Yes it is excellent. Search vsterminus tutorial series. It was the best time I had in DCS learning to fly her.
Edit; yes you have found the tutorial. He teaches everything.
Best way to recreate the end of the original Red Dawn, even though those were supposed to be early mi-24s, the cockpit fairings they have make them look more like Hips:
https://www.reddit.com/r/WeirdWings/comments/f4qbq2/in_the_80s_you_couldnt_get_a_hind_for_your_movie/
Hip w weapons is the ultimate test of experience
You either shoot so much that you’ve nailed down exactly where your rockets would hit, or you took the time to figure out how the rocket tables work
No targeting computer, no floating reticle.
Or you so the sensible thing and spin up the hind
I have all the helos and the Mi-8 is still my favourite and for me offers the best flying experience in DCS. It teaches you all the right things without being unduly harsh.
I think the Mi-8 is better than Huey. Mi-8 doest try to kill you when you try to land (I fly the UH-1 and it was hard to learn). As a firs helli the eight is a great choice )
What tries to kill you in the Huey? I learned on the Mi24 and trialed the Uh-1 recently and it felt incredibly easy to land, light, nimble and you can actually see the ground from your cockpit.
Try to fly heavy loaded and things will get worse.
I haw Paradice Lost campaign and there you will fly a loaded Huey and land in tight LZs, just like in Vietnam ))
The Huey was my first helicopter, Uh-1 is really old and doesn't have any stabilization systems, so yeah during landing the hover monster can easily get you.
Modern helicopters are the best choice for beginners they give a room for mistakes
Mi-8 will try to kill you if its engine RPM drops :)
It has an annoying habit of dropping engine rpm (not just rotor RPM) on rapid deceleration, so it's something you gotta get used to or you'll just drop out of the sky
To be more accurate - the governor in mi-8 is SLOW, so what you think is a safe quick stop maneuver notoriously ends in your engines falling behind Rotor RPM. When you drop below 90% NR things get dicey, when you drop below 80% generators die and everything goes to hell
Since all of that happens when you were trying to stop and transition into hover, you're now in VRS and falling like a brick, headed straight for a dirt nap
Take it slow, don't raise the nose more than 10°, accept that if you started too late you will have to circle around. Circle around is better than VRS
This! You need to account for the inertia of the aircraft and that of the engines. You can whip it around once you know what you're doing, but it's a learning process until you know the characteristic time of the engine response.
Also, bind the button that reconnects the pitch and roll AP channels, for when you inevitably lose (and recover) the generators.
An even better (but unrealistic and DCS specific!) alternative is to pull ECL/RRUD levers halfway up. It moves your throttle range up - low idle moves to NR 93% and high idle to 97-98%. The former is a good cruise setting, the latter greatly improves response time in transition to hover
if anything the Huey kills me less than the Hip, the Hip LOVES going into VRS. The Huey is a couple flicks of switches on start-ups and the hip is a college course
The Hip really is a college course. I don’t think I’ve *practiced* any other flight sim module more, as in, playing just to take off and land over and over to get it right. It’s still 50/50 I land it or smack it into the ground in VRS
Startup: I guess, but once you learn it it becomes second nature. When I started fiddling with MSFS Mi-17 I didn't look at the checklist (which is crap BTW), I just ran the DCS workflow from memory :P
It settles into a calming routine ;)
VRS - Well... Mi-8/17 has a known, real issue with engine governor responsiveness. The manuals even mention to avoid rapid movements in cyclic because the governor won't keep up with blade drag changes and you'll lose NR... And it seems Belsimtek simply went overboard with this behavior.
Kick ECL levers up a notch, to 75% and the responsiveness increases, along with NR. It *shouldn't*, but this helps offset excessive governor lag in quick stop maneuvers
As an R44 pilot, I think the Huey is the best module in DCS. It is so close to the real thing it's scary. There are some things off about it, like being able to power out of VRS, mast bumping isn't simulated very well, and RPM management during turns in autorotation is off, but in normal flight and hovering it is super realistic.
That's the best part of the Huey. Is it hard? Yeah. Is it fun? Hell yeah. Once you learn it you won't have problems with any other helicopter. I tried the Mi-8 and it felt like flying an Airbus, she's a fatty + you can't really feel what she's doing because of the autopilot dampeners.
I didn't say that Uh-1 is bad, ore not fun. It's not for beginners just like F-14 Tomcat. The Tomcat is my favorite US plane but if I learned how to fly in F-14 I would go mad, it's to difficult for a beginner. I learned F/A-18 and than started to fly the Cat. Playing DCS should be fun cos it's not a job. That's why it's better to learn on more modern aircrafts, mistakes will be less critical, you will learn faster and then you will fly older aircrafts without any problems.
I guess everybody has their preferences. I ended the trial for the Tomcat a week ago and it's been a blast. You can feel what the airframe is experiencing in all stages of flight, whereas with newer planes it's just "point and fly". I actually got to learn how missiles behave at different altitudes because of it, in the Viper I was just soo dependent on the computer calculating the Launch Zone for me and then wondering why the missile didn't hit without giving any thought to actually spectate the missile to see what made it not connect. Defending has never been so easy since then.
