersault rotors-first into the ground, but there's some force that won't let the chopper tip past a certain degree as speed picks up, and it's not explained by the tail drag. This is different than I remember choppers in MSFS circa 2007.)

[@SnakPakFlight]

Not sure how fast you're going but you may be experiencing retreating blade stall

[@jimbobmp78]

should try VTOL VR please do a video on the helo

[@rackum44]

So I got my saitek out and dusted it off and set up my control settings and man how fun learning how to fly a helicopter I would say the biggest thing I'm having a hard time with is trying to get stopped to come down and land.

[@SnakPakFlight]

Aft cyclic and reduce collective to slow down. Take it slow. Most helicopter pilots do very slow and controlled approaches to land. Only combat helicopters are really designed to come down hard and fast.

[@jasonshadley2814]

Hello Snak Pak, I was wondering if you can do a video of your set up for those of us that would like to get into heli flying dcs or msfs, thanks.

[@jackskellington6221]

What is your set up? This is amazing!

[@calumw8409]

Your videos are awesome, and really helping me get into helicopers the last couple of weeks. I wonder if I can ask about VR please. I bought a HP Reverb 2 last week, but I found the instruments quite blurry with it. I see on this video, your instruments are blurry compared to the first tutorial where you were not using VR. Is it simply the case that VR will not give the same sharpness as a monitor, and it's not that I have received a faulty unit, or need to change some kind of setting? Thanks

[@SnakPakFlight]

It's crystal clear for me inside VR. The image that gets recorded is blurry so it looks like the res is lower in my videos. That's because it's one eye stretched out. But not sure why you're getting a blurry image in the headset.

[@calumw8409]

Thanks for the reply. I'll try again and see if I can get it clearer. Maybe something is wrong in the settings. I would think it's unlikely it's a defective unit.

[@srstacy]

It would be nice if some kind of PPC could be auto generated when flying helicopters in MSFS.

[@arnjhon]

Hey man I dig your content! Have you, or will you, check out the hatchet H-60 project which is a mod for arma 3? I would like to see your take on it

[@SnakPakFlight]

At some point!

[@arnjhon]

Nice!

[@ImagenNoReligion]

I know helicopters were just released in MSFS, but have you flown DCS heli's and if so, how comparable do you find it to DCS flight models?

[@SnakPakFlight]

Check out my channel. I have a couple vids of the UH60L from DCS. I am actually a blackhawk pilot. It's hard to say about the flight model. A blackhawk is so much more advanced than the Bell 407 so it's much easier to fly. Have to get some hard fundamentals down to understand how to fly the Bell. But a 60 is very intuitive. It's actually amazing that it was a 3rd party add-on.

[@ellonysman]

Snackster. I have your Logitech joystick...well, mine, not yours per say. What mappings are you using cuz my Cabri and Bell both have a hard time landing without some bizzare hold up then fall out of the sky . Can you do a video how you set up your cyclic? 🍻

[@SnakPakFlight]

Actually, I'm getting some new stuff soon.....Thrustmaster is hooking me up

[@tbagz2resq]

Any chance you can list the equipment you're using with links to get the same kind of set up going?

[@SnakPakFlight]

I'll make a video on my setup toon.

[@rackum44]

What is collective is that the actual throttle on the stick ? I am learning helicopters with your videos Thanks

[@SnakPakFlight]

It's the stick for the left hand. Pull up - trees get smaller. Push down - trees get bigger. The throttle on this helicopter is a twist grip on the collective stick.

[@rackum44]

@@SnakPakFlight oh okay cuz I have a side tech joystick and it's got the twist handle and has a throttle at the front of it I have the bravo and alpha but I will just have to calibrate the joystick

[@sjpeckham1]

great vid; keep them coming!

[@rackum44]

By the way I had the twisting of the joystick and I have rubber pedals what is the difference between them or do they do the same thing

[@SnakPakFlight]

They do the same thing. I prefer to use the pedals. I deactivate the joystick twist axis so it doesn't get in my way.

[@rackum44]

@@SnakPakFlight I understand Thank you, I'm learning a lot for helicopters from you

[@MonostripeZebra]

Have you tried autorotation? Something seems a little off there in terms of getting some rotor RPM back..

[@SnakPakFlight]

Not yet. But I will have a video soon. Having trouble binding the twist grip to my throttle quadrant. But ultimately, I'm going to turn the engine off or at least to idle and then drop collective. So RPMs aren't coming back huh?

[@Gassit]

Are you using the improvements mod for the 407 from flightsim to ?

[@SnakPakFlight]

No but maybe I need to!

[@valeriik9135]

Thanks for your work! there's one point that could be improved (if it's possible) - the resolution of VR. Nobody can see the numbers on the gages.

[@SnakPakFlight]

Yeah I'm working on that. Any ideas?

[@valeriik9135]

@@SnakPakFlight Actually no good ideas. using a wide screen monitor (to see the horizon and the gages) only without VR? do you really need VR to create basic videos in the series How To Fly? it seems to me that knowing how to read the gages will help beginners to achieve more success

[@SnakPakFlight]

@@valeriik9135 I think you're right. The first vid was without VR. Definitely harder to fly without VR and I do like that people can see what I see when flying. See how I scan and so forth. I'll work on it. Maybe track IR would be just as good and have much better res.

[@KaizenOz]

Can we do auto rotations in MSFS ?

[@SnakPakFlight]

I've been doing them in the free H-135 for a while now. Just have to kill the engines. Then you can drop collective and detach the rotor system from the engines.

[@KaizenOz]

@@SnakPakFlight thank you, looks like I'll be playing MSFS very soon

[@jakester4810]

Any chance you'll play some vtol vr?

[@SnakPakFlight]

I'll check it out soon

[@RomeoFox]

How to I send you my logbook to sign?😂

[@NotOnDrugs]

They're not called helichoppers anymore. They're called WHIRLYBIRDS.

[@SnakPakFlight]

Thanks for the correction. I’ll get this fixed immediately!

[@NotOnDrugs]

@@SnakPakFlight please do. I would h8 for you to come across as someone who doesn't know what he's doing/or what he's talking about. That would be fatal. Whirlybirds I am a whirlybird pilot, myself. Ranging from the apache, to the Blackhawk, to the 'NAM(huey obv), and the Cobra. Arma & Squad have cultured me well

[@agentstupiddumb]

nice helicopter in ur profile lol

[@SnakPakFlight]

I fly planes too! The banner @ the top of my home page is a helicopter cockpit.

[@karalynnblizzard6163]

👌 pr໐๓໐Ş๓