Roll oscillation in straight and level flight

In straight and level flight (e.g., 90 knots), I seem to get a regular slow oscillation in the roll axis even when my cyclic is totally motionless, the force trim is set and the slip ball seems to be centered. The aircraft just seems to rock back and forth in the roll axis like a boat in the swells, or maybe it is a slight corkscrewing motion. It's not the same kind of natural instability that occurs in a hover, which can be countered with constant micro-inputs on the cyclic.

Does anyone have any tips for eliminating or reducing this? I don't notice it as much on a screen, but in VR it tends to bring on the sea-sickness.

Is this just inherent to the flight model, or is it a result of poor technique on my part?

Thanks!

torque pedals.

get her properly trimmed with your feet and you will notice this less.

you will really notice the difference when firing the front mini guns fixed using the pilots sight.

properly trimmed and they don't draw patterns in the air. they fire straight.

watch the ball and get it centred and the roll is much reduced.

Makes sense, and thanks for the tip about using the guns as an indicator. I find that often even when I think the ball looks centered, if I re-watch the track from an outside top-down view, I see my centerline is several degrees off from my direction of flight.

it depends on the configuration of the aircraft.

if you are flying medium weight and not using much collective to maintain your cruise speed of 90-100 mph than she will fly straight.

if you are heavy with guns, rockets, door gunners and a full tank of gas then you will be using a lot more power to maintain the same cruise and you will get a little sideways.

the tail rotor not only counters the torque of the main rotor, it also pushes you horizontally to the right. so she wants to point to the left to counter it. so you are in fact flying in a sideslip at high power. (use the torque gauge)

in a hover you use a little left cyclic to counter this.

better to slow down when heavy and cruise where she is comfortable. especially when it comes time to aim. use less collective and less pedal. sacrifice speed to maintain altitude.

changing the configuration of the helicopter has a much bigger effect on how they fly, than fixed wing aircraft. so they cannot come balanced from the factory for all situations.

they are balanced somewhere in the middle. and the pilot has to make up the difference when flying at max weight or empty.

basically if you always fly with her cocked to the left, then you are pushing her hard all of the time.

but it is to be expected when making a max climb over an obstacle. or using max acceleration. or flying fast and heavy.

you will eventually learn to tell when your feet are in trim because of how the cyclic responds.

and you will use the ball just as confirmation.

flying by feels instead of instruments.

That's a whole lot of great advice in a concise reply. Thanks Quadg!

Yeah, the amount of oscillation is not realistic at all unfortunately. In cruise they are very stable, and don't movie very much. A little bit, but no where near what is simulated in DCS.