DCS: AH-64D- Stop hovering so much 

I solved the fuel issue by never surviving longer than 20 minutes

I feel like this is a direct result of Casmo watching me take a tow missile to the face on the 104th server while hovering trying to get George to find a tank. 😆

I feel casmo is one of the few legit ppl who wants to teach us noobs / simulator geeks for the sake of sharing and not making money, he is one of the few and thank you man 🙏.

6:48 - "... there's probably not a whole lot of tanks there." I dunno, with my luck, there would be tanks hiding in the clouds.

hover at 2500 feet - you've just RSVPed every enemy air defence system in the area with an invitation to a 'shoot me down' party

Just watching Apache stuff and seeing what the pilots who flew them in such crazy dangerous situations really shows how wrong Hollywood was about who the real Top Guns really were and are. Atack helicopter pilots see 5 times more action than a fast jet pilot and they do it without a ejection seat …….BallSSsS

Make orbits while CPG gets set up. Turn outbound, then turn in for a run once at the right distance. Rinse & Repeat. Thanks Coach!

Man that PNVS looks sooo smooth compared the the jittering nightmare of VR.

That intro is literally like %90 of my DCS MP experience. Fly 20 minutes to a target area with no Intel, then shot down by some dude with a heater hiding in a tree somewhere

Guys, if those Viggen guys pass under you, you are too high. I'm afraid of heights unless it's in fixed wings. Thanks for the video, I always went down and sideways when in a low hover, but pushing forward and turning the helicopter does make more sense. CMWS is the real MVP.

Thank you, Sir. After endless staring at the symbology and minor but constant counter maneuvers that slow my brain down, George has been flying for two days now.

As someone who likes to use the combined arms units like the SA19 I would say please continue to hover as much as possible. Optically guiding missiles onto Helos is super satisfying lpl

Thing I love about attack helicopters is you can use allot of the same tactics us snipers use. Simple and effective

You can NEVER be too high...oh wait...wrong room.

I made this mistake on my first attack run against some tanks...... turns out ATGMs are just as effective against an apache sitting fat dumb and happy as they are against another tank........

Yeah I've definitely preferred to be moving at least 70+ knots and with trees "tickling my tummy" as I put it to my 8 year old watching me.

In an old video, I saw an apache circling around a village. So that's why he was circling! Amazing! I would have never guessed it would be to save fuel.

The high hover is getting everyone killed, you need to think of the apache as a sniper. Low hover is your friend

Exploding. The mistake everyone makes is exploding.

It cracks me up seeing folks hovering over 300 ft to get a shot. Let alone the higher shots. Sneak up behind trees and get closer lol. Great vid casmo. It had to be done.

I'm no helicopter pilot but as a pilot, I feel that the number one mistake that these players are making, is taking a helicopter into combat that they have yet to learn to fly. This thing's only been out for what? 10 days? I'm ashamed to say that I am on my 11th helicopter and I haven't even taken it into combat yet. This thing has a steeper learning curve than the F-16! I've seen two of your videos and man, you really did your homework on this helicopter! Thank you for doing this. I don't know how you know so much about it but I'll start watching more of your videos if I can ever find the time.

You're the best Casmo! I can't get angry with George for too long because of your voice lines.

Problem is, George seems to ALWAYS fucking miss his AGM shot if I'm not in a hover. It is so frustrating.

Watching gun cams of the Apache taught me this. They always roll in to constraints, slow down and stabalise, then roll out. They never hover or do bob-up attacks.

Amazing how I got roasted in Discord recently for saying guys were too fixated on hovering and that it's not exactly something you'd want to do much (based on real world experience in helicopters (civil LE)).

2:05 That's a STOP sign :) - you gotta stop right there ;) 2:36 Nice! Perfect torque...

You mean stop hovering so high. The aircraft was designed to hide behind cover while using datalink to find, track, and eliminate enemy targets. The AH-64 works in teams of 2 or more. One will paint targets and the other will shoot. After one runs out of ammo they switch.

