I'm cross posting this over from the official DCS forums to tap into the SimHQ knowledge well.

OK...so I know helicopters are very difficult to fly, but really, it CAN'T possibly be this hard! I can barely get them off the ground and its extremely frustrating to go through the start procedure only to crash and burn before even being able to break 10 feet.

I suspect the problem is one with my control settings. I have an X55 Rhino system. I have the throttle set for collective and the stick set for cyclic pitch and control with the RZ axis set to rudders. What else is there that could be screwy? Trim settings? What is causing my helicopter to totally spin out of control? I've tried applying collective slowly and quickly and none of it makes much difference. I try applying rudder to counteract the turn, but nothing works. Fixed wing aircraft function fine more or less, so I know its not a hardware problem.

I put the control overlay up and everything appears to be functioning as intended. Still, whenever I apply enough collective to get off of the ground, the helo begins spinning uncontrollably and my efforts to correct it only seem to make it worse.

What am I doing wrong? The problem is extremely severe with the Gazelle and pretty bad with the Huey too. Last time I tried, I was able to get the MI-8 off the ground and fly around, but I was pretty much like a barely controlled brick.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

EDIT: I just tried out the Huey in 1.5.3 again and I was able to take off, manage a circuit around the airport and land again safely on the runway. It wasn't pretty, but I did it and caused no damage to the airframe. I need a lot of practice, but I didn't feel anything was "off". The issue I'm having appears to be related solely to the Gazelle in the alpha.