So I Flew A Helicopter For The First Time Ever Anywhere...

[rox]

...and happy to say that despite a PROLONGED "OMG WHAT'S GOING ON D: " moment, the end result was a bit less dramatic than I anticipated, as in, instead of ending up as a smoldering wreck, I emergency landed into a nearby field after the automatic onboard warning voice computer lady repeated several dozen times that generators one and two failed, which sounded as the right time to be on the ground. I think I made a tail strike, but there's this protective metal thing sticking downwards and I saw no visible damage to the tail or gear, despite the landing being somewhat violent

 

 

Basically I never flew a helicopter simulator, and my knowledge of how they work and the aerodynamics in question was next to zero before I read parts of the 250 page manual for the DCS Mi-8. When I read on the aerodynamics-related stuff, this effect, that effect, this vortex, that vortex, air flows this and that way and pressure here and pressure there on the rotor, I think I had a small stroke. It seems about a million times more complex than flying ariplanes, counter-intuitively, as I always thought helicopters were just "fly up and then forward without caring".

 

I started this submarine with an airplane tail and propeller on top as per manual instructions, easy enough, and without the manual telling me where to keep the stick and pedals during early static takeoff/hover and transition to forward flight I'd likely just twirl away to a quick death. Instead I at least managed to face vaguely the same direction while I hovered and took off, despite pitch and roll being all over the place, and this thing even has an autopilot that makes it easier to fly, can't imagine what it's like to fly without it turned on (not that I thought I'd try, not yet anyway). Then I transitioned into forward flight and got a few hundred meters of altitude, then my generators apparently died (probably forgot to switch something on or off during start-up), then went into a shallow dive towards the ground to save my life and in the process went too fast and started stalling the rotor (because, completely intuitively, apparently helicopters stall if you go too fast!), then slowed down by pulling up so much it's a wonder that the the rotor didn't just break off and fly away, and then somehow landed with a little bit of forward speed and nose up, with minimum pitch.

 

Anyway, quite the adventure, I cannot say I've ever had to learn something so completely new and challenging ever since I started flying airplanes in the first place. So many new axes to think about, half a dozen airflow and pressure effects to consider, pretty crazy. I even had no idea that helicopters with wheels actually taxi and can (and indeed it's easier to) take off and land moving forwards on the runway!

 

 

[GreyKnight]

Well you deserve a medal if you're first landing ever in a wocka-wocka looks like that! Mine and everyone else's involved several component parts strewn around the area. 

 

But WHY THE HELL did you pick the Mi-8 over the Huey? I have both and the Hip is a giant, lumbering, sloth-like beast to fly compared to the Huey.

[rox]

Same reason I picked the Mig-21, my country actually flies these so I find it kind of cool to be able to point at things in the sky and say "Hey I can fly that too, in theory...in the widest possible sense of the word"

 

I will pick the Huey up too, eventually.

[GreyKnight]

Ahh, fair enough.