I read with great interest Jordan Moore’s articles on the 412, from the perspective of a developer. As DODOSIM continues to investigate the outer-limits of possibilities with the Bell206, I thought it pertinent to add my opinions and expand on various issues regarding helicopter flight simulation, and in particular, to flight simulation within the confines of Microsoft’s flight simulator engine.

Firstly, lets all understand one thing: MS did an amazing job with FS9. The complexity and difficulty of modeling an entire planet and atmospheric conditions, coupled with the complex aerodynamics of multiple types of flying machines cannot be under-estimated. And all for less than $100.bucks. Now, this is not to say that it is perfect in all areas, far from it. There are some areas within the simulation engine that are not perfect, but I again restate the fact that it costs less than $100 bucks US to buy and fly. So understanding that concept, we accept the sim is less than perfect but entirely adequate for the vast majority of users needs.

So what are the “user’s needs” ?. Well, for 60% of the folks who purchase the product, their “needs” are simple. Plug in a joystick and go flying. That’s it. Most folks don’t know or care about advanced aerodynamic theories, complex simulation of world wide weather patterns, digital terrain modeling fidelity etc, they simply want to be entertained by a game that gives them a certain level of enjoyment.

Which begs another question: What do the other 40% of users want from the game? Well I will argue that these folks don’t even want a “game”, they want a simulation. And here is where these folks digress from the majority of users.

Dodosim B206 Simulator..Beautiful Outside..yes. But accurate systems inside separate it from the average Jet Ranger.

They want a simulation that models aircraft aerodynamics accurately. They want a simulation that allows them to fly an aircraft “on the numbers”, and they want a simulation that is immersive and fulfilling when it comes to their computerised flying experiences. This is where after-market developers enter the scene. Whether freeware or payware, the huge amount of third party aircraft available is indicative that many users are looking for an enhanced experience within the sim when it comes to flying the aircraft of their choice. A quick scan of the major flight-sim sites will show you that there are thousands of aircraft for sale or for download that are aimed at the folks who want to up their flight experiences.

Luckily for us, FS9 was built from the very beginning as an open architecture platform that supports the possibility for developers to add aircraft, configure dynamics, change a plethora of parameters and attempt to fulfill the promise on the box of “As real as it gets”.

That statement is largely true for fixed wing aircraft, but it definitely has a slightly hollow ring when it comes to modeling complex systems and aerodynamics of rotary winged aircraft. For whatever reason, Microsoft have not developed the Bell206 helicopter model since it was first introduced back in FS98. My guess is that 99% of all after-market helicopters are derived from this helicopter, whether the models have a single engine or multiple engines, whether they are a Bell or a Sikorsky, they are derived from the Basic Bell206 from FS98.

And therin lies a problem.

The fundamental ability of being able to build complex engine systems and aerodynamics that is exploited by our fixed wing friends within the sim has never been truly and deeply explored by the helicopter community, as we have always accepted the adage that “The chopper systems and flight dynamics are impossible to model, so don’t bother” and why bother because nobody can fly the darned things anyway. Secondly, the helicopter fraternity is but a fraction of the total users within the overall group of flight-simmers, and so a core group of aficionados and like minded pilots was never focused enough, nor educated enough, to start demanding that their needs were also catered to by third party developers.

Serious users want every thing represented.

This started to change with a website called “Keith’s Helicopter Pad”, long since gone, but a place where helicopter nuts could congregate and share ideas. The reigns of producing a heli-centric website were taken over by Jordan Moore of Hovercontrol, where now fully 13000 + members can get together, share ideas and ask fundamental questions of each other such as “ why DO we have to accept a helo that has not changed in 7 years?”. “Why DO we have to accept that the helo cannot be modified?” and so a groundswell of interest was generated by heli-pilots from across the globe. Once there is interest, there is motivation to start pushing the envelope.

Now don’t forget that, in my estimation, there are thousands of folks pushing the envelope on large jet-engined aircraft, hundreds pushing the envelope on turbo-prop aircraft, and only a few dozen or less pushing the envelope on rotary-winged aircraft. So change in this area comes a lot slower than in other aircraft types but it is happening. Jordan Moore, the Nemeth brothers, The Cormorant Group and Dodosim are all seeing how far we can take the helicopter to push it into realms of realism never before thought possible. We are not just talking about adding buttons and switches here, we are talking about modeling complex systems and flight dynamics that can take months and months of work and experimentation to even make 1 small breakthrough. But we are getting there.

Things that were considered impossible a few months ago are now possible, either through manipulation of the airfile, the writing of customised gauges or both. Realistic engine parameters are a first step. Developers are now starting to expand their knowledge of flight-dynamics manipulation and making the chopper behave much more realistically. Simple things, like fully functional Tq/Yaw reactions requiring correct pedal inputs are now feasible. It’s taken years to figure it out, but this is just the beginning.

However, there are some areas of the sim that, regardless of the developer’s ability, they will NEVER be able to change. The biggest is the elusive “seat of the pants” feel, whereby a pilot can sense what their aircraft is doing long before any gauges show a change. We simply cannot build an electronic seat of the pants feel to emulate real-world senses.

Another difficult area, although not impossible, is the lack of peripheral vision available to the pilot. Yes I know that we can spend a lot of money on a multi-computer setups with multiple monitors, but for the vast majority of simmers, this is an unrealistic alternative.

Since we, as developers, cannot emulate seat of the pants feel, nor expect every user to have a multi-monitor set-up at home, nor can we even begin to guess the type and sensitivity of controls/joysticks pilots are using, we are sometimes forced to ask ourselves:” How far should I take this?” when it comes to adding specific features. If the features are too subtle the end user may never see them. If the features are too unrealistic or aggressive, the end user may get frustrated. If the features added require a degree in aeronautics to understand, we are forced to ask “Is it worth adding”?

It’s a fine-line we walk, but the line is continually being stretched and more people are walking it. I am really excited about the future of helicopter SIMULATION, ( as opposed to gaming) and really excited to see what other developers come up with, and am looking forward to the next version of FS10 to try and push the envelope of helicopter design off the map.

© Copyright 2008 by Hovercontrol.com

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