The Rookie Thread

I've got one problem and I can't find out what's the cause.

 

I'm locking targets for Vikhr. Hover is on, all autopilot channels on, ground moving target on and helicopter heading follows the Shkval aim.

 

Suddenly (and I didn't touch anything) Shkval breaks lock and helicopter starts spinning right, goes back for a while to aim at waypoint marked on ABRIS (PVI is turned off, no navigation, no route mode) and goes back to spinning right until crash.

 

When I'm trying to counter it, trim doesn't work. The only way is to disable autopilot heading, stabilize heli and enable it again - then trimming suddenly starts working.

I am having the same problem. All of a sudden while in a stable hover acquiring targets in the shkval, the auto pilot channels all go out and the helicopter is yawing all over the place out of control. Completely unpredictable. I thought that maybe auto hover might be the cause but it happened last night with auto hover off. Turn on TGT and Ground Moving Target are on and the Shkval is locked on a point or target when this happens usually. I've also had the auto pilot channels go out like this when flying and sling loading but mainly when working targets in the shkval. Anyone have any ideas why this is happening? Thanks!

hmm, I wonder if its the wandering slew bug? check my thread in the bug section and see if that's it, as your using the shiv it just could be

thanks thrustvector, sounds similar. I too think it may have to do with the range finding and slewing the shkval. Now that I think more about it, it seems to happen more when engaging a moving target while slewing and attempting to get a lock.

How high above ground were you when that happened ?

The Hover-Hold function does not work too close to the ground, 4m iirc is the bare minimum.

The Autopilot disengages for a few reasons, another one is taking off right after Auto-Start iirc.

You better wait another 2-3 min for all systems to be up & running. I forgot which specific module of the Ka-50 needs that much time but Reaper6 told us about that circumstance and usually what he says is a Ka-50_Law ;)

Maybe those two things came together and your AP went wild. I have had this occasionally throughout the years, seldom, and could always track it down to my own stupidity or misconfigured Hotas.

Happened last night while I was hovering quite high over a friendly airfield to spot incoming tanks in the distance. Interesting about taking off after auto-start, that's a possibility. It's happened so many times that I really can't pinpoint the reason. Repeatedly landing and taking off while sling loading can cause the auto pilot channels to go out too. Most often it is while trying to engage moving vehicles. Recently I have spoken to two others that have experienced the auto pilot channels suddenly going off so I don't think it will be a HOTAS issue but will definitely check over my controls to make sure. Thanks for the reply and suggestions.

The Hover-Hold function does not work too close to the ground, 4m iirc is the bare minimum.

Good point! I think 4 m is correct; below that all SAS channels will disengage when in auto hover. Which, IMO, is a pretty weird design decision on behalf of Kamov... :music_whistling: :smartass:

The Autopilot disengages for a few reasons, another one is taking off right after Auto-Start iirc.

 

You better wait another 2-3 min for all systems to be up & running.

I'm only aware of doppler nav alignment, which takes some 2 to 3 minutes after switching on the nav system. The most visible indication that doppler nav has not yet aligned is when there's no speed indication in the HUD. I think auto hover won't work until doppler nav is ready.

But I'm completely unsure if any of this could be the reason for the weird things that have been observed; I hardly fly the Ka-50 these days and have never had this happen to me yet.

Oh, come to think of it...

When I'm trying to counter it, trim doesn't work. The only way is to disable autopilot heading, stabilize heli and enable it again - then trimming suddenly starts working.

Do you have Central Position Trimmer Mode ticked in options?

If so, you have to return the cyclic to the center position after trimming, or else you'll be locked out of cyclic controls until they have been centered. If you have rudder trimmer ticked, the rudder needs to be centered as well before cyclic and rudder can be actuated again.

In a hectic situation, this might have locked you out of controls, and it's possible this is not directly related to the original problem. I'm guessing you probably let go off the stick in order to push the SAS buttons, so it would have been centered and the SAS buttons themselves didn't really solve the problem, it's more like a causal coincidence.

