Flight characteristic's

[jplovlin]

I am using the X-56 HOTAS and mapped the joystick and throttle. It work but there is a lot of delays in function. More specifically the flight characteristic’s of the game is off. The collective is not only for altitude but it is the power in the rotor system.

At low altitude the collective will give you much more altitude, but in forward flight it is the power to go forward. It will move you up and down but not at the levels the game is demonstrating. When the pilot pushes the cyclic forward without collective the helicopter should nose over and go forward but descend very rapidly. By adding collective as you pitch forward on the cyclic, straight forward flight is achieved. This is why hovering is so hard in the game, too much emphasis on the collective going up and down in altitude.

Any chance someone is working on this to fix?

[udidwht]

A mapping for separate controls should be implemented...Cyclic and Collective

[Mors]

Helicopter flight modeling is very challenging for even experienced developers.

Even today in the aviation industry there ain't accurate means to calculate/estimate/simulate a counter-rotating effect with the main rotor. It is just too complex task. That is why in the industry the real work is done by actually modifying the parts and then testing that what happens.

It took decades to go from a actual theory of helicopter (not counting Leonardo Da Vinci hypothetical design) to working one. It was known how to get helicopters work, but why it works as it does was mystery.

And flying a helicopter is far more challenging than flying a fixed wing aircraft.
Why to get a helicopter flight license you are expected to have a normal pilot license first.
Flying a single propeller aircraft is completely different from flying a two propeller aircraft, and those are a lot different from flying a jet aircraft. Even with a propeller aircraft you are required to know how to taxi and take-off properly, as alone advancing throttle too fast or too slow will make you spin around because the propeller gyro-effects.

And quick forward back to the gaming industry....

When you give a normal fixed wing aircraft pilot a helicopter controls, their brains can't handle it. It goes everything opposite they have custom to. Collective up/down is opposite from throttle forward/backward. You are constantly using pedals, while in rotary aircraft you use pedals in the landing and turns, while in jets you don't use them at all than maybe in landing and take-off against sidewind.

Your hands and feets are constantly doing corrections - in advance to what you are about to do.
If you raise collective with left hand, your right hand compensates with cyclic for increased lift and drag, while your feet compensates with counter-rotating rotor for increased gyro effect to turn you around by the main rotor rotation by drag. And as your right hand and feet compensates for those, now your right hand raising/lowering collective starts to compensate for those actions.
So you are constantly balancing and adjusting each of the three controls that are effecting each others.

The one of the major surprises that comes to people is that in the low speeds the helicopter acts expected manner, but after transition speed it starts to behave like a fixed wing aircraft. So when you get higher speed, your cyclic is like a stick in airplane and your collective is like a throttle. So now you don't use counter rotating rotor for turning as it is ineffective at higher speeds, you use your main rotor to roll your helicopter and then pull cyclic to make a turn. Faster you go, less collective affects to your altitude but you control your altitude with helicopter pitch.
And faster you go, less you have a lift from main rotor as now the retreating blade has no lift because it travels at same speed as the helicopter = stationary in the air.

Then when you finally return to hover, you are in another kind situation where helicopter wants to flip around and it is very itchy to all slightest control inputs. If you think that you must add some input, you are adding too much. Meaning you must have extremely relaxed and iron mind to avoid any unwanted movements in controls as slightest thought movement is too much. Once you start to learn to fly, you don't anymore think about the controls but you just think "I want to go there" instead "I must move cyclic to left".

The helicopters are machines that wants to kill you, that is the difference to a any fixed wing aircraft.
And even experienced pilots who get caught in low-visibility or zero-visibility situation can lose a situational awareness and crash. It is said that once pilots lose a visual outside that they have 10-15 seconds surviving time if they are not very familiar for instruments flying. As in those 10-15 seconds once you are in a cockpit without seeing outside, you lose your balance. It is similar thing as dropping in a water and you lose your balance that what is up and what is down. And if you don't open your eyes and look for where is the surface, you likely start swimming anywhere else than surface and you will drown. Why night swimming is very dangerous as you don't have visual indicators underwater that where is the surface.

But Comanche is not about simulator, it is about fantasy helicopter with advanced autopilot and all. So you are suppose to just fly it like a drone.