Any one here messed with helicopter flight sim controls much?
I am thinking of investing in a good set. looking at the set from Pro flight trainer, there web site says that Palm beach sheriffs air unit is a customer. the only part i don't like is the pedals of the set up.
I am looking at getting the black Lynx set up. http://www.pro-flight-trainer.com/en/sy ... escription

From what I have read it has the most realistic movements calibrated to the real thing. I am running X-plane V 9 but may upgrade it.
I also have the Microsoft flight sim.
this unit looks well made and understand you can get an inter face to fly the RC Helicopter with it.

Hi Tim, I have the Black Lynx controls. Great setup! Very well built, and yes the pedals/bar were "weird" at first but quickly got used to them. I tried MFS and didn't work to well. I now use X Plane 10-1 with great success. The only issue I had was it can set you up for some bad habits (my CFI noticed it before I did)! In a hover, of the real thing, you can feel the ship under you and as such you can feel and see the ship move under you and attenuate movement as it happens. With the sim you're behind the curve and by the time you see movement it's to late and you'll over control and start a interesting ride. I had to stop flying the sim during training and was able to quell the beginnings of a bad habit! A interactive chair may solve this issue, I found flying the real thing works much better!!

Ok thanks for the input, I was not sure if it would help sharpen my flying skill any or not. I have X-plane 9 right now and the MSF , neither one seems that real to me as the graphics are not that great. not bad there is not one connected to google earth or big maps, now that would be fun.

Tim...

Barry has a pretty elaborate SIM setup at his hanger in NC; stick, cyclic, pedals, and visual on a 40-something flat screen TV... might visit the Spring gyro gathering and play with it.

I 'flew' it for an hour or so... go to where I could take off and not crash...

I did find the same thing.... the thing I had to fight to overcome the most... was lag. When something happened on the screen... I would over-compensate. After a while... learned to input just a little and back off... quit crashing.
Wanted to learn to fly it... however so did others....

BTW: It has multiple helicopter formats: R-22, Bell 206, etc. Choose your punishment...

I have trained in professional simulator and even those are no help!
Nice to do IFR training because you don't have to wear goggles or the shade but the flying experience is nothing like the actual flying.
Not the rotorcraft flying at least.

I found this to be true in FW back in the days I was flying Cessna's...

The feel is just not there... and those of us that fly partly by feel... well...
IMO it would be easy to develop bad habits one would have to pay an instructor to help you 'unlearn'... possibly before solo-ing.

I am sure having a SIM at home would be really COOL fun... for me... adding the cost of the SIM + the cost of CFI time to unlearn some habits...
Double negative.

OTOH... rebuilding a gyro is probably a LOT less time and $$$... than a helicopter... and there is the 'excitement' of wanting to fly.

yeah I think I am just going to save my money til spring and see if my A&P gets my bird together. no use taking lessons unless I have something to fly afterwards. pretty much like the Gyro time I have now, been so long ago, it's not really helping me, just money wasted. sure I have hours in the log book, but no instructor is going to sign me off to Solo until I fly with them a bunch. so yep just wasted my money.
Sure it was fun, but now since so much time has past, it' not doing me any good.

Just a thought Tim...

The last time (before the Spring of 2013) I had a 'stick' in my hand and loggable (flying...) was in the early 1980's.
Left aviation... too many other things got in the way.

Then the gyro bug bit me... oooops... in the winter of 2012-2013.
I found the first couple of times I went up in a gyro... the flying experience felt 'all wrong'... and that was both confusing and frustrating!!!
Then I went up in a FW... and it did not take 30 min before it started coming back. Honestly... I (personally) would NOT attempt to fly a FW without lots of instruction and a sign-off (the job of a CFI is to determine if the student is ready to handle the aircraft SAFELY.... not just can he/she fly)... however I think it would come back sooner than if I was starting cold.
Now gyro flying... who knows... It may come easier than a newbee... and it may not... when I get the Subinator ready and start instruction... we will find out...

"I did find the same thing.... the thing I had to fight to overcome the most... was lag. When something happened on the screen... I would over-compensate. After a while... learned to input just a little and back off... quit crashing."

That is what a started doing also! Then when I was in the 269 I started doing the same...wasn't pretty! My CFI ask what the "heck" are you doing?? I explained the sim to him and he promptly told me to stop flying the sim! I did so and was able to unlearn that bad habit quickly.

Appreciate this comment...

The last time I was at Barry's... I wanted to spend a few hours and master the SIM... just because it was there... problem was, lots of other folks wanted to play with it... so I did not get the time.
Looking back (amazing how hind sight is 20/20)... the SIM not being available for a few hours straight... was probably a good thing.

Hope to have my gyro (The Subinator) ready by the fall, so I can learn the right way, without having to un-learn some SIM habits.