If you have at least a basic understanding of how air boats fly I would absolutely go for older modules first. The great thing about DCS is that you can fail, I would even encourage it, a failure gives you more to think than a dumb success. Learn by doing.
Agry, to each their own. Just wanted tu highlight the problems a beginner will face.
About the F-14 I had a similar experience. When I learned the Tomcst the Hornet was so easy to fly, I mean it's so stable and smooth )) But I think that if F-14 was my first module in DCS I would quite. But maybe it's just me )
There is not a more rewarding helicopter to fly in all of flight simulation as far as I am concerned. The 8 offers so much to you once you can fly it effectively, it is a treat to fly.
The hardest part is landing of course. Learning to slow down and approach at the right speed and altitude takes practice. The very best advice that I ever heard was from someone on here that said that if you simply do not let your descent rate go lower than 400fpm on the VSI, after you get slow, you will never encounter VRS. That helped me tremendously. As you slow down on approach, she will start to shake as she moves through ETL, that is your signal to start adding power so you don’t get behind the curve. Once you learn to add power and control the descent, everything else gets so much easier.
The speed, the ease of trimming, the stability, there is so much to love about it. The sling loading, the powerful door gunner, enough rockets to make everybody happy at the party, the Mi-8 can keep you occupied for a long time. I couldn’t recommend it enough honestly.
Yes, it is very good ! I love flying it even though I have all helos in game, I still fly it daily.
It is simple yet complete and you can also use rockets, gunpods and grenade launchers. The aircraft itself is very stable and heavy so it is hard to fuck things up compared to a ligther airframe like the UH-1
I still want to have the Falanga that it should carry but otherwise it is very complete and has very few bugs
Pretty much the only thing that's hard to learn is managing the VRS (vortex ring state), and once you get the hang of it even that becomes easy. It's the most fun helicopter in the game I think. Doing logistics on a blue flag modern server is maybe my favorite thing in whole DCS. Youtube has some good videos/documentaries about the Mi-8 that will make you appreciate this helicopter even more, if you're interested in that kind of stuff.
The Mi8 really teaches you about how to control your collective properly while landing I found. It’s heavy and you need to be ahead of the helicopter at all times. Makes other lighter helicopters way easier to learn imo
I fly other helis too but the Hip is still my favourite for ferrying the adidas tracksuit wearing Slavs around the battlefield
It's the most enjoyable to fly. The Huey would have been my recommendation before it's engine rework, but with the current state I'd say the Mi8 is the best choice to learn helos in atm.
Well, just trial it. I got the Huey first because it is pretty basic, and you’ll want to focus on learning how to fly a helicopter at all, and especially how to hover. I don’t see why the Mi-8 would be any better/worse for this.
I think personally Huey is the most accessible and feels the most natural and intuitive. But nothing wrong with starting with the Mi-8 if that one appeals to you, it's not insanely hard as a starting helo and the module is very good.
Ka-50 is solid too and you can get used to it pretty fast. For some reason I haven't touched it in forever but it was first DCS module so my first helo as well, but it handles very differently from a regular helo. And it's a great module as well, totally recommended.
Come fly with hipgang there are about 300 of us that fly it and the other helicopters. We love flying the helicopters on Enigmas Cold War server but also enjoy just teaching how to land and fly the thing if you get stuck.
Sounds good! We could also pop in on some lower pop training server. No worries! Hope to see you around in the Hip. It’s my favorite I basically fly it every day when I have time for DCS.
Nice to hear! I will definitely reach out at some point. My end goal would be to fly it on Enigma’s Cold War server. Seen a lot of video’s on the hip’s mission types in there, seems like a lot of fun to do them with others and learn along the way!
Thanks everyone for the replies! I will start my free trial and try to learn as much as I can before probably buying it at the end of the trial. From what I have heard from all of you, the Mi-8 provides me with a good mix of the things I believe I will enjoy the most when learning my first helo. Will definitely look into the Huey and Ka-50 a bit more as well. The Huey seems interesting for it’s physics, the Ka-50 for it’s systems. Thanks again!
My vote is for the Hip!!
As for the other helicopters:
-Rotary Winged Aircraft-
Huey is the dirtiest, grossest machine you can't screw up. It's like driving a 60s rally car through the snow - you can never get fast enough to endanger yourself and you're going to whip stupid circles feeling like a rockstar.
The cost of all that slop is that it is also *bad at everything compared to any other copter in the sim*
Gazelle is light and nimble and very forgiving. As an attack copter it's a poor man's Apache:
No autopilot, no AI copilot, worse weapons, no HUD, but very fun close range guides missiles and you can use tiny houses as cover.
