Helicopter Trim Gauge

[sddinnh]

One of the problems we've all struggled with flying FSX helicopters has been that the program does not account for self centering sticks.  Since most designers trim helicopters to fly well at hover, this means that to fly level at cruise, you must keep a constant pressure on the stick, working against the self centering springs.  This makes it hard to fly level at cruise speed.  There are a few helicopters that either have a built in “force trim” mechanism (Dodosim is the only one I know of) or have had the trim set to cruise by altering the FDE, but these are far and few between.  There are also sticks available without the centering springs, but these are usually on the high end of the spectrum.

There is a freeware gauge on FLIGHTSIM.COM called HELITRIM2.ZIP which allows you to use the normal aircraft trim controls and commands to trim a helicopter at cruise so there is no pressure on the stick.  So far, I have used only the pitch trim (and turned off the two other axis) to make the stick neutral at any speed and it has worked great except for one problem. 

Unlike the Dodosim system, it cannot be quickly set back to zero for hovering, you must spin the aircraft trim wheel back to zero.  Still, it is better than anything we’ve had available to us before to tame those helicopters that take excessive force on the stick to fly level with out diving deep into the FDE.

It comes with a good set of instructions for installing it in a helicopter and although it does make you open up and work on the panel.cfg file, it should present no problems to the simmer with some experience with how the panel.cfg works.

Hope this helps some of the more "informal" helicopters pilots out there.

[av8erjm]

Thanks for the info, this has always been a pet peeve for me as well and the main reason I have veered away from whip wings. I have  tried working with the Cougar Autopilot from HoverControl but never could get it to work right. Must be something about old dog and new tricks, I'll give this a try though

[corbu1]

Steve,
Besides the Dodosim the MilViz Bell407 and the Milviz MD530F have a built in Trimsystem which can be adjusted to your joystick buttons.

I use the helitrim2 gauge for years for all other fsx helicopters and I can highly recommend it.
Basically the problem with selfcentering sticks in flightsimming is, that these controls can not replicate the function of a helicoptercyclic control at all. The helitrim gauge is some kind of help. But also this gauge does not replicate a real helicopter forcetrim.
In a real helicopter, the pilot moves cyclic to desired position for attitude change then presses forcestrim button and the cyclic is freezed in this position mostly by a electro magnetic system.
In the sim you move the cyclic to desired position for attitude change, then activate trim gauge by press of joystick button and move the joystick back to center position

@ av8erjm
For helicopter autopilot google for dirk fassbender fsx autopilot. He did a great work and his autopilot works great for. Though I only use it in helicopters like the Bell412 which is fitted with a autopilot system in the real one.
Dirk offers lots of informations for configuring his helicopter autopilot on his website.

[av8erjm]

Once again thanks for the info, I've googled but nothing  helpful came up, but I'll try again

[corbu1]

Try this link to dirk fassbender autopilot :
http://www.dirkfassbender.de/general.html

[av8erjm]

Don't ask me why, but I have never seen this page when I've googled in the past, thanks I'll have to get a single malt and sift thru it

[sddinnh]

Thanks for the info on the Milviz stuff Klaus, I guess I'll have to start reading the instructions better.  I'll go back today and take another look today because the 530F is a favorite now that you've repainted it.

Klaus, I'm in the process of moving from a 15 year old FlightLink GStick II (which has centering springs) to a new FlightLink GStick III without the centering springs.  Although expensive, I've found the FlightLink stuff to be excellent and durable sticks.  They are ideal for replicating the actual "feel" of a real aircraft in my simulator.  It should be interesting to see what the effect on the none self centering stick has on simulated helicopter flying.  I think I'll have to add some sort of gauge to show stick position to get the current force centering to work.

Av8erjm, although, like Klaus, I don't recommend the trim gauge or the helicopter autopilot for every helicopter, I've had good luck with both.  If you have a problem getting them to work, let me know and I'll help wherever I can, however I've found that if you follow the instructions to the letter, they both do the job they are supposed to.

[jeff3163]

 

Here's the link for the helicopter trim gauge over at FlightSim.com.  You must be "logged in" before you can download it though. 

HELITRIM2.ZIP download link:
http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?searchid=34082378

FSX Helicopter Trim Gauge. This gauge allows trimming any helicopter in FSX in the same way fixed wing aircraft are trimmed, using the same keystrokes or axis assignment (the latter for elevator only). It also adds a little 2D panel to show current trim positions and allows separate configuration for different rotocraft. By Mike Krawczyk.