(December 1997)

As you may know, the Microsoft Flight Simulator team and FlightSafety International (FSI ) have worked together on a couple of versions of Flight Simulator. FlightSafety International helped us validate the flight characteristics and operating procedures for the Boeing 737-400, and for Flight Simulator 98 they provided invaluable assistance in fine-tuning the helicopter flight model. During the development process I brought versions of the flight model to the FlightSafety International-Petroleum Helicopters Inc. training facility in Louisiana for their instructors and pilots to evaluate. Two trips were made over the life of the program.

On my second visit, the Flight Simulator test lead came along. The day started well enough. We set up a large screen monitor, a chair, a two axis joystick (cyclic), a throttle controller (collective), and rudder (tail rotor) pedals. At this point, we asked FSI-PHI instructors and pilots to fly the helicopter and comment on the simulation. My experience here proceeded as it always does when I've attempted this type of flight tuning -- it becomes an opinion-fest, with my feeble, broken ego left on floor (sob!) when it is over.

In the late afternoon, Greg, the assistant chief instructor, took the test lead, Steve, on his first helicopter ride. Greg wanted to demonstrate some earlier points while I made code changes. Keep in mind that although Steve is a private pilot rated in single-engine, fixed-wing aircraft, (and an avid hang-glider pilot) he'd flown fix wing only about five hours in the last year and had no previous helicopter time - except what he'd logged testing the JetRanger in Flight Simulator. The flight turned into a one and one-half hour session/lesson.

During cruise toward the practice area, Greg explained the cyclic. Steve flew, cyclic only, toward a practice oil rig platform. Greg then took control and demonstrated an approach to and landing on the pad.

Greg took off from the platform and established a hover over a grassy field. He had Steve make pedal inputs to get a feel for pedal pressures and resulting directional control. He then tried the same approach with the collective for landing and lift off to hover.

Next, Steve tried combined cyclic and pedal inputs for side-to-side, then forward and backward (maintaining a fixed heading) flight and 360-degree hover turns.

Greg then gave Steve full control of the chopper in a hover and had him execute a climbing departure into a 500 ft traffic pattern.

Steve then flew a standard approach to hover and landing with full control of the ship.

More hover, landing, and takeoff practice followed. Then Greg allowed Steve to do whatever he wanted, which turned out to be hover taxi into a standard departure climb and 500 foot traffic pattern.

Greg took the controls to illustrate a couple of points about hover stability with a given power and to demonstrate four autorotations -- from an in-ground-effect hover, from standard and extended glides from 500-foot approaches, and from a hover at 1000 feet (it drops like a rock).

Steve then flew an approach to hover and landing without the benefit of hydraulics (simulated hydraulic failure). He then performed an approach to and hover over pavement (to see the difference a hard surface makes), with hydraulics on this time.

Next, Greg demonstrated a quick stop. Steve then performed two quick stops over the taxiway, including hover taxis back to a starting point.

Steve flew most of the way back to the airport where they landed for fuel. Greg took off after that and promptly had Steve take the controls for a hover taxi to parking (among many expensive helicopters). Steve promptly hover-taxied to where I was sitting, did a little bow with the ship's nose, and then landed. I didn't think Steve was doing this until I noticed Greg had both hands in the air as if he were enjoying a roller coaster ride.

As you can see from the above, Steve had a pretty successful first lesson! By the end of the lesson he had demonstrated picking up the helicopter into hover, normal departures and arrivals, setting the ship down from a hover, limited emergency procedures, quick stops and hover taxi -progress not normally demonstrated by an ab-initio (beginning) student until 7 to 10 hours of instruction. Greg was beaming as he exited the ship on what had proved an unusual first lesson. Steve was numb, it took about two weeks before his shoes touch the ground again.

Now, this story isn't meant to imply that anyone with a few hours' experience flying the JetRanger in Flight Simulator should "borrow" the keys to the nearest helicopter and take it around the airport (as tempting as it may sound). The instructors at FlightSafety can show you a video of what happens (about 20 seconds after takeoff), when a novice helicopter pilot decides he doesn't need an instructor. But I hope it gives you some idea of the care we took in developing the JetRanger flight model, a model that proved accurate enough to help a fledgling helicopter pilot start earning his (rotating) wings.

In a later article I will detail the development of the helicopter model and the design decisions I made during the development process. I'll also start to discuss the art of flying the Bell206. For now I will point out (as a challenge) that we had one beta tester hovering inside the aircraft carrier--a test FSI/PHI would not let us do!

Biographical Notes

Paul Donlan is the lead developer of the helicopter simulation in Flight Simulator 98. He is an aeronautical engineer, an active private pilot, with a rotorcraft rating in the JetRanger, and has built his own kitplane. Before working on Flight Simulator, he was active in the development of aircraft and helicopter simulations for major simulator manufacturers. He then joined the creator of Flight Simulator, Bruce Artwick at the Bruce Artwick Organization and later moved to Microsoft.

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