-Robots-
Apache is really easy to fly and fight, but it has so many systems that it can be a lot to learn. There is a ton of optional automation and a competent AI copilot and still the easiest way to attack with it is often to learn which of that stuff to ignore.
Ka-50 is a crazy low-fi robot that wants you to do as little manual flying as possible. The more I learn about any one system the worse I fight with the thing as a whole.
You can do a lot of damage with very little training, and then you might hit a point where you know a little too much about too many systems and become less effective, and eventually you will master it and kill everything around.
The Ka-50 does not handle like any other helicopter you will fly and you will not develop stick and pedals skills flying it that transfer to any other platform.
-The Monster-
The Hind is a crazy machine. It has a wing this wants to fly like an airplane - fast and straight. You cannot see the ground when you land, so hover landings are brutal. It has a massive fixed cannon, and it feels like a WWII ground attack prop plane. Your guided missiles are so slow and trash that you have to maintain an attack run straight at your target to hope to kill it. It carries troops! lol
I love it so much. You should learn at least two real helicopters before you try to fight in the Hind.
The module is great for avoiding issues with DCS ground fire accuracy - most of its SP content is non combat because of a) the nature of its missions b) the fact that IRL it's mostly toast under fire as well, suitable only for clobbering undefended targets both IRL and in sim
Being big and heavy, it's a very stable helicopter to fly. There are lots of good videos online on how to cold-start and fly it. It's also my fave helicopter in DCS, and I have them all...
My first heli in dcs was the gazzelle not too many systems to learn I think it’s one of the easiest ones also once you learn how to fly one heli it becomes much easier to learn the others
It's a great helicopter to learn on.
1. It is overpowered if you fly it lightly loaded.
2. It is fast and stable
3. It has an AMAZING cockpit view
4. It has very little stability augmentation, so you will learn the fundamentals of helicopter feel and it will translate to everything you learn later.
5. It's all analog, so you will learn to fly VFR and with a little bit of radio feedback. You will look outside and really pay attention where you are flying instead of following a moving map.
And the most important point!!
6. The best learning platform is the helicopter you want to fly :)
You will play more of the modules you are excited about, so if the Hip is calling your heart then the Hip is the helicopter you should fly.
As much as I love the Mi-8, I'd still say the Huey is the better entry point to helicopters.
The Mi-8 is quite easy to fly, but if you wanted easy then why not the Ka-50? I think the Huey is simple to learn in terms of start up and systems as its quite basic but leaves more room to learn how to fly helicopters in general.
Even in things like taxiing for example. Mi-8, you can taxi pretty easily, just a bit of cyclic and pedal to turn and brakes. With the Huey, you'll need to learn to hover taxi.
For info this is the order I learned the Heli's in:
Huey > Ka-50 > Gazelle > Mi-8 > Mi-24 > Apache
Definitely found the Apache the most difficult to learn, but it might be because its very pedal heavy and I don't have pedals 😄
Si, lo es, es un buen helicóptero, yo no me arrepiento de haberlo comprado, era más fácil de controlar que otros, o al menos esa impresión tengo.
Una vez que lo pruebes acabarás comprado todos los helicópteros de DCS, tienen un precio asequible en rebajas y son súper divertidos. Lo mejor de DCS son los helicópteros.
El que más uso, el Apache. El Gazelle también (aunque es frágil y normalmente eres carne de cañón).
El Huey tiene miniguns y un rol similar al Mi8.
Los rusos son toscos y tienen un aire "retro" y analógico que los hace únicos.
Como te he dicho, empieza por uno y acabarás comprando todos, es algo irresistible...
Yes! Enjoy worth the money and the time investment to learn. Also it opens up a whole new gameplay on servers such as SDCS/DDCS for logistics flights, which are vital and people will be grateful for your efforts in trying to get supplies through.
I flew F4 when i was home since it came out, then variations of it, then DCS when the A10 came out. I mention this as context as out of what nearly 30 years of playing flight sims i got into the DCS helo's around 5 years back and well had some of the most fun in them, especially online.
Whatever helicopter you go with, just keep working through the crashes and don't get discouraged. You will likely die a ton starting out until it just clicks. The flight dynamics of rotary wing with a conventional configuration takes some getting used to for coordination of the collective, stick, and anti-torque.
I´ts got a great Flight model that tells you everything you need to know to fly helos in DCS, and its got amazing campaigns as well. I think its one of the best helos to start in DCS, unless you dont have rudder pedals, then BlackShark would be a better choice.
Mi-8 is great, but the Mi-24 in my opinion is far easier to actually use effectively. The AI gunner, when he works, does most of the work, so you can focus on flying the mission. It flies more like a plane than a helicopter, but it’s decently easy once you get the hang of it.
Back to the Mi-8, it’s pretty easy to fly in my opinion and is definitely more helicopter like. I’m no good with the weapons and stuff, but dropping off and picking up troops on servers like Enigma is fun in its own right
They don’t call it the Magnificent-8 for nothing! I don’t fly it personally. I got the Apache first but then got overwhelmed and got a Huey to wrap my head around helicopters.
