Tutorial - How to fly with the Trim, Autopilot Channels & Modes + Interactions & Test

Posted a youtube video at

The intent was covering the basics of trim & autopilot, but after that also exploring the various interactions between the channels and the modes and their potential uses. I didn't get all of them.

Everything is stated as it is right now in the sim (Openbeta), not on what the real Ka-50 could do.

Hope it helps.

Nice content. Just a suggestion for your future videos... if you're going to make more.

While the video itself isn't short (30 minutes is long on YouTube) I think you move through your points too fast. Some pause between each point helps viewers absorb what's been said.

Thanks Taz.

It started out having failing to explain in text once too many that FD is and isn't the same as Hold-Trim at various times, I figured I hadn't seen a tut yet which combines all the modes & methods, so it had to cover everything cohesively which meant a longer vid.

I was keenly aware of the time thing, and often find myself fast-forwarding tuts till the good stuff so hence the heavy editing to trim the time and relying on timestamps to have people get to the topics they don't understand.

Outside of a more level voice over for future vids, I'm thinking of keeping the vocal pacing the same, but then essentially title card pauses between topics instead of immediately delving into the topic. I'm think the next one might be getting to the 25 minute mark with these pauses. Still not short, I know. But hopefully again fully cover the topic in itself, rather than scattered sources of info. Will see.

Thank you,,, I will check it out in the next few days

I feel like the Ka-50 does mostly what it wants, with the pilot being mainly around to advise the autopilot. I'm not sure I'll ever be comfortable with it

The issue I have with Ka-50 is wind. I can fly very precisely and make it do exactly what I want with less than 2ms wind. But anything over 6ms wind, it gets knocked around, rotates like mad... at something over 10ms, even full rudder is not enough to keep it from rotating.

And 10ms is still only 19 knots.

Helicopters *are* hard work in wind. You're working like a one armed paper hanger trying to keep the thing pointed in the right direction while your gunner is trying to keep the TOW sight on the target and calling you all the bastards under the sun...and has forgotten that his microphone is live.

Not that I speak from experience or anything...

I understand that but how strong of wind? 20 knots in DCS feels like a tornado.

This instructor says 30knots is his limit for "training"

And based on what I can find, 50 knots is considered the danger limit for helicopter flight. The instructor above says landing on rooftop at 45 knots was his worst experience.

Maybe a tutorial on how to fly in the wind would be useful. Do you have to "lean" into the wind? Auto Hover seem utterly useless in wind.

It depends on the wind direction and terrain. Landing on a ship with 30 knots over the deck is not a problem, though the turbulence makes anyone in the back a bit queasy. Try the same when you are constrained to a crosswind approach through terrain or enemy positions or whatever and it gets much harder. I've flown and recovered in higher winds but that was more because it was OK when we took off, and if we didn't fly we'd swim, and the water was bloody cold...

Also, while I hate to state the obvious, it's much easier correcting a movement that you can feel than it is having to wait until you can see it. There really is no substitute for seat of pants sensation - something that even a sim as good as this can't give us. Yet.

As regards the instructor above, rooftops are horrible to land on because the wind, even a gentle breeze, gets swirled around and magnified. A fairly strong wind makes things very unpleasant indeed...

Just copy-paste from the Black Shark manual - limits for controllability:

Maximum wind speed, m/s:

Taxi Head wind 20 m/s (~39 knots)

Taxi Crosswind and tailwind 10 m/s (~19 knots)

For takeoff and landing: crosswind and tailwind 10 m/s (~19 knots)

But yeah, even 20 knots in the sim makes a hover very unpleasant. Since it kinda wants to fly into the wind (or at least I assume that's the reason), it is a little easier to aim on a target if you have decent forward speed.

I'm also curious know if that's just the sim exaggerating wind (at least on helos), the Black Shark's shape more aerodynamic shape making it fare worse...then again I haven't flown the Mi8 in high wind recently...and definitely kinda scared doing that new campaign slingloading in snowstorms.

But if wind isn't an issue and your channels are on (you didn't kick them out by switching on Hover mode when it wasn't ready or too low), then it does exactly what you told it, trying to balance the bank, pitch and heading (and altitude) you had when you trimmed.