Practicing For The Sling Load... :)

[marker]

Ok

 

Trying to hover steadily at around 30 to 40 feet. So bloody difficult to keep it exactly steady, I would say I was floating slowly to around 10 to 15 feet out.

 

Hopefully, with a bit more practice I can get it a bit more tight.. Funny though, that within 4 or 5 feet of ground level, I can keep her still as anything!

 

 

The collective dip at the end was intentional :)

[tusler]

Yep, out of ground effect is very difficult because there is no seat of the pants feel. We either need a hover position symbol on a HUD like BS has or some other form of reference. Try hovering next to a tall pole, tower or object it is much easier.

[enigma6584]

That is some great hovering! I'm always bouncing all over the place.

[SUBS17]

Hopefully we don't have the same issues that exist with FSxs sling load.

 

 

:D

[Griffin]

Been thinking that how are we supposed to know where the load is during the landing and pickup? In real life the pilots peek out of the window or they have mirrors on the nose. Are Belsimtek going to give us an "open window view" option?

 

For example, the number buttons from 1 to 4 are for different positions in the aircraft. Could it work the same way if we press button 5, then the window will open and the view would automatically shift out and down simulating peeking out of the window?

 

It would be nice to hear from flyer49 how they used to do it in real life. Was it a head out of the window or strictly a co-operative effort of the pilot and crew chief?

 

This guy has both mirrors and a bubble window but we have normal windows too, right?

 

[marker]

Right crtl c then trackir lean out :)

 

Actually need to go try that, see how it looks :)

[SUBS17]

It doesn't work I just tried it lol.

[flyer49]

Hi all...when we did sling load operations it was with a ground crew and crew chief directing us over the load. Takes a little practice but when you have a good crew chief, it makes things a little easier. Watch one of Coast Guard video's while they're picking up a rescue basket...that's what happens in real life...the crew chief will call out directions (right, left, forward or back) and feet to target.

 

However....

 

The UH-1H is actually rated as a single pilot aircraft and if you see one today, say in lumber operations or even fire fighting, the pilot has a bubble built into the door window (like the above picture) so that he can lean over and look out without opening the window. These pilots can hover and pick up a load while leaning over and looking at the load (those guy's are great pilots). Haven't tried it yet but like marker wrote above "Right ctrl + c" will work in DCS. I have TrackIR 5 so I'll have to try it and see how well it works.

Edited July 19, 2013 by flyer49

[Griffin]

Thanks flyer! It's so great to have real life professionals with us telling how things are for real.

 

I hope Belsimtek will implement some sort of method to see where da package be slingin'!

[Stacker]

That's going to be an interesting problem, let's see how they solve it. Just tried TrackIR with the doors open, problem is you can't get your head past the door threshold. They might have to extend the limits of the head movement around that area otherwise it's going to be tricky to put things down. Door gunner has a gap you can see down though.

[AlphaOneSix]

There is a really great YouTube video of some rescue hoist ops in Texas from a few years ago. It's not exactly sling load, but you get a great feel for how the hoist operator and pilot work together. We use it at work for training for our own sling and hoist ops.

 

EDIT: Found it!

 

__MjgY_71eE

 

One thing you notice right away that throws a lot of people is when the operator calls distances (5...4..3..etc.) Is that it's not so much about the distance but the cadence. Hard to explain but watching the video should explain it... ;)

Edited July 19, 2013 by AlphaOneSix

[marker]

The obvious problem being is that the sling load is directly below the helo..

 

From my point of view, if you extend the head movement so that it does enable us to lean out past the doors threshold, that would be a starting point. Would also maybe mitigate the need for some form of hover indicator.

 

Opening the doors to do this to begin with wouldn't be that bad, but I suppose the purists of us, would want the bubble window to complete the problem..

 

Hopefully whatever you guys come up, will be good enough..

 

Great job so far.. :)

[SUBS17]

You can mod directions, I've seen this in some missions where the mission will tell you if you are too close or too far from another object eg another aircraft or vehicle so for sling load or hoist operations you can have the crew give you directions if someone placed it inside the mission. IMO you could have a high setting for sling load which is similar to FSX sling load where you have to place the rope close to the object and another way for simplified sling load could be like Arma 2 where you hover over the object and within a wider proximity it will connect and just hit enter or something to grab the object. For Arma this is quite good because you can carry ammo boxes/vehicles etc and it helps train new people how to do it(or those with more difficult controls such as a cheap joystick).:thumbup:

 

 

IMO FSX was fun doing this stuff but the controls in order to do it sometimes I had to slow the game down in order to do it because of the difficulty with the FM for the EH101.(no trimmer what so ever)

Edited July 19, 2013 by SUBS17

[flyer49]

I agree with AlphaOneSix. I believe it's more about the cadence (maybe it's more appropriately called a countdown) because they're only estimating the distance but once you get in the groove with your crew chief it's a snap

Edited July 20, 2013 by flyer49

[AlphaOneSix]

but once you get in the groove with your crew chief it's a snap

 

Ain't that the truth! After working with certain pilots over and over, you get to know their little quirks, like when they start coming down, they *always* drift forward (not all pilots, just some) and if you tell them to come up, they *always* drift back. Also, some pilots are rock solid and some are more...let's call it...fluid. Similarly, each crew chief has his own quirks, too, and the pilots need to learn them as well.

 

One option for the Huey may be to have the pilot flying from the cockpit like normal, while the "crew chief" is actually in an external view giving directions. Not realistic, of course, but could overcome some other limitations.

[Suchacz]

Try hovering next to a tall pole, tower or object it is much easier.

That's a good tip and I have another one.

 

Choose some reference point on the ground a try to keep it in the lower right corner of the lower windscreen. It is relevant for the pilot, for copilot you should use the opposit corner, of course :smilewink:

 

I tried to lean out of the open door, but there is still the invisible wall as it is closed. :huh:

 

Edit: Maybe PeterP could do his lua-magic about this :D

Edited July 20, 2013 by Suchacz

[jay43]

In Take On Helicopters you can configure your Track ir for leaning out of the window when its open.

[flyer49]

If I can figure out how to configure my TrackIR for leaning I will probably use that method for sling load operations. I think that will give me the best "feel" for picking up external loads. I've watched helicopter pilots on TV who lean out of the cockpit and watch there loads while picking them up...I've always wanted to give that a try. To me this seems like a challenge due to the inner ear trying to compensate for your lean...possibly giving you vertigo.

Edited July 20, 2013 by flyer49

[BeachAV8R]

I can't wait for sling loads.. The possibilities for precise flying are limitless.. Woohoo!

[LiveBait]

I was looking through some files and saw this

Mods\aircrafts\Uh-1H\Cockpit\Scripts\CARGO_CAM

:thumbup: pretty sure it wasn't there before 1.2.5

[marker]

Anyone want to try this :)

 

Doubt it.. You never know :)

 

{combos = {{key = 'C', reformers = {'LCtrl','LShift'}}}, down = device_commands.Button_4, up = device_commands.Button_4, cockpit_device_id = devices.CARGO_CAM, value_down = 1, value_up = 0, name = 'External Cargo Camera On/Off', 	category = "View Cockpit"},

[jay43]

I was looking through some files and saw this

 

:thumbup: pretty sure it wasn't there before 1.2.5

 

 

It wasn't I too saw that but to scared to touch it incase I nerf it up.

I was hopping the master PeterP would come up with something but I guess he's tied up with his other mods at the moment.