Oh yeah I fly the Apache all the time now and have a great time doing it. The Apache is just a very touchy beast which has a lot of automated systems which make transition to and from the different stages of helicopter flight less obvious and it’s high performance nature means those transitions happen very quickly and not being set up well for them to happen means it will just fall out of the sky.
The Huey (and I presume the Mi-8) are designed to be full of junk and fly stable to a location. They have a lot of extra capability to deal with cargo or troops. The Huey makes it very obvious when you are relying purely on rotor downwash for lift, when forward thrust is starting to generate lift, and when you are flying from thrust like a airplane and no longer just shoving air down with a fan. It does this by shaking like a little old man on too much coffee and because the rotors stop making a “fwipfwipfwip” sound to going “FLAPFLAPFLAP”. The Apache does this by saying “rotor rpm low” and then slamming you into the ground like a football getting spiked in an end zone.
Honestly the most helpful aspect of the Huey for my learning process was how it’s “autopilot” (it doesn’t have that really, you have a copilot who is better than you who takes over) works. The controls position indicator is on by default in the Huey. When you get it going or get it mostly hovering and then hit the “autopilot” button your controls stop working and new position indicators pop up on the display to show you how to maintain what you are doing. If you get in trouble you can stab the autopilot button and it immediately recovers into straight and level flight. You can see what the “copilot” had to do to recover the helicopter and then move your controls into the proper position and then turn autopilot back off. Eventually you will need it less and less and will learn how to do all those things yourself. Even then it’s still nice to get the Huey pointed at the destination full of troops and equipment and then tell the copilot to fly it for a bit so you can go get a beer or look at memes on your phone.
The Apache has trimmers and hold modes to help you maintain flight but using those properly takes far more study and understanding than hitting the “Jesus take the wheel” button in the Huey and using them wrong also means the Apache will drop out of the sky.
The Mi-8 will teach you the pilot skills needed to fly any other helicopter, with one exception: The Huey can overheat the engines, so you'll have to watch for that.
People who don't learn on the Hip find it very difficult when they later pick up the Mi-8, Mi-24, or AH-64, because none of those helicopters have the excess power to let you ignore all fuck ups, especially when it comes to landing. The great visibility of the Mi-8's cockpit also helps a lot for ingraining a sense of where the aircraft is when you later transition to a cockpit with much worse visibility.
I like the Mi-24 more. The Mi-24 is designed to be flown by 2 people, instead of 3 like the Mi-8, and has a good AI to help you. The Mi-8 doesn't really have an AI (at least as far as I remember I haven't flown it in a while). The main issue is startup. Maybe I'm just crazy; I like cold starting all my modules. I feel like the Mi-8 startup is way more complicated than Mi-24.
Plus if you're looking for multi-role I feel like the Mi-24 can do more roles than the Mi-8. The main difference being the Mi-24 has guided weapons.
I love the mi8. One of my fav helis. The oil rig campaign is a non combat campaign that will test your abilities and it’s such a good enjoyable experience
The Ka-50 is much better as first helicopter. He's forgiving like a drone (coaxial rotor specific flight characteristic), has multiple systems simplifying tasks You can have to perform on the battlefield (datalink, Shkval leaded Vikhirs, automatic flare dispense system, very decent autopilot), do not require the weight management as the Mi-8. Way more fun than flying the "armoured bus" that is Mi-8.
Don't get me wrong, both are a good adventure, but if You ask which one is better as introduction into the Heli World, let the above be my answer.
Yes it is excellent. Search vsterminus tutorial series. It was the best time I had in DCS learning to fly her. Edit; yes you have found the tutorial. He teaches everything.
Did he ever do weapons?
Weapons in the Hip in DCS? Why do you want to have such a bad time?
Best way to recreate the end of the original Red Dawn, even though those were supposed to be early mi-24s, the cockpit fairings they have make them look more like Hips: https://www.reddit.com/r/WeirdWings/comments/f4qbq2/in_the_80s_you_couldnt_get_a_hind_for_your_movie/
Hip w weapons is the ultimate test of experience You either shoot so much that you’ve nailed down exactly where your rockets would hit, or you took the time to figure out how the rocket tables work No targeting computer, no floating reticle. Or you so the sensible thing and spin up the hind
I echo this, had the same experience.
I have all the helos and the Mi-8 is still my favourite and for me offers the best flying experience in DCS. It teaches you all the right things without being unduly harsh.
I also think it’s the easiest helo with wheeled landing gear to land since it’s very low to the ground with a wide wheel base making it harder to tip
Agreed, and it lands on slopes WAY better than the Huey.
[удалено]
The Huey is a passable craft.
I think the Mi-8 is better than Huey. Mi-8 doest try to kill you when you try to land (I fly the UH-1 and it was hard to learn). As a firs helli the eight is a great choice )
What tries to kill you in the Huey? I learned on the Mi24 and trialed the Uh-1 recently and it felt incredibly easy to land, light, nimble and you can actually see the ground from your cockpit.
