Discussion
hidetheelephants said:
Didn't someone once say helicopters don't actually fly, they're just so ugly they repel the earth?
Damned useful though, and unlike fixed wing there is nothing about them that 'flys itself'; it's all down to the 'Pilot Flying'.
They don't fly, they beat the laws of physics into submission
Damned useful though, and unlike fixed wing there is nothing about them that 'flys itself'; it's all down to the 'Pilot Flying'.Brenda used to pay me to hang out of the door:

A question I have always wanted to ask about helicopters - why are they so damned hard to fly ? 
Surely with all the current fly-by-wire technology the 3 main controls (Cyclic, collective, and tail rotor) could be harmonised automatically rather than require the pilot to keep them "balanced".
ETA By "balanced" I mean you push just the cyclic to go forward (rather than inputs from collective etc"

Surely with all the current fly-by-wire technology the 3 main controls (Cyclic, collective, and tail rotor) could be harmonised automatically rather than require the pilot to keep them "balanced".
ETA By "balanced" I mean you push just the cyclic to go forward (rather than inputs from collective etc"
Countdown said:
A question I have always wanted to ask about helicopters - why are they so damned hard to fly ? 
Surely with all the current fly-by-wire technology the 3 main controls (Cyclic, collective, and tail rotor) could be harmonised automatically rather than require the pilot to keep them "balanced".
ETA By "balanced" I mean you push just the cyclic to go forward (rather than inputs from collective etc"
Helicopters are easy to fly, as long as you are extremely talented, dextrous, attractive, rich, funny and.....
Surely with all the current fly-by-wire technology the 3 main controls (Cyclic, collective, and tail rotor) could be harmonised automatically rather than require the pilot to keep them "balanced".
ETA By "balanced" I mean you push just the cyclic to go forward (rather than inputs from collective etc"
Honestly, you can teach monkeys to fly helicopters and I often have!!
Countdown said:
A question I have always wanted to ask about helicopters - why are they so damned hard to fly ? 
Surely with all the current fly-by-wire technology the 3 main controls (Cyclic, collective, and tail rotor) could be harmonised automatically rather than require the pilot to keep them "balanced".
ETA By "balanced" I mean you push just the cyclic to go forward (rather than inputs from collective etc"
AIUI all the controls make the helicopter move differently, so grouping the controls together would mean it would make some things difficult to do. Granted my only experience of helicopters is Grand Theft Auto. 
Surely with all the current fly-by-wire technology the 3 main controls (Cyclic, collective, and tail rotor) could be harmonised automatically rather than require the pilot to keep them "balanced".
ETA By "balanced" I mean you push just the cyclic to go forward (rather than inputs from collective etc"

davepoth said:
AIUI all the controls make the helicopter move differently, so grouping the controls together would mean it would make some things difficult to do. Granted my only experience of helicopters is Grand Theft Auto. 
I racked up countless hours flying helicopters in Desert Combat.
the BF1942 mod
Countdown said:
A question I have always wanted to ask about helicopters - why are they so damned hard to fly ? 
Surely with all the current fly-by-wire technology the 3 main controls (Cyclic, collective, and tail rotor) could be harmonised automatically rather than require the pilot to keep them "balanced".
ETA By "balanced" I mean you push just the cyclic to go forward (rather than inputs from collective etc"
Some 'modern' helicopters have an element of this.
Surely with all the current fly-by-wire technology the 3 main controls (Cyclic, collective, and tail rotor) could be harmonised automatically rather than require the pilot to keep them "balanced".
ETA By "balanced" I mean you push just the cyclic to go forward (rather than inputs from collective etc"
Madness60 said:
Helicopters are easy to fly, as long as you are extremely talented, dextrous, attractive, rich, funny and.....
Honestly, you can teach monkeys to fly helicopters and I often have!!
Madness, perfectly true up until "Honestly". It kinda became dirty dirty lies after that.............Honestly, you can teach monkeys to fly helicopters and I often have!!

On a serious note though, modern autopilots in the more expensive stuff does offer quite a bit of help. The NH-90 unless I'm mistaken has fly by wire flight controls and does behave in the manner previously suggested
Countdown said:
A question I have always wanted to ask about helicopters - why are they so damned hard to fly ? 
only the first 8-10 hours, then it becomes easier, when you have around 100 hours it's easy. some helicopters are easier than others, the Robinson R22 is probably the most difficult of all, they say that "can you fly an R22 you can fly anything"
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