Helo "Long Distance" Flying

[falcon409]

Watching "Coast Guard Alaska" last night got me to thinking about this very idea. They traveled around 130nm to a boat in distress that had run aground on the rocks. Winds in the area were running around 90kts, basically making it impossible to do two things at once, lol. The stayed on-sight talking to the Captain until they were as low as they could dare "fuel-wise" and then flew all the way back to Kodiak. This same scenario was repeated by 3 or 4 different crews all night until the weather improved early the next morning and they finally were able to rescue the 4 men.

I rarely fly Helo's any further than 30nm, it's tedious, boring, slow. . .did I mention boring, yea and slow (you get my drift). So for all the FSX Helo types, does anyone ever strap on a Helo and fly great distances like these guys do (on a regular basis)? I have tried a few times to utilize the so-called "Helo Autopilots" and none ever worked for me. . .besides, I kinda saw that as "cheating" just a bit so I never really pushed trying to get them to work, but that would be the only way I'd ever fly beyond my 30mile limit.

So what say you all?

[Tako_Kichi]

I have been known to fly up to 150 Nm (particularly on RTWR legs) but I prefer sub-50 Nm jaunts. As to slow, many helos are faster than GA aircraft especially the Blackhawk, Chinook and Apache.

[SeanTK]

Similar to Tako's response, within 50nm I'm fine. I'll occasionally push things further but it does get boring. I would not consider an autopilot cheating as many mid-size on up helicopters have them. (I've flown in a few).

Regarding airspeed, I've seen anything between 110 to 150ish knots indicated during cruise with my selection of helicopters. Depends on the type.

[Dave Torkington]

I have tried a few times to utilize the so-called "Helo Autopilots" and none ever worked for me. . .

Same experience for me too Falcon - have you tried the folks over at Hovercontrol? If anyone knows they will!

http://www.hovercontrol.com/

Dave

[Dain Arns]

Watching "Coast Guard Alaska" last night got me to thinking about this very idea. They traveled around 130nm to a boat in distress that had run aground on the rocks. Winds in the area were running around 90kts, basically making it impossible to do two things at once, lol. The stayed on-sight talking to the Captain until they were as low as they could dare "fuel-wise" and then flew all the way back to Kodiak. This same scenario was repeated by 3 or 4 different crews all night until the weather improved early the next morning and they finally were able to rescue the 4 men.

I rarely fly Helo's any further than 30nm, it's tedious, boring, slow. . .did I mention boring, yea and slow (you get my drift). So for all the FSX Helo types, does anyone ever strap on a Helo and fly great distances like these guys do (on a regular basis)? I have tried a few times to utilize the so-called "Helo Autopilots" and none ever worked for me. . .besides, I kinda saw that as "cheating" just a bit so I never really pushed trying to get them to work, but that would be the only way I'd ever fly beyond my 30mile limit.

So what say you all?

The military, oil rig transportation, and some EMS operators have been using autopilot systems for years.

How can it be "cheating" when autopilots are used in real world helicopter operations?
I couldn't image oil rig transports not using one when crossing the ocean.
Its used to reduce the workload on pilots just like fixed wing operations.
By your statement fixed wing pilots should be considered "cheating" too then?
(I'm not being serious here, folks)

Get the best helicopter autopilot gauge designed by a real world AS332 pilot himself here:
http://www.dirkfassbender.de/general.html
(Click on the image on that page to start how to install the gauge)

I have the Cougar autopilot installed in Helicopters that do have autopilot system available either as standard or optional equipment in FSX.
The ones that don't, I use the trimming system that comes with FS Force. (Yes, helicopters can be trimmed to reduce the force on the cyclic).

Don't fly at high altitudes AGL.
This is one mistake I see a lot of people do on servers.
We were on a group flight one night on the HC server years ago, flying along the Oregon coast.
A new guy kept climbing to 9000' while the group was staying 500' off the deck.
He finally threw in the towel. He couldn't understand why he couldn't keep up.

Helicopters are not fixed wings.
They don't get better performance the higher you go, it gets worse.
You're not going to get more mileage or range.
Helicopters don't calculate range in miles anyway, it's minutes remaining of fuel.

Operate about 1500 feet AGL max, (like I've been advised by a couple real world helicopters pilots to do, well, because that's what they do).
More air means more speed.

Fly NOE, nap of the earth, if you still don't want to use an autopliot.
I can guarantee you won't get too bored dodging trees on a long flight.

[Tako_Kichi]

Fly NOE, nap of the earth, if you still don't want to use an autopliot.
I can guarantee you won't get too bored dodging trees on a long flight.

LOL...my virtual maintenance crew are always whining about tree clippings in the intakes!