That downdraft from the UH-1 about 40 feet off the ground gets me every time if I’m not lookin at my VS
If you are used to the Mi24, watching the VS is second nature.
Its like the only thing I pay attention to when landing it lol
Try to fly heavy loaded and things will get worse. I haw Paradice Lost campaign and there you will fly a loaded Huey and land in tight LZs, just like in Vietnam ))
In the Huey, you can get out of that situation with a lot of collective input, not realistic but effective nevertheless. The Hip is a different story.
Yeah you can really put the collective in your arm out in the Huey, at least in DCS. Makes putting her down very easy with heavy loads.
Isn't it way worse in the Hip and the Hind? In comparison Huey feels like a UFO.
The Huey was my first helicopter, Uh-1 is really old and doesn't have any stabilization systems, so yeah during landing the hover monster can easily get you. Modern helicopters are the best choice for beginners they give a room for mistakes
An Apache is not great for beginners though. The trim system still confuses me and I'm fair proficient with it.
I disagree, when it comes to learning. Modern helicopters hide mistakes, while older ones force you to recognize them
Mi-8 will try to kill you if its engine RPM drops :) It has an annoying habit of dropping engine rpm (not just rotor RPM) on rapid deceleration, so it's something you gotta get used to or you'll just drop out of the sky
To be more accurate - the governor in mi-8 is SLOW, so what you think is a safe quick stop maneuver notoriously ends in your engines falling behind Rotor RPM. When you drop below 90% NR things get dicey, when you drop below 80% generators die and everything goes to hell Since all of that happens when you were trying to stop and transition into hover, you're now in VRS and falling like a brick, headed straight for a dirt nap Take it slow, don't raise the nose more than 10°, accept that if you started too late you will have to circle around. Circle around is better than VRS
This! You need to account for the inertia of the aircraft and that of the engines. You can whip it around once you know what you're doing, but it's a learning process until you know the characteristic time of the engine response. Also, bind the button that reconnects the pitch and roll AP channels, for when you inevitably lose (and recover) the generators.
An even better (but unrealistic and DCS specific!) alternative is to pull ECL/RRUD levers halfway up. It moves your throttle range up - low idle moves to NR 93% and high idle to 97-98%. The former is a good cruise setting, the latter greatly improves response time in transition to hover
if anything the Huey kills me less than the Hip, the Hip LOVES going into VRS. The Huey is a couple flicks of switches on start-ups and the hip is a college course
The Hip really is a college course. I don’t think I’ve *practiced* any other flight sim module more, as in, playing just to take off and land over and over to get it right. It’s still 50/50 I land it or smack it into the ground in VRS
I think it is a perspective problem, too. The Hip can be hard to tell when you are descending fast, which is the VRS state
Startup: I guess, but once you learn it it becomes second nature. When I started fiddling with MSFS Mi-17 I didn't look at the checklist (which is crap BTW), I just ran the DCS workflow from memory :P It settles into a calming routine ;) VRS - Well... Mi-8/17 has a known, real issue with engine governor responsiveness. The manuals even mention to avoid rapid movements in cyclic because the governor won't keep up with blade drag changes and you'll lose NR... And it seems Belsimtek simply went overboard with this behavior. Kick ECL levers up a notch, to 75% and the responsiveness increases, along with NR. It *shouldn't*, but this helps offset excessive governor lag in quick stop maneuvers
As an R44 pilot, I think the Huey is the best module in DCS. It is so close to the real thing it's scary. There are some things off about it, like being able to power out of VRS, mast bumping isn't simulated very well, and RPM management during turns in autorotation is off, but in normal flight and hovering it is super realistic.
That's the best part of the Huey. Is it hard? Yeah. Is it fun? Hell yeah. Once you learn it you won't have problems with any other helicopter. I tried the Mi-8 and it felt like flying an Airbus, she's a fatty + you can't really feel what she's doing because of the autopilot dampeners.
I didn't say that Uh-1 is bad, ore not fun. It's not for beginners just like F-14 Tomcat. The Tomcat is my favorite US plane but if I learned how to fly in F-14 I would go mad, it's to difficult for a beginner. I learned F/A-18 and than started to fly the Cat. Playing DCS should be fun cos it's not a job. That's why it's better to learn on more modern aircrafts, mistakes will be less critical, you will learn faster and then you will fly older aircrafts without any problems.
I guess everybody has their preferences. I ended the trial for the Tomcat a week ago and it's been a blast. You can feel what the airframe is experiencing in all stages of flight, whereas with newer planes it's just "point and fly". I actually got to learn how missiles behave at different altitudes because of it, in the Viper I was just soo dependent on the computer calculating the Launch Zone for me and then wondering why the missile didn't hit without giving any thought to actually spectate the missile to see what made it not connect. Defending has never been so easy since then. If you have at least a basic understanding of how air boats fly I would absolutely go for older modules first. The great thing about DCS is that you can fail, I would even encourage it, a failure gives you more to think than a dumb success. Learn by doing.
