Wow!!!

This thing is really sensitive. But, not as sensitive as my wife! :music_whistling: I can't believe that it has no ground effect. That is a serious flaw in the flight model.

It seems that you're not gentle enough with her to experience the ground effect. Yes it is only a weak experience and only slightly above the ground but it is there. I don't know how realistic this is but i would guess for such a small heli to have a weaker ground effect than compared to a big MI-8 for example. Perhaps this will be changed in the future because the developer already stated there will be some tweaks to the FM.

I think ground effect is supposed to be experienced from an altitude corresponding to a rotor disc diameter.

I think ground effect is supposed to be experienced from an altitude corresponding to a rotor disc diameter.

My small/big wasn't based on the helicopter weight but on the size. The small Gazelle rotor diameter of 10,5m compared to the one of the MI-8 of nearly 22m. I don't have any RL flight experience myself but logic tells me that i can expect a stronger ground effect in the MI-8(big helicopter) compared to the small Gazelle. Just ignore my post if i get you wrong, english isn't my first language.

@mytai01

You can easily test the ground effect. Put the Gazelle into auto hover a couple meters above the ground, press c to uncouple the collective from the auto hover and decent with only the width of your variometer needle. There is a point 2 or 3 meters above the ground where you can observe your Gazelle descending/stop/climbing... until it finds it "sweet spot" without touching any controls.

If it was missing, it certainly would be a serious flaw. Until you get to grips with fine control, and manage to keep a lid on the wild and erratic behaviour, you will probably not notice what effect it has.

Just stick with it, and don't fall into the usual trap of making the flight model the culprit for the lack of feel and accuracy all new pilots have when stepping into the Gazelle.

She is small, light, and very responsive, but once you get to grips with her, you'll find all the subtle, and complex features will start to take centre stage.

It is a good idea to start off using 80% or so saturation curves in the cyclic and torque pedals. Once you get things under control, run them back to the default, and you'll get there.

My small/big wasn't based on the helicopter weight but on the size. The small Gazelle rotor diameter of 10,5m compared to the one of the MI-8 of nearly 22m. I don't have any RL flight experience myself but logic tells me that i can expect a stronger ground effect in the MI-8(big helicopter) compared to the small Gazelle. Just ignore my post if i get you wrong, english isn't my first language.

The ground effects "strength" is about the same. GEs occurrence depends on the rotor diameter and its results correspond to the helicopters mass.

More mass means higher inertia and in this case, slower/delayed vertical velocity changes. The Mi-8 might have more mass, but thus also have a larger rotor diameter, so the ground effect kicks in earlier (at an higher altitude). The Gazelle is more lightweight => smaller rotor diameter => later/lower ground effect - but slows its descent rate way faster.

I think ground effect is supposed to be experienced from an altitude corresponding to a rotor disc diameter.

Exactly.

You can see it work if you use the fake collective autopilot. The same amount of collective is varying as you descend.

hey, i tested the groundeffect in an easy manner.

1. lift off

2. hover at about 3m, which would be slightly above the autohover test in your takeoff check in real

3.apply very little collective so that you start to fly up a bit and leave the collective at its position.

now you will leave the groundeffect a bit and as you leave it the less influence will occure. you upward movement will slow down and at a certain point you will go back down if you do not touch the collective. the groundeffect will have you slowed down like a cushin and you will bounce up and down all the time till you change the collective and counter it. The groundeffect has about one disc diameter, so at about 10m altitude you should experience about 0 ground effect

Another easy way to test ground effect is to hover right next to a building, while out of ground effect: when the rotor starts overlapping the roof of the building, you will see the helicopter literally jump.

Ground effect in the Gazelle definitely feels different from the Huey, but it's there all right.