Basically, the Huey is kicking my ass. I can only land the damned thing about 50% of the time without crashing, and that's an improvement over time.

Here's the thing. I've been flying helo sims as long as they have existed. I've even flown a real helo simulator (MH-65 Dolphin at USCG Aviation Training Center). None of them, not even the real one, has been as difficult as the DCS Huey. I've even flown in a real Huey, also, but only in the back. Flown in a MH-60 and MH-65. Left seat in the MH-65, but did not get to take the controls.

So, I'm curious. Have any real helo pilots, especially those who have flown Hueys, flown this sim and can offer comparison to the real deal, especially landing?

[Note: I appreciate the good intentions, but this is not a plea for a lesson on VRS, OGE vs IGE, etc.]

Any observations from real helo pilots?

Quite a few of them on the ED boards and to my knowledge they think it's realistic. Have you played around with your controller settings and curves? Some sticks are just too twitchy if left at default.

The project manager of the DCS Huey flew a real one:
http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=105440

His conclusion:
So, dear users, overall the DCS model is very, very close to the real Huey. We did not fail you!

The Huey is very difficult until it isn't.

What I mean is that there is a learning curve that just has to happen. You just need to get into the sim and practice hovering. Once you get the hover down, you're 80 percent there, as mastering the hover is the key to consistency in a helicopter. At some point the proverbial lightbulb just turns on, conventional wisdom says 4 hours of hover and slow taxi time is how long it should take.

When that bulb comes on, you'll just know. You'll find yourself "stirring the soup" with the stick, which is making minor adjustments to counter the helicopter's rhythmic oscillations before they happen. It's kind of like learning straight and level flight in fixed wing, but with the exception that the helo is trying to kill you.

Once you have the hover down, the next thing to learn is the transition from level flight in Effective Translational Lift (ETL) to a hover, during which you will lose a good chunk of that lift that's been keeping you in the air. You'll need to gradually but aggressively add collective as you transition to hover to avoid hitting the ground or (worse) entering a Vortex Ring State (VRS). You lose ETL at about the 40kt point, and if you don't have your collective up by 20kts, you risk VRS. I use the mnemnonic "60-40-20": at 60kts I start thinking about pulling pitch (collective), because things happen quickly. At 40kts, pull pitch to counter the loss of ETL, and make sure your VSI shows a decent rate not exceeding 500fpm by the time you hit 20kts.

Once you have these skills down, everything else falls into place. Being able to stir the soup in a hover translates to finer control in ETL and hitting targets with weapons, and then once you're at speed helos handle similar to fixed wing anyway.

Finally, some good videos to help:

My experience with real vs. simulated airplanes is that simulations can be harder. They feel less "damped" in motion. Less detailed visuals cause sim users to go faster, descend steeper, etc. than a real pilot would. Lack of peripheral vision probably significantly degrades helicopter landing performance.

My experience in the UH-1 sim is that going slowly is easy but quick is difficult. If I descend slowly taking my time landings are easy. Flying more "rock and roll" I get behind the aircraft and have more problems than I anticipated.

I fly model helicopters, I know it's not the same but stiring the pot is almost exactly the same. Difference is we have heading hold Gyro's which makes the increase in collective a lot more manageable. But the hovering is so simila, I was really surprised.

Nice discussion, HomeFries. Thanks.

I have come to the primary conclusion that flying a helo sim with desktop HOTAS inherently adds an additional challenge. The throw of the stick and throttle handle for collective is much less than the real deal, making them feel 'twithchier'. Yeah, I can adjust the curve and saturation, but that just moves the twitchiness to another part of the range of motion. I've seen the stick mods guys have done to extend the cyclic and collective length for helo sims, but that's not a route I intend to follow. I fly more fixed wing stuff, and maybe ought to stay there...

Coming out of forward flight to hover into ground effect, I always pull too much collective and push myself back out of ground effect, and more often than not into VRS with typical results.

If you have problems with landings I suggest creating a simple mission with an air start and within short distance to your landing zone. This way you can practice the relevant parts of the approach without wasting time.

Practice makes perfect.

also if you're starting on the ground, try to remember at wich position you have your HOTAS' throttle position for barely lifting the chopper. You'll know that before landing you can't go below that position to have enough thrust to stay airborn.

Helped me a lot to counter VRS in final

edit: haven't touched the Huey in months... you guys makes me want to fly it again, BRB

Well, yes and no. If you trim often, as you should, you seldom need to go where the stick gets twitchy. Incidentally, we're talking about this at ED's too ATM:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2329681&postcount=7

I've flown helicopters a tiny bit while planes have been my life since 16. My feeling is that every thing I have ever flown for real has been much easier than the simulated version. After much gnashing of teeth and #%&*$# at the devs I have come to the conclusion that it is simply not possible to properly model flight with a desktop stick, mediocre visuals and no sense of acceleration. But it's not a lost cause, I just had to trick the system to make it work. For the Huey and Mi8 I checked my ego at the door and set a ridiculous curve and limited throw to 70%. It's pretty easy after that.

I have some major issues with avoiding VRS and it's probably the main cause of death for me.

The odd thing is that I don't recall VRS being mentioned once while reading Chickenhawk. You would think that something that major would get a mention.

I was thinking I was dying constantly to VSR while in fact was the transition from forward flight to hover (i.e.: the loss of transitional lift).

All I had to do was actually just pull the collective more.
Don't know if that could be your problem too Tango.

Using a conventional HOTAS to fly a helo is goofy without autotrimming.