But that's just a theory.

Hi all I am fairly new to the black shark again. I was wondering if there is a way to do damage control to the shark after taking hits. For example, my HUD and Shkval went offline in a battle lastnight so is there a way to switch computers from nav to take over shkval or something like that? Hydraulics took a hit in a different battle and I couldnt get the gear down so is there a way to manually put gear down or switch hydraulics? Any resources on what I can do when damaged would be appreciated.

For example, my HUD and Shkval went offline in a battle lastnight so is there a way to switch computers from nav to take over shkval or something like that?

That's a tough one. You could try to fire the cannon bore-sighted in manual mode and maybe score a few hits by adjusting your aim. But without Shkval, I don't think it's still possible to launch Vikhrs, so you'll basically have your teeth pulled when that happens.

As for hydraulics, in all my Ka-50 flying it happened exactly once that main hydro was gone while secondary remained stable. 99.99% of the time, both go out within a minute. :D

I've heard of pilots who actually lower the gear before battle because they expect their hydraulics to fail anyway. But the Ka-50 is pretty good at belly landing if need be. ;)

I've never gotten deep into emergency procedures; let's hope someone has some better tips.

I thing there is emergency gear down option just near the actual gear handle. I am not 100% sure.

I must say as yurgon said, I tend to lower gear when I'm ready to attack, youre usually reasonably low any way, and if I do take too much damage and lose the viks, then take rockets and gun if youre not in too much danger

I thing there is emergency gear down option just near the actual gear handle. I am not 100% sure.

Yep, but to be more correct it's a switch to change hydraulic source for the gear. If both hydraulic systems are out you can't get them down. But as Yurgon said, after main hydro is gone you have a little while to get them down with the secondary, before it's out too.

Thanks all, I see that switch there. I will try that next time I lose hydraulics. I would think lowering the gear before battle would make you a bigger target and has already been said it really isn't difficult to belly land the shark anyway back at the home airfield.

I seem to recall there was a way to switch computers to take over if one is damaged. Any ideas on that one?

I seem to recall there was a way to switch computers to take over if one is damaged. Any ideas on that one?

I believe I read something about it in the manual, have a look there. Don't know if it works in the simulation though.

Edit:

Found it. Under 'Targeting Mode Control Panel', bullet 8, page 2-101. Hope it helps.

Ah that's where it was. Thank you! No idea if that would have worked for me when I lost power to the schval and HUD targeting system but at least now it's worth a try instead of turning around and heading home.

Regarding the hydraulic system, I believe I turned the main hydraulic off (wall panel above the anti-collision beacon) ones when it failed, to isolate it from the common system. This after reading about it somewhere long ago, cant find the source.

It worked for me that time to avoid the common system to go out after the main, but it might as well have been a coincidence.

Hi! I have to say : DCS Black Shark (1.0 the original I have) is a great helicopter sim, event if its graphics date from 2010. I currently learn to fly with just my Thrustmaster joystick. It feels really realistic.

Question:is there an online group where I can learn how to fly and shoot allotgether? A kind of Discord or Teamspeak group where we can chat and then play multiplayer online?The goal is to fly better.

I'm running into some difficulties while piloting the Ka-50. I start her up all fine, takeoff is a bit wonky as I don't have pedals (yet) but once I get control I level her out and proceed on course. While flying random warnings will happen. I get a "u" on the HUD and the caution button blinks. I'm not sure what this is from or how to correct it.

I just finished flying and one of my rotors broke. Yes, it snapped apart. How did this happen and how do I fix it? I'd like to fly this thing longer than 20 minutes without a failure.:disgust:

I just finished flying and one of my rotors broke. Yes, it snapped apart. How did this happen and how do I fix it? I'd like to fly this thing longer than 20 minutes without a failure.:disgust:

Not exactly sure about the "u" indication on the HUD, as it might be Cyrillic or not, and I haven't flown the Black Shark in a long while anyway.