[jeansy]

i use a autopilot most of the time,

it allows me to sit back and drink brews and get yelled at by the mrs for sitting at the computer again

beside the mrs, never had a problem with the autopilot I use

This is what I use

http://www.hovercontrol.com/cgi-bin/...ip&img=&tt=zip

install the files where it says you need to

even thou, it says you dont have to do the following, I found you do

you need the autopilot setting to each of your helo aircraft.cfg

I just insert the following regardless

[autopilot]
autopilot_available=1
flight_director_available=0
default_vertical_speed=1800.000000
autothrottle_available=1
autothrottle_arming_required=1
autothrottle_takeoff_ga=1
autothrottle_max_rpm=90.000000
pitch_takeoff_ga=8.000000
max_pitch=10.000000
max_pitch_acceleration=1.000000
max_pitch_velocity_lo_alt=2.000000
max_pitch_velocity_hi_alt=1.500000
max_pitch_velocity_lo_alt_breakpoint=20000.000000
max_pitch_velocity_hi_alt_breakpoint=28000.000000
max_bank=25.000000
max_bank_acceleration=1.800000
max_bank_velocity=3.000000
max_throttle_rate=0.100000
nav_proportional_control=9.000000
nav_integrator_control=0.250000
nav_derivative_control=0.000000
nav_integrator_boundary=2.500000
nav_derivative_boundary=0.000000
gs_proportional_control=9.520000
gs_integrator_control=0.260000
gs_derivative_control=0.000000
gs_integrator_boundary=0.700000
gs_derivative_boundary=0.000000
yaw_damper_gain=0.000000

then I add the following to every panel.cfg remembering to change the window number as required and

[Window Titles]
blah blah blah
Window02=AP

blah blah blah

[Window02]
Background_color=0,0,0
size_mm=300,300
window_size_ratio=1.000
position=0
visible=1
ident=80
window_size= 0.300, 0.330
window_pos= 0.700, 0.360

gauge00=AS532AFCP!AFCP,0,130,300,131,afcp.cfg
gauge01=AS532AFCP!Annunciator,0,0,300,130
gauge02=HAP!HAP,193,132,8,8,ap1.cfg

some things you need to know,as well, otherwise it wont engage or disengage

if the helo has park brakes, they need to be off
dont key the brake key otherwise it will disengage while its keyed
you need to be above 200ft
you need to be going over 40kts
the hover option if affected by wind, so you will drift over long periods of time depending on the wind

if you have flight sim commander the "fly to" button automatically updates the AP heading same with flight plans

this AP system ****s over some of the autopilots some of the developers supply IMO

[stovall]

Thanks Jeansy, I love helos but just get tired and bored on the long flights. This autopilot could definitely help that.

I just recently took a cruise to Kodiak and have been itching to fly out of the Coast Guard station there. Definitely a huge Coast Guard base on Kodiak. 3000 plus service men stationed there.

I will definitely give this a try.

[robertorizzo]

More or less the same here. I placed some ships, carriers and tankers sailing in the Persian Gulf as AI. So i can take my Sea King or the 212 and, by autopilot I fly to them. BTW i installed the sylvain Tacan/ils device gauge to find them overthere. Oilrigs, are another great way to enjoy helos, low flying.

[bstolle]

I rarely fly Helo's any further than 30nm, it's tedious, boring, slow. . .did I mention boring, yea and slow (you get my drift)

30NM? R U serious? Vienna - Singapore is more than 5200NM....THAT's long distance....quite happy that I made the (almost unprecedented) decision switch from the 767 to A320
Should be back to short/medium range in 2 to 3 month

[PRB]

In my real job I'm learning about the systems in the CH-47F. That's the new one with the glass cockpit. The autopilot in that thing will take you from cruise to a hover, in X,Y, and Z coordinates. It's friggen amazing. The only thing they need to add to the auto pilot is the dog (to make sure the pilot's don't touch anything...)

[FAC257]

I use the same auto-pilot file that Jeansy pointed to and have it installed on all three default helos. It's a good thing, because without an auto-pilot I probably wouldn't log very many hours in a whirlybird.

Longest flights so far in the EH101 were 550 miles (SVSN>SKUC) & 495 miles (KBTV>KBKT).

Thanks to the auto-pilot, one of the yet-to-be done adventures I've had on the back burner for a while is a RTW attempt using only helos.

FAC

[Marvin Carter]

Ed I fly Helos long distance all the time, from a custom airport near Orka island to bowman and then to portland. I don't use auto pilot ether. It takes some detecation for that kind of flying. I have read some post recently on people getting board in FS, I do to so. When I do I fly Helos, take alot of practice to get good at it, but puts the fun back in it for me.

[Warrant]

i use a autopilot most of the time,

it allows me to sit back and drink brews and get yelled at by the mrs for sitting at the computer again

beside the mrs, never had a problem with the autopilot I use

This is what I use

http://www.hovercontrol.com/cgi-bin/...ip&img=&tt=zip

install the files where it says you need to

even thou, it says you dont have to do the following, I found you do

you need the autopilot setting to each of your helo aircraft.cfg

I just insert the following regardless



then I add the following to every panel.cfg remembering to change the window number as required and



some things you need to know,as well, otherwise it wont engage or disengage

if the helo has park brakes, they need to be off
dont key the brake key otherwise it will disengage while its keyed
you need to be above 200ft
you need to be going over 40kts
the hover option if affected by wind, so you will drift over long periods of time depending on the wind

if you have flight sim commander the "fly to" button automatically updates the AP heading same with flight plans

this AP system ****s over some of the autopilots some of the developers supply IMO

Same here, including the Mrs-thingy.

Works great for me, on all models, and for years in a row!

[falcon409]

30NM? R U serious? Vienna - Singapore is more than 5200NM....THAT's long distance....quite happy that I made the (almost unprecedented) decision switch from the 767 to A320
Should be back to short/medium range in 2 to 3 month

ummmm, well. . .I'm very happy for you, but I don't see what that has to do with what I'm talking about really.