how do i hold a hover just above the ground in this thing?

hey guys!

i have a few hours in the huey and i don't have any problems taking off, landing, hovering at high altitude or close the ground... i completely understand what's happening in that helo when coming into, out and during ground effect.

but in this one, keeping the collective at a certain position is not a guarantee that the helo will keep the altitude i want... even very small variations in collective produce exagerated results.

i get closer to the ground and have to give more collective... then it climbs too much... then i lower the collective just a tad and it plumets to the ground again.

it feels like ground effect is "varying" when i'm trying to hold a hover a few feet above the ground.

any tips on what i might be doing wrong?

The Gazelle's collective is more sensitive and prone to overshoot it's ground effect equilibrium point, which occurs closer to the ground because of the Gazelle's smaller rotor diameter (relative to the Huey).

The only way to avoid a IGE equilibrium overshoot is to anticipate it and adjust the collective.

If you are on 2.5.0, the Gazelle's IGE seems to have been increased in 2.5.1 Open Beta but IMHO remains more sensitive than the Huey as it should.

I would like to also direct your attention to this excellent video by Eagle Rising.

Should be on every pilots to do list.

This is what I used to learn this Helicopter, when I first was struggling.

Come to think of it, I need to do these lessons again with the new flight model.

Hope this helps

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=172920

Hawkeye

Gazelle Fanatic!

If you are on 2.5.0, the Gazelle's IGE seems to have been increased in 2.5.1 Open Beta but IMHO remains more sensitive than the Huey as it should.

i'm on 2.5.1 open beta.

i understand it being twitchy and having much less "room" for ground effect than the huey, but still i'm not able to hold a steady altitude like this guy does, for example.

I would like to also direct your attention to this excellent video by Eagle Rising.

thank you, will watch it! ;)

well... the thing is that my issue persists.

i just can't hold a steady altitude without pulling and pushing the collective every now and then.

unlike that video you posted, where he keeps the collective at 50% all the time and the helo does not go up and down like mine does.

sometimes, i can hold a few seconds above the ground then the helo just goes and lands... or it starts climbing out of nowhere without me commanding anything with the collective or flying away.

i think i should be hovering at a constant altitude when not messing with the collective, no?

Just a thought, how good is your hardware controls, especially the one you use as collective?

If it's low resolution, noisy or worn-out potentiometers you can get this behavior I believe on a sensitive helicopter. But if these issues are small enough they can be masked by the FM of less sensitive ones like the Huey.

I don't own the Gazelle yet but have noticed issues with my controller resolution on the Viggen while flying Huey, Mi-8 and the Shark without issues. Need to use another controller for the Viggen.

I'm new here and don't have the Gazelle, but I do fly the UH1H and Ka50 a bit.

One thing that you may want to try is setting your collective input axis curve to have its lowest sensitivity at the location of typical hovering. This is not actually in the physical middle area typically, so you may need to use the slider checkbox in combination with a curve. The more physical movement it takes for a given collective output change in that area, the better (in my experience).

ALSO: I had to implement an external 3rd-party averaging script onto my throttle/collective device, in order to cancel out the jitters/bouncing I was getting right out of the box. Check if yours is acting up maybe?

Good luck!

Just a thought, how good is your hardware controls, especially the one you use as collective?

If it's low resolution, noisy or worn-out potentiometers you can get this behavior I believe on a sensitive helicopter. But if these issues are small enough they can be masked by the FM of less sensitive ones like the Huey.

I don't own the Gazelle yet but have noticed issues with my controller resolution on the Viggen while flying Huey, Mi-8 and the Shark without issues. Need to use another controller for the Viggen.

it's a hotas warthog, no spiking or anything.

i'll try to make a video tomorrow to show what it's happening (going up and down without moving the collective).

One thing that you may want to try is setting your collective input axis curve to have its lowest sensitivity at the location of typical hovering. This is not actually in the physical middle area typically, so you may need to use the slider checkbox in combination with a curve. The more physical movement it takes for a given collective output change in that area, the better (in my experience).

yeah, i did that once i got back to flying DCS, but now i'm quite good at controlling a hover... the thing is not actually controlling the stick... the helo is changing altitude without me comanding with the collective.

i can't just keep it a few feet above the ground for more than a few seconds without it going up or down.

Will also add the Gazelle is very sensitive to pitch control via cyclic, I have a 25cm (10") extension and still drop saturation down to 85 for pitch and roll. You will find less input is more control.

it's a hotas warthog, no spiking or anything.

 

 

 

 

yeah, i did that once i got back to flying DCS, but now i'm quite good at controlling a hover... the thing is not actually controlling the stick... the helo is changing altitude without me comanding with the collective.

 

i can't just keep it a few feet above the ground for more than a few seconds without it going up or down.

Okay yes you will get a slight rise and fall so you need to react to this with controlled input to the collective to compensate, allow a little time for the change in collective to take effect keep in mind to not get into a pilot induced oscillation. You will also notice that the rise and fall tendency will reduce as you burn fuel/unload munitions or just jump in mission editor and load it with around 100 to 150 ltrs it's just that out of the box your pretty much near MTOW.

Possibly another aspect is keeping the aircraft in the correct attitude in as much as any deviation will cause a portion of the downward thrust to vector out lowering the total lift keeping the aircraft at height.

Try the Huey at 4400KG. :P

Possibly another aspect is keeping the aircraft in the correct attitude in as much as any deviation will cause a portion of the downward thrust to vector out lowering the total lift keeping the aircraft at height.

well... i think that's exactly the thing here. :thumbup:

if the hover is stable, altitude doesn't vary.

thank you guys!