But if you create Rotor Blade Salad, you've joined an elite club of Ka-50 pilots who've learned the hard way about dissymmetry of lift, and more specifically how it affects coaxial rotor systems. :D

Suggested reading: DCS: Black Shark and Coaxial Rotor Aerodynamics

Thanks for your reply, Yurgon. I'll read the blog.

Hi! I have to say : DCS Black Shark (1.0 the original I have) is a great helicopter sim, event if its graphics date from 2010. I currently learn to fly with just my Thrustmaster joystick. It feels really realistic.

Question:is there an online group where I can learn how to fly and shoot allotgether? A kind of Discord or Teamspeak group where we can chat and then play multiplayer online?The goal is to fly better.

We used to have a group organised by Eddie in this very forum. The Rookie Meet was loads of fun and a very merry group it was, too.

I often think back to those happy times and miss them very much. Guys like Eddie, HiJack, Skumbee, Tomten and others, whose callsigns I have forgotten - this was with Black Shark 1. I still have a couple of dozen screenshots from our antics - there were some fun missions, and we all learned how to screw up as a group and individually! :D

Just needs someone to organise it (and put up a server) and a few guys to turn up and you could have the same.

Hi! I have to say : DCS Black Shark (1.0 the original I have) is a great helicopter sim, event if its graphics date from 2010. I currently learn to fly with just my Thrustmaster joystick. It feels really realistic.

Question:is there an online group where I can learn how to fly and shoot allotgether? A kind of Discord or Teamspeak group where we can chat and then play multiplayer online?The goal is to fly better.

We have a squadron of Ka-50's in TAW that is active (taw.net and tawdcs.org).

I'm also working on a A2G only server with some of my old missions from FC2 days, Ka-50 is a big part of those missions.

And as Brixmis says, it just needs a couple of players to organize some event's. I don't know if Eddie is still flying the Ka-50 but that was good events. I also miss Dragon's excellent co-op missions :joystick:

I'm running into some difficulties while piloting the Ka-50. I start her up all fine, takeoff is a bit wonky as I don't have pedals (yet) but once I get control I level her out and proceed on course. While flying random warnings will happen. I get a "u" on the HUD and the caution button blinks. I'm not sure what this is from or how to correct it.

 

I just finished flying and one of my rotors broke. Yes, it snapped apart. How did this happen and how do I fix it? I'd like to fly this thing longer than 20 minutes without a failure.:disgust:

They are quite related :)...

That "U" is likely a "V" and it means you're exceeding what the aircraft feels is the safe "V"elocity. Try to keep the blade pitch angle (controlled with collective) to less than about 11.5 degrees (gauge is lower left, will move with collective, find it before you start next time) if you're over about 250 on the dial.

A few things to consider...

The faster you go, the less blade angle/pitch is safe.

In a dive you can go quite fast... just don't use too much blade pitch.

Turn off Alt-Hold channel in general (rear right button at AP Channels).

Hold trim button, fly plane to desired equilibrium, release trim button.

Got the KA-50 a fully clickable Cockpit?

Got the KA-50 a fully clickable Cockpit?

Hello,

Can somebody please explain the trimmer logic to me? I've been messing around for a while and while I can somehow tinker the chopper into going roughly where I want, I can't for the life of me figure out what the trim button actually does.

Does it add my current joystick deflection to the existing offset? Does it lock the current joystick offset as the new 0? Does it try to maintain heading/attitude? Because at times it seems to do any one of these and I cannot for the life of me figure out what the pattern is. For example, it will turn towards the heading I was facing when I pressed the trim button except sometimes it will spin around in circles instead. Is it trying to conserve the existing rotation rate? Sometimes when I push the nose down and press the trimmer it will go back up to seemingly conserve the speed I was going, more often it will just go back up a bit and settle in some other attitude. So on and so forth.

I am aware that I am likely not the first person to ask this question, so if anybody could direct me towards an explanation of the trimmer logic I would be very thankful.