Any MS Flight Sim Jockeys here?

[kodoz]

I need a hand getting set up to fly the heli's in Flight Sim 2004. Please PM me.

--chris

[1badz32]

I'm a bonified flight sim jokey... but i fly FS-X. With the saitek X52 setup. Sorry i realize that dont help much.

But if you dont know already.. hovercontrol.com is an awsome website for FS downloads.

[jakes3993]

How far off from the real thing is controlling the heli with all of the settings turned to max difficulty, and nulls set to 0. I have always been curious to hear from a pilot that has been through training and logged some hours. I went up for a introductory lesson, but I had no idea what I was doing then. I have the saitek 52 also. Mounted the colective on the side of my chair and made a stand to hold the cyclic between my legs. I have been going through the training at hovercontrol. Do you have the head set to communicate with people online. I don't, but have been considering it. I have been working and flipping houses to save enough money to go through real trainng. Hopefully by the time I save enough the job market will be better. After all of the hours on FSX will it help me or hurt me hovering, landing, etc.. My first post on a professional site and it is about a game. Maybe one day I can be a professional talking about flying real helicopters. Fireworks every night at 10 p.m. in las vegas. Thanks

[Witch]

I need a hand getting set up to fly the heli's in Flight Sim 2004. Please PM me.

--chris

Don't look at me, the video card keeps crashing. Then I do.

 

I have FS9 also. Whatcha need to know?

 

Oh wait, I'll PM ya.

 

Later

[CharyouTree]

I just reinstalled FSX the other day. My setup leaves... a lot to be desired (laptop, couch, and a saitek cyborg... lol...worst setup ever) but I wasn't a big fan. After flying the real thing, and using a real, full motion simulator, I've decided I just don't have it in me. It's like owning a Ferrari, but having to borrow your buddy's Yugo.

[thrilsekr]

I have the saitek pedals and a cyborg "cyclic". I disabled the spring in the joystick so it does not autocenter. The collective is just a little knob with a tab on the side.

My biggest complaint, other than it being nothing like the real thing, is that the pedals are spring loaded. Even at the softest setting there is still return force to center. And at the center there is a dead spot where there is no spring force. So, you have to fight the spring the whole time, until you need opposite pedal, then it helps you to center, inch of no force in the neutral area, then you are pushing spring again. I would just take it apart and remove the springs, but the fact is that FSX is too beefy for my PC, and 2004 is just not realistic to me. It is not worth modifying the pedals to me, for something that is so inaccurate. Maybe my whole setup is wrong, but from the help I've got, and the info I have read... I cannot get it to be close enough to my liking.

I put many hours on it waiting for my first heli lesson. I think in that regards it did a lot of good for me. I learned the controls. I learned the gauges. I got to crash a lot without getting hurt. I actually got pretty good with the sim. Hold a decent hover, take off and land (not properly, but could do it). Then came real flying. The adjustments were easy to make, since I had the fundamentals. I remember after the fourth hour or so, I opened up my pilot log to fill out that days work - when I opened it, there were only three lines filled out, my cfi looked at it, looked at me and I saw a look of shock in his eyes. I asked him about it later, and he said I was way above average for how many hours I had (not anymore, been having problems with the last couple feet of the approach/touchdown). I think the FSM probably had something to do with it, both positively and negatively. However, I just tried it again the other day. I could not keep that thing hovering inside the whole airport. I was taking down fences, circling the tower. It was awful.

All in all. FSM is good video game. Probably good for instruments (not that far along yet). But it is nothing like feeling your organs move around like in real life.

 

Anyone want to buy some saitek pedals?

 

 

It is more like being able to hover a helicopter, then going home and playing Chopper Commando on my 386 with the sweet EGA card I just installed. (Turbo button off or else it is too fast) Get it here.

[kodoz]

Thanks to all who replied offline.

 

As for my experience with MS Flight sims, I don't think they're close, altho I've heard from others that they've done very well with them for learning to handle the heli. I think it's all a matter of how much time you have on your hands...back in the day, I mastered the AH-1Z on BF2, and the Apache on an older flight sim. It took hours, but I had time to kill back then.

 

For the most part, I use the Cessna 152 for practicing instrument approaches and holds. You can use the autopilot for most of the control functions, allowing you to focus on the mental part of the procedures--ie, getting organized. But it's an airplane, and a short time with with a joystick or rumble pad and you're most of the way to controlling it. If you set your flight up in the map mode, you don't even have to fool with learning to take off (altho it's not that hard). One thing that is nice about the simulator is that you can experience actually popping out of the clouds. Or rather, fading out of the clouds. If you set the weather right, you can get glimpses of the ALS...just enough to be a distraction, not enough to maintain your attitude. Guys who have their instrument ratings will understand...flipping your foggles up at MDA isn't the same as seeing the rabbit through the haze. Anyway, for instruments it's all good practice with minimum hassle. I'd also recommend Tim's VOR simulator, if you really want a minimalist approach. Here's a link to a good version (it has a clock!).

 

I have FSX, FS2004, and FS2000 (yes, this flying thing has been a monkey on my back for a while). I have a fast machine, and FSX drags it down. For learning instruments, FS2004 is just as good and can be picked up for $10. I just uninstalled FSX and put FS2004 back on my machine.

 

Anyway, thanks again all.

--c

[Witch]

I'm doing bills