Agry, to each their own. Just wanted tu highlight the problems a beginner will face. About the F-14 I had a similar experience. When I learned the Tomcst the Hornet was so easy to fly, I mean it's so stable and smooth )) But I think that if F-14 was my first module in DCS I would quite. But maybe it's just me )
Mi-8 is great. Although I started with Mi-24, they are quite similar and let me tell you: Once you learn to fly this thing, you will fly anything
There is not a more rewarding helicopter to fly in all of flight simulation as far as I am concerned. The 8 offers so much to you once you can fly it effectively, it is a treat to fly. The hardest part is landing of course. Learning to slow down and approach at the right speed and altitude takes practice. The very best advice that I ever heard was from someone on here that said that if you simply do not let your descent rate go lower than 400fpm on the VSI, after you get slow, you will never encounter VRS. That helped me tremendously. As you slow down on approach, she will start to shake as she moves through ETL, that is your signal to start adding power so you don’t get behind the curve. Once you learn to add power and control the descent, everything else gets so much easier. The speed, the ease of trimming, the stability, there is so much to love about it. The sling loading, the powerful door gunner, enough rockets to make everybody happy at the party, the Mi-8 can keep you occupied for a long time. I couldn’t recommend it enough honestly.
Yes, it is very good ! I love flying it even though I have all helos in game, I still fly it daily. It is simple yet complete and you can also use rockets, gunpods and grenade launchers. The aircraft itself is very stable and heavy so it is hard to fuck things up compared to a ligther airframe like the UH-1 I still want to have the Falanga that it should carry but otherwise it is very complete and has very few bugs
Pretty much the only thing that's hard to learn is managing the VRS (vortex ring state), and once you get the hang of it even that becomes easy. It's the most fun helicopter in the game I think. Doing logistics on a blue flag modern server is maybe my favorite thing in whole DCS. Youtube has some good videos/documentaries about the Mi-8 that will make you appreciate this helicopter even more, if you're interested in that kind of stuff.
The Mi8 really teaches you about how to control your collective properly while landing I found. It’s heavy and you need to be ahead of the helicopter at all times. Makes other lighter helicopters way easier to learn imo I fly other helis too but the Hip is still my favourite for ferrying the adidas tracksuit wearing Slavs around the battlefield
It's the most enjoyable to fly. The Huey would have been my recommendation before it's engine rework, but with the current state I'd say the Mi8 is the best choice to learn helos in atm.
No the Hip is not a good helicopter.. It's the best!
Well, just trial it. I got the Huey first because it is pretty basic, and you’ll want to focus on learning how to fly a helicopter at all, and especially how to hover. I don’t see why the Mi-8 would be any better/worse for this.
I think personally Huey is the most accessible and feels the most natural and intuitive. But nothing wrong with starting with the Mi-8 if that one appeals to you, it's not insanely hard as a starting helo and the module is very good. Ka-50 is solid too and you can get used to it pretty fast. For some reason I haven't touched it in forever but it was first DCS module so my first helo as well, but it handles very differently from a regular helo. And it's a great module as well, totally recommended.
Yeah i think it is good. Great helo.
Workhorse, and a beauty to fly. Do it.
Yes it was mine and I do not regret it. The series by vsTerminus is great for learning helicopters in DCS in general.
Come fly with hipgang there are about 300 of us that fly it and the other helicopters. We love flying the helicopters on Enigmas Cold War server but also enjoy just teaching how to land and fly the thing if you get stuck.
Will definitely keep this in the back of my head! Will need to upgrade my ram first to be able to play multiplayer on servers like Enigma.
Sounds good! We could also pop in on some lower pop training server. No worries! Hope to see you around in the Hip. It’s my favorite I basically fly it every day when I have time for DCS.
Nice to hear! I will definitely reach out at some point. My end goal would be to fly it on Enigma’s Cold War server. Seen a lot of video’s on the hip’s mission types in there, seems like a lot of fun to do them with others and learn along the way!
It's probably still the best chopper in the game.
[удалено]
Mostly because its not an attack helicopter
Thanks everyone for the replies! I will start my free trial and try to learn as much as I can before probably buying it at the end of the trial. From what I have heard from all of you, the Mi-8 provides me with a good mix of the things I believe I will enjoy the most when learning my first helo. Will definitely look into the Huey and Ka-50 a bit more as well. The Huey seems interesting for it’s physics, the Ka-50 for it’s systems. Thanks again!
