2 Simulators

Tony

Staff member
Tony submitted a new Article:

2 Simulators


Okay, you have your helicopter and you are ready to fly, but realize you don't know how the helicopter will react once you get it in the air or even on liftoff. The most stressful time of flying for me is the maiden flight. And when you don't know how to anticipate something going wrong on the first lift off, it will more than likely end up in a crash.

So, you are asking, "Well isn't putting the heli in the air the best way to learn how to fly?" Well yes and no. Yes because it's "Real World" and no because you will probably crash and crashes cost money. I have seen a lot of great people get their helicopter, charge the batteries, crash on the maiden, and put it in the attic never to be seen again. They realize flying these may be a little more than they can chew. Well, I'm here to tell you, you can fly these helicopters, but you have to stick with it.

Here is where the Flight Simulator comes in. I know you’re saying, "Simulator, those are really expensive." You would be surprised. You can get a 6ch flight sim controller online for $15 and it comes with a sim called FMS. The sim is free; you are only paying for the controller. If you don't believe me, Goggle "FMS Flight Sim". You can download it and give it a shot on your keyboard. You will realize really quickly just how hard these are to fly and why a sim is so important.

When you get your flight sim, DO NOT TREAT IT LIKE A GAME. Treat it like it's a real helicopter. If you treat it like a game, you will be banging the sticks around and "playing". But once you get your helicopter out into the field, you’ll be lost.

Before you do any of the steps that follow, do it on the sim first. If you practice what you are about to do your fingers and mind will know what to do. This is what is known as "Muscle Memory". And, the more muscle memory you have, the better you will do. One of the biggest mistakes that I made was, I got on the sim, just played around, had one successful landing out of dozens of tries and thought I could fly. I then went outside, took the helicopter up, and it came down in a rather quick manner.

So, practice every single thing you are going to do on the sim. Once you can do it over and over again, then go outside with your helicopter and give it a shot. Doing it this way has helped me more than anything else. Another thing to think about is weather conditions. I'm not talking about rain or snow, I'm talking about wind. If you get a sim and set it to where there is no wind, you are going to get a surprise when you go outside. There are only a few days a year here that there is no wind and it's the perfect time to fly. The other days you can figure on 5-10mph winds with gusts up to 15-20mph. These will make your helicopter do all kinds of weird things, like rise and fall without any stick input. I will get more into this later.

The sim that I use myself is Clearview. For the price, you cannot beat it. The latest release has new weather conditions that are pretty darn real. I keep mine on the really windy day, because here in Oklahoma, it's usually really windy. They have all kinds of helicopters that you can practice on as well as planes when you just want to relax. If you are into cars, they have those as well, but this is a flight sim, not a car sim, so they are not that realistic.

If you are running a Mac with OSX, then from what I hear, Heli-X is your only option unless you want to run a dual boot with Windows. I do not own a Mac so I can not confirm this, but it's what I have been told by a few others.

Do yourself a favor and get a good flight sim. FMS will teach you orientation, but beyond that, I don't like it. And, for the price of Clearview, it will pay for its self pretty quick.

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Yes the Best thing I did even before I actually even owned a Heli was I got Clearview Sim, and believe me it was the best $40, I have spent and would say that it has more than paid for itself , I use it at least 3 or more times a week practising, what I know I cant do on real Heli , I try in Sim first, I even did RADDS school of Flight on there first before doing on Heli

Best Thing you could ever get, :cool:
 

Tony

Staff member
Re: Article: Simulators

:thinking: why is it that everyone responds to these and not the article? Can you guys not respond to them.?

Edit: It puts the response in both spots, my bad lol.
 

Lee

Well-Known Member
For those of us with MAC computers, unless you want to run Windows in Bootcamp, there is only one option. www.heli-x.net It works on OSX. It is around the same price as Clearview and is as good as all the high price Sims out there.
 

Lee

Well-Known Member
Re: Article: Simulators

But do you still need to get a copy of Windows? Its a lot of hassle i think when there is a great sim already out for Mac. If i hadnt found it i would be doing as you said.
 

coolgabsi

Super Mod & DEAL KING!
lee is right.. i am using parallels and running clearview..
1. virtual box does not support clearview at all... i have tried it, cause i wanted free .. didnt work.

2. it just makes things slower.. I had bought clearview so i didnt think too hard about heli-x.. but wish i has known about this sim two days earlier lol...

BUT SIMULATOR HAS HELPED ME A TON!!! I HAVE MUCH MORE CONFIDENCE NOW.. thanks to you guys and the sim ... :)
 
in alot of RTF aircrafts that you buy, you will get fms automaticly.It comes with the aircraft for where i live. I have bought three aircrafts and all of them came with fms
 

sterlingh

Member
Newbe question.. On my set up in the rudder I have it reversed. If I move it left my tail goes left and right moves right. Is that the correct way or does it matter sine you can inverse them? I have downloaded clearview and noticed that I have been using this reverse condition all along. Its really the way I may need it now. Is this a bad habit or is it ok? Sorry for the most basic questions but I would not like to start off backwards.. BTW: Any other newb's reading this and using FMS, you should download trial version and prove to your self how much better this is. Only 40.00 bucks and cant be beat. I am using the controller I bougt for fms for 15 big ones... Thanks in advance for answer.

Sterling H.
 

Tony

Staff member
When you give left rudder input, the nose should go left. Remember, everything about flying a helicopter is by looking at the nose.
 

Lee

Well-Known Member
Sterling, Just imagine yourself sitting it the helicopter. If you were to push the stick to the left, you would want the heli to turn towards the left and vice versa.
 

sterlingh

Member
Yes i go it, thanks... I hate to say but the default was reversed on the fms, and I went with it. Oh well hopefully I can get it right. I bought the clearview. All I can say is i could stay in the air at lest a little while with fms and had maybe 1 or 2 safe landing's. LOL the CV umm not so much. Hey since there is no razor 450 for a heli in CV, can anyone suggest the next best heli to practice on? Thanks and I really appreciate the way you guys answer i this forum..

Sterling .H
 

Tony

Staff member
Pretty much any 450 sized heli will work. You want to get your orientation down before you get into FF. And yes, FMS is way too easy to hover a heli. I was in for a big surprise when I flew mine for the first time. The ideal sim will make the heli more twitchy than it really is. Then when you get ahold of your heli, it will feel easier.
 

nbell

New Member
Re: Article: Simulators

In conjunction with this thread, I was digging through some old stuff yesterday and ran across a USB Simulator that has this written on it:

Simulator
XTR
G4
Aerofly
FMS

Now I'm wondering if anyone knows what this is for (software wise) and what TX's it will work on.

Thanks in advance!

Also... if I'm in the wrong place with this post please, please let me know... I'm new to this Forum!

Thanks
 

Tony

Staff member
I'm pretty sure it goes to the aerofly simulator. You may be able to find a little more information on it in the link below. However, If you are running a spektrum Tx, I would suggest the Phoenix sim. It's directly compatible with the DX5e, DX6i, DX7s, and DX8. I'm sure there are more, those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

http://www.aerofly.com/
 
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