Thanks all-I'll try to go up again tonight and report back.

I didn't change anything except the throttle and pedal settings from the defaults, but I'll have a look.

Could you check your instruments and get back to us with what you are seeing.
Are all the autopilot modes on?
When you check autohover does the light go on on the roof button bar.
Try not using the shortcut and use the button and see if its any different.
If you have a hotas assign autohover to a button and see if that works.
It sounds like your disabling something rather than enabeling the autohover. The instruments should tell us what. Get back at us

I wasn't able to try tonight. However, I also don't have the manual yet-it's on its way to me via UPS so not sure where to look for some of these functions.

I do know that when I select autohover, the circle in the HUD comes on (as I believe it's supposed to). I did map ALT-T to a Cougar button and got the same result.

However, I will say: I am running the latest patch. I have no mods installed. I have nothing mapped except the pedals, the cougar throttle for collective, and trim to a button on the stick. Everything else is as it came out of the box. I've followed the Dummies tutorial posted here button for button (though I usually skip changing the flare settings). If that tutorial left something out, I'm sure many others would have complained before me.

If there WAS something mapped funny, the only thing I'm doing is waiting for the helo to power up (win-home), and increasing collective until I lift off. I'm not touching buttons or keys...just the throttle until I reach 50 m and I'm not climbing or descending. Then ALT-T and the nose pitches down then up then down then up until the helo slides down its own tail and crashes.

If we can't get this worked out, maybe I can post up a replay file, if they're trade-able.

Post a track so we can see for ourselves, but it sounds to me like you're not getting into a trimmed hover before engaging the auto hover. You need to be in a stable hover before you can engage the autopilot, it can only hold position for you, not establish a hover.

OK -that MIGHT have done it...I did everything exactly the same, but I hit the trim button before ALT-T, even though I had not moved the stick. The Auto-Hover seemed to kick in. More later when I can try the whole mission.

In my defense, the tutorial tells you about trim AFTER it tells you to hit ALT-T and doesn't link the two. Just to point fingers :P

Nope-that wasn't it. (It DID seem to work last night for the first time). I have posted a track, let me rundown my session:

Turned on TrackIR for the first time and started mission 1. TrackIR didn't do anything so I thought maybe there was a setting somewhere. Tried mission 1 took off to 50 m, ALT-T, crash. Exit this mission, (do not exit Black Shark program). Restart as mission 2 (this track). NOW the TrackIR decides to work, even though nothing changed. (It's not in this track, but I have looked at the auto-pilot panel and confirmed that they are all on, however after the first ALT-T, the other blue lights blink and turn off).

-Win-Home
-Dial the ground-level warning to 30m
-Try out the TrackIR function while helo starts up-very jittery. I took the headset off because I couldn't click a button due to jittery TrackIR (this why the view is funky at first).
-After the center CRT comes on, I set ABRIS to NAV, then decrease the scale.
-When I'm started up, I ease up to 50m. I hold trim, lower the nose a bit, release trim.
-Alt-T then rollercoaster, as you will see.

Track of Alt-t

Also: Joy_RZ does not seem to link to the pedals...

OK. I gave this a try doing everything you did on the Tutorial mission and I had a very similar result - the autopilots all turned off and everything got a bit funfair ride.

Normally I never have any problems with auto-hover but I never use Alt-T, I have the command mapped to a button on my stick. You might want to give that a go.

Incidentally, when everything started spinning out of control I just turned my autopilots back on, stabilised the ship and then turned auto-hover off and then on again using Alt-T. This time the autopilots did not disengage and the helo went nicely into auto-hover.

Try doing that and see if it works.

I have this vague bell ringing in the back of my mind about what it means when the autopilot lights start flashing like they did on yours and what causes it, but I can't remember off the top of my head.

Try flying to the mission area as well before you turn on auto-hover. I have a suspicion that the auto-start gets you in the air too soon and everything is not yet up to speed. Either way, when the helo starts bucking around, don't panic, try to get it to stabilise and get the autopilots re-engaged if they are not already.

When the autopilots flash.. Ive read that too but cant remember either. It is in the manual though I remember that.think they are being turned off.

As for the rudder your quite right rx is the default. Go to add and wiggle your pedals and they get detected as axis x I think. But wiggle them and they are automatically assigned.