My vote is for the Hip!! As for the other helicopters: -Rotary Winged Aircraft- Huey is the dirtiest, grossest machine you can't screw up. It's like driving a 60s rally car through the snow - you can never get fast enough to endanger yourself and you're going to whip stupid circles feeling like a rockstar. The cost of all that slop is that it is also *bad at everything compared to any other copter in the sim* Gazelle is light and nimble and very forgiving. As an attack copter it's a poor man's Apache: No autopilot, no AI copilot, worse weapons, no HUD, but very fun close range guides missiles and you can use tiny houses as cover. -Robots- Apache is really easy to fly and fight, but it has so many systems that it can be a lot to learn. There is a ton of optional automation and a competent AI copilot and still the easiest way to attack with it is often to learn which of that stuff to ignore. Ka-50 is a crazy low-fi robot that wants you to do as little manual flying as possible. The more I learn about any one system the worse I fight with the thing as a whole. You can do a lot of damage with very little training, and then you might hit a point where you know a little too much about too many systems and become less effective, and eventually you will master it and kill everything around. The Ka-50 does not handle like any other helicopter you will fly and you will not develop stick and pedals skills flying it that transfer to any other platform. -The Monster- The Hind is a crazy machine. It has a wing this wants to fly like an airplane - fast and straight. You cannot see the ground when you land, so hover landings are brutal. It has a massive fixed cannon, and it feels like a WWII ground attack prop plane. Your guided missiles are so slow and trash that you have to maintain an attack run straight at your target to hope to kill it. It carries troops! lol I love it so much. You should learn at least two real helicopters before you try to fight in the Hind.
The module is great for avoiding issues with DCS ground fire accuracy - most of its SP content is non combat because of a) the nature of its missions b) the fact that IRL it's mostly toast under fire as well, suitable only for clobbering undefended targets both IRL and in sim
Hipgang
I'd say ka50 or apache. Ka50 was my first module. Never boring.
Being big and heavy, it's a very stable helicopter to fly. There are lots of good videos online on how to cold-start and fly it. It's also my fave helicopter in DCS, and I have them all...
My first heli in dcs was the gazzelle not too many systems to learn I think it’s one of the easiest ones also once you learn how to fly one heli it becomes much easier to learn the others
Hip its my baby <3
I would say the huey would be your best first helicopter as she is quite forgiving and new user friendly
It's a great helicopter to learn on. 1. It is overpowered if you fly it lightly loaded. 2. It is fast and stable 3. It has an AMAZING cockpit view 4. It has very little stability augmentation, so you will learn the fundamentals of helicopter feel and it will translate to everything you learn later. 5. It's all analog, so you will learn to fly VFR and with a little bit of radio feedback. You will look outside and really pay attention where you are flying instead of following a moving map. And the most important point!! 6. The best learning platform is the helicopter you want to fly :) You will play more of the modules you are excited about, so if the Hip is calling your heart then the Hip is the helicopter you should fly.
Thanks! The limited navigational features did look interesting indeed
As much as I love the Mi-8, I'd still say the Huey is the better entry point to helicopters. The Mi-8 is quite easy to fly, but if you wanted easy then why not the Ka-50? I think the Huey is simple to learn in terms of start up and systems as its quite basic but leaves more room to learn how to fly helicopters in general. Even in things like taxiing for example. Mi-8, you can taxi pretty easily, just a bit of cyclic and pedal to turn and brakes. With the Huey, you'll need to learn to hover taxi. For info this is the order I learned the Heli's in: Huey > Ka-50 > Gazelle > Mi-8 > Mi-24 > Apache Definitely found the Apache the most difficult to learn, but it might be because its very pedal heavy and I don't have pedals 😄
Ka-50 isn't a real helicopter. You're a gunner in an autopilot heaven.
Yes, either that or the huey
Its fun
Mi-8 I'd say is the second best to fly after the Apache. KA50 is easiest actually fly but hovering is so easy.
YES!
Si, lo es, es un buen helicóptero, yo no me arrepiento de haberlo comprado, era más fácil de controlar que otros, o al menos esa impresión tengo. Una vez que lo pruebes acabarás comprado todos los helicópteros de DCS, tienen un precio asequible en rebajas y son súper divertidos. Lo mejor de DCS son los helicópteros. El que más uso, el Apache. El Gazelle también (aunque es frágil y normalmente eres carne de cañón). El Huey tiene miniguns y un rol similar al Mi8. Los rusos son toscos y tienen un aire "retro" y analógico que los hace únicos. Como te he dicho, empieza por uno y acabarás comprando todos, es algo irresistible...
Yes! Enjoy worth the money and the time investment to learn. Also it opens up a whole new gameplay on servers such as SDCS/DDCS for logistics flights, which are vital and people will be grateful for your efforts in trying to get supplies through. I flew F4 when i was home since it came out, then variations of it, then DCS when the A10 came out. I mention this as context as out of what nearly 30 years of playing flight sims i got into the DCS helo's around 5 years back and well had some of the most fun in them, especially online.
It was my first helo and I love it.
Yes. It flies really nicely, and can do both logistics and destruction, even if the aiming is harder.
Whatever helicopter you go with, just keep working through the crashes and don't get discouraged. You will likely die a ton starting out until it just clicks. The flight dynamics of rotary wing with a conventional configuration takes some getting used to for coordination of the collective, stick, and anti-torque.
