I received my rudder pedals last night, in the hopes to learn to fly the helicopters in X-Plane. I find that flying rotorcraft is far more difficult than flying fixed wing aircraft. Here is why anyone would be insane to get into a helicopter with me.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-3Dp6AGB64[/youtube]
This is actually me flying in the simulator. My goal was to maintain a steady hover while rising above the runway, transition to forward movement, and land on the other side of the runway. The first part didn’t work out so well. Once I transition to forward flight, I can keep my crap together. I still need to work on precise landings, but I’m beginning to be able to put down without crashing.
Hey, at least I did better than this guy, but I’ve done a few tries that had similar results.
Flying a helicopter when it is moving forward is amazingly easier than flying one when it is just hovering. I could never get past the whole both-my-feet-and-both-my-hands-are-doing-different-things part… especially considering that what you do with one greatly affects what you need to be doing with the others. Great fun to scoot around in when you are actually moving, but hovering/landing? Yeah, no, I am good. (And, yes, there was a certified pilot in the seat next to me the one time I have flown an actual whirligig.)