how do i fly a helicopter?

[Keltaler]

i cant see why but when i press the arrow keys it flips over and wasd all just go up and flip please help.

[tommy]

Controls are shown in the ingame settings.

Arrow keys
Up - Throttle
Down - Decrease Throttle
Left - Turn Left
Right - Turn Right

W - Roll Forwards
D - Roll Backwards
A - Roll Left
D - Roll Right

1 - Engine On/Off
2 - Auto Hover On/Off

I could be wrong.

[RoboJon]

TomCat is right, but it also depends on how the vehicle has been wired up. For some helicopters, figuring out the controls is a bit of trial and error because the creator hasn't labelled them and has put the throttle as Axis 2 (which is W/S by default) and pitch as Axis 4 (which is up/down arrow keys by default.

The helicopter in the presets menu is a good example of a simple helicopter if you want to get used to the controls. Once you move to Steam Workshop vehicles it's going to be a bit more inconsistent with how they work.

[Keltaler]

ok thanks ive been struggling but ill soon get the hang of it :D

[mid endian]

I think the preset helicopter is missing the controls list on the side. Recommend adding that in the next patch.

[casey]

recommendation - switch your up down keybinds to something else. LSHIFT / LCTRL has worked out pretty well for me :)

[casey]

settings / controls. Just scroll down to the up / down key and that should do it.

[Limmin]

Sorry to reactivate this older post, but the issue is still relevant: Is there a way to setup helicopter trim in the workshop?

I ask because, just turning on the engine with the "starter" helicopter (provided by the game), the heli immediately pitches and lifts off the pad. In other words, it's moving unexpectedly and out of control. I would prefer that when the engines are first turned on, the pitch, roll and yaw are all zeroed-out (through a trim input, perhaps) and the throttle is low enough to not actually take off.

Can this be done? Or are helicopters always out of control when first turned on?

Thanks-

[Limmin]

Follow-up, now that I've got maybe 15 minutes of practice...

Being a little out of trim or control at the start isn't that big a deal once you've learned the controls. I'd suggest holding the down arrow key (yes, holding it) while you are on the ground with engine on to keep from lifting off. If you let go the down arrow, the collective (throttle) goes up a little on its own and up you fly.

This, and an early use of the 2 key to engage auto-hover, makes things much more controllable.

(And...seems like every time I try to fly the heli I've got really big winds aloft. Either it's just my luck, or it's always windy up there. Without auto-hover on, it's really easy to pitch or roll too far and hit the ground or water really fast.)

[Dreacos]

@Limmin

Your helicopter is probably lifting up by itself because the blade angle of your main rotor is set to positive, which produces a downward thrust by default and also disables collective input.

By the way, collective is not the same thing as throttle. Collective adjust the pitch angle of the rotor blades collectively (hence the name) to change the amount of lift generated. I think the starter heli has up/down input assigned to throttle instead, you might want to change the logic wiring and add a separate lever for throttle. This will also have the added bonus of making altitude hold circuits more responsive from what I've seen.

[Limmin]

Originally posted by Dreacos:

@Limmin

Your helicopter is probably lifting up by itself because the blade angle of your main rotor is set to positive, which produces a downward thrust by default and also disables collective input.

By the way, collective is not the same thing as throttle. Collective adjust the pitch angle of the rotor blades collectively (hence the name) to change the amount of lift generated. I think the starter heli has up/down input assigned to throttle instead, you might want to change the logic wiring and add a separate lever for throttle. This will also have the added bonus of making altitude hold circuits more responsive from what I've seen.

Thanks for the great advice! I'll try it when I can.

[Sargash]

The starting helicopter is still unflyable as turning it on, and holding maximum roll in the opposite direction, the helicopter still just rolls upside down.