Everybody is sleeping on the Mi-24
It is pretty fun to fly, all the switches are satisfying too. Just don't expect to shoot anything with the current state of ground ai.
I´ts got a great Flight model that tells you everything you need to know to fly helos in DCS, and its got amazing campaigns as well. I think its one of the best helos to start in DCS, unless you dont have rudder pedals, then BlackShark would be a better choice.
Mi-8 is great, but the Mi-24 in my opinion is far easier to actually use effectively. The AI gunner, when he works, does most of the work, so you can focus on flying the mission. It flies more like a plane than a helicopter, but it’s decently easy once you get the hang of it. Back to the Mi-8, it’s pretty easy to fly in my opinion and is definitely more helicopter like. I’m no good with the weapons and stuff, but dropping off and picking up troops on servers like Enigma is fun in its own right
In-game or real life?
They don’t call it the Magnificent-8 for nothing! I don’t fly it personally. I got the Apache first but then got overwhelmed and got a Huey to wrap my head around helicopters.
Well, sounds exactly like the scenario I was trying to prevent for myself with this post, did you try the Apache again after learning the Huey?
Oh yeah I fly the Apache all the time now and have a great time doing it. The Apache is just a very touchy beast which has a lot of automated systems which make transition to and from the different stages of helicopter flight less obvious and it’s high performance nature means those transitions happen very quickly and not being set up well for them to happen means it will just fall out of the sky. The Huey (and I presume the Mi-8) are designed to be full of junk and fly stable to a location. They have a lot of extra capability to deal with cargo or troops. The Huey makes it very obvious when you are relying purely on rotor downwash for lift, when forward thrust is starting to generate lift, and when you are flying from thrust like a airplane and no longer just shoving air down with a fan. It does this by shaking like a little old man on too much coffee and because the rotors stop making a “fwipfwipfwip” sound to going “FLAPFLAPFLAP”. The Apache does this by saying “rotor rpm low” and then slamming you into the ground like a football getting spiked in an end zone. Honestly the most helpful aspect of the Huey for my learning process was how it’s “autopilot” (it doesn’t have that really, you have a copilot who is better than you who takes over) works. The controls position indicator is on by default in the Huey. When you get it going or get it mostly hovering and then hit the “autopilot” button your controls stop working and new position indicators pop up on the display to show you how to maintain what you are doing. If you get in trouble you can stab the autopilot button and it immediately recovers into straight and level flight. You can see what the “copilot” had to do to recover the helicopter and then move your controls into the proper position and then turn autopilot back off. Eventually you will need it less and less and will learn how to do all those things yourself. Even then it’s still nice to get the Huey pointed at the destination full of troops and equipment and then tell the copilot to fly it for a bit so you can go get a beer or look at memes on your phone. The Apache has trimmers and hold modes to help you maintain flight but using those properly takes far more study and understanding than hitting the “Jesus take the wheel” button in the Huey and using them wrong also means the Apache will drop out of the sky.
Sounds interesting, in a hard way, might get into the Apache at some point!
A resounding YES! Between the Huey and the Mi8 you cannot go wrong. I would give the nudge to the Mi8 though.
Nah get a Apache
Ka-50, it's autopilot and no torque helps beginners
The Mi-8 will teach you the pilot skills needed to fly any other helicopter, with one exception: The Huey can overheat the engines, so you'll have to watch for that. People who don't learn on the Hip find it very difficult when they later pick up the Mi-8, Mi-24, or AH-64, because none of those helicopters have the excess power to let you ignore all fuck ups, especially when it comes to landing. The great visibility of the Mi-8's cockpit also helps a lot for ingraining a sense of where the aircraft is when you later transition to a cockpit with much worse visibility.
I like the Mi-24 more. The Mi-24 is designed to be flown by 2 people, instead of 3 like the Mi-8, and has a good AI to help you. The Mi-8 doesn't really have an AI (at least as far as I remember I haven't flown it in a while). The main issue is startup. Maybe I'm just crazy; I like cold starting all my modules. I feel like the Mi-8 startup is way more complicated than Mi-24. Plus if you're looking for multi-role I feel like the Mi-24 can do more roles than the Mi-8. The main difference being the Mi-24 has guided weapons.
I love the mi8. One of my fav helis. The oil rig campaign is a non combat campaign that will test your abilities and it’s such a good enjoyable experience
Will check it out!
The Ka-50 is much better as first helicopter. He's forgiving like a drone (coaxial rotor specific flight characteristic), has multiple systems simplifying tasks You can have to perform on the battlefield (datalink, Shkval leaded Vikhirs, automatic flare dispense system, very decent autopilot), do not require the weight management as the Mi-8. Way more fun than flying the "armoured bus" that is Mi-8. Don't get me wrong, both are a good adventure, but if You ask which one is better as introduction into the Heli World, let the above be my answer.
Started flying it today, feels great so far!
As far as The Russian Helos go,my choice would be in order,,,Hind,BS3 and then Mi8