Thanks to all for the kind words. I really want to share what I've been learning about this fantastic simulator and really struggle to put what (I think) I know in a format is neither condencending or uninformative. So far (based on the kind comments!) I seem to have acheived that hallowed middle ground! We'll see how well I do on the other articles!

Frederf,
I don't fly my routes fast enough to make horizontal maneuvers a concern and I also didn't experiment specifically to see if rotor collision risk is greater for a turn in one direction or the other - I treat any maneuver near Max IAS as risky! - but kudos to you for incorporating this into your flight planning. That's a mark of a very smart pilot!

GregP,
You only found 2? You're not looking hard enough! Seriously, though, thanks for the editorial comments and feedback. I do truly appreciate it. My editors/reviewers did a great job of catching most of my errors, but those two happened to get by all of us.

And yet he STILL flies circles around me!

Part 3 has been published.

Trimming the Black Shark is here:
http://simhq.com/_air13/air_428a.html

I think trimming is the one thing that turns most first timers off to this simulation. It took me an hour after I installed the game to wrap my head around the process but after the light went on it was second nature. I think too many want to "kick the tyres and light the fires" but that just isn't a workable approach to Black Shark. I've spent hours just hovering perfectly still while watching a friend gyrate madly through the sky trying to do the same. I can't get him to crack the DVD case open any more. Sad.

Before you fire off a single round of ordinance, learn to hover. Learn it WELL. Ingress at full speed to some random map point. Stop at that point and hold that point... HANDS OFF. Learn how to do it quickly and smoothly. Once you master the stable weapons platform, it's a turkey shoot. As long as the turkeys aren't shooting back, of course. Once you learn the weapons while holding still, employment of is much easier at combat speed.

This is a study sim. Perhaps the most study intense sim ever. The article author has done his studying, shared his advice, thoughts and experiences. Put in a little bit of "training time" as he has and the fun will follow.

Thanks for the article! Very nice read!

Hi,

Great stuff !

Erik "EinsteinEP" Pierce should have been hired to make training tracks for Eagle
Dynamics.

This is essential stuff that we need to know. to fly that sim.

Thank you Erik

A big hurrah for LawnDartLeo's statement. Well done sir. Great article yet again from EinsteinEP.

Thanks for the article, but I'm a bit confused about the use of the trim button in the sim now with the latest patch. Previously, I would press and hold the trim button during any manoeuvre and then release it when I reached the heading/state I wanted. I have been doing that in the sim now with the latest patch and have had two occasions when after trimming, the controls do not respond. Turning off the AP channels and turning them back on helps.

But from reading the article, it seems I should only be pressing the trim button once, after I have used the controls to establish the flying state I want. is that right?

thanks

smith

There are two camps of folks out there: the press-and-hold-Trimmer and the tap-Trimmer camps. Each approach works, but pressing and holding the Trimmer button during an attitude change (e.g., bank to the left) is a good practice to get into if you plan on using the autopilot and maintaining smooth transitions (more about that in an upcoming article!).

The fact that your controls "lock" with patch 1.0.1 is probably unrelated to the autopilot, however. After the pilot releases the Trimmer button, the new Trimmer logic implemented in 1.0.1 waits for BOTH the cyclic AND rudder inputs to be centered before the helicopter will respond to those inputs. For example, if a pilot releases the Trimmer button, centers the cyclic, but leaves the rudder a bit off center, the sim ignores BOTH until BOTH controls are centered, the helicopter is a smoking crater, or the cows come home*. This Trimmer lock is why many pilots have opted to revert back to the "old" Trimmer (which you can select in the options menu). Big kudos to the ED folks for leaving that option up to the user!

If you don't think this is what caused your issue, and you can repeat it, save the .trk file and post it up at the ED forums at www.digitalcombatsimulator.com. They got some pretty smart guys over there who can diagnose it for you.

[*I haven't fully tested this condition yet.]

Thanks EinsteinEP. i use a Cyborg 3D (non-force) with a twist rudder and that may be it.

Great series of articles.
I am looking forward to the rest of them.


Wheels