It called "Missile Missile, forward" and they didn't even move XD

Gotta love new heli players.. (hovering at 1200ft engaging targets at like 4k) wondering why they're getting swatted out of the air by tows

Good real-world insight as always. Thanks for these!

*first 20 seconds* "Let's talk about what everyone is doing wrong in the AH-64" ~Note to self: STOP DYING~

Nice to see videos on attack helicopter tactics.

Literally I keep getting picked off while hovering. Now I never use hover hahah. I just roll in and roll out. In circuits

Yo, the video thumbnail told me to keep hovering to play though

I seem to remember from Janes Longbow (release in 1996), they talk about tactics. And one tactic with the Longbow, because it has the radar on top of the rotor, you want to position the aircraft so it is behind cover (i.e. a hill), but just barely have the radar peekover over the top. That way you can pop-up, fire your new radar-guided Hellfire's, drop back down, leaving the Longbow's radar with a line-of-sight as it guides the missles to the target. Edit: Yup; i had to dig out the manual: > FCR stands for Fire-Control Radar, a second type of target acquisition system found only in the Longbow. When you bob-up from behind a hill, the bulbous Longbow radar dome on top of the helicopter automatically scans either a 90° pie-shaped arc (for ground threats ) or a 360° circle (for air threats) and “memorizes” targets. The beauty of the FCR system is that you can store multiple targets and then fire off missiles in quick succession. After launch, the missiles lock onto individual targets identified by the FCR. (TADS, by contrast, can only store/track one target at a time.) > While tracking ground targets with FCR target acquisition active, the safest way to update radar information is to mask yourself in a valley or behind a hill or other natural terrain, maintain a steady hover and slowly raise the helicopter. Your radar automatically updates whenever the top of your mast has a line of sight (LOS) to the target.

Great technical presentation. Much to consider.

Flying helicopters in general is highly dangerous. Once upon a time I was flying my Mi 8 in an empty server with only 1 opponent, I was trying a run to drop some MANPADs, I was cruising close to ground at about 300 km/h then BAM I get whacked out of the sky. I actually jumped from the explosion. No idea how, no idea when, but he some how acquired a medium sized helicopter in a 255^2km map in his jet, and blew me to hell. So fly is equally as dangerous as hovering. You don't always know where threats are, especially in DCS, we have no intelligence unlike real life.

sneaky stealth hovering

Makes sense. Same thing with a fire fight on the ground. Don't want to be right up on the cover, but back off a few feet.

Three tours down range, I dont think I ever saw a Apache hover outside of the FARP :) Terrain was to flat in our OE.

Very nice! It's great that you share some tactics as well and good advice. I found that flying the Mi 24 really helps anyone who hovers too much, it's just so much better when you keep moving most of the time.

Casmo.. Thanks for being here for us

Another awesome video thank you sir.

The trouble with setting waypoint altitudes too high is that other players will be able to see the massive green diamond in the sky and know where you'll be in a minute. Thanks for the video :)

Yessir. Advise has been received and utilized. I now have more fuel and less Apache death. Keep the advise coming Mr. Apache pilot, Sir!

Came for the hover, stayed for the waypoint edit...

Thanks for sharing this-watching the DCS fixed-wing community dipping their toes into helos, flying A-10 mission profiles in an Apache, has yielded a palm-shaped imprint on my forehead.

High hovers are bad… there are airplanes up there! Thanks for the vids.

whaaat i've never done that (5 minutes after being blown up in a high hover)

Casmo you are the man!! If I can offer one critique, because you're teaching... remove the monocle. It really obscures quite a bit on the screen here. I love your information and that is the only critique I have as someone who also 'tries' to teach lol. Keep doing what you do!!!! Love it!

This is even a common mistake in the KA-50, which is the attack helicopter so many are accustomed to. A lot of people think the Akula is a sniper, it’s a reconnaissance helicopter, it can sit in a hover (and sometimes you want to with it) but its job is to exploit angles, conduct reconnaissance, engage targets of opportunity, etc.

And I thought taking ATGMs to the face is part of an attack helo pilots job ;) seen it happen so often while I fly at 80+ Kts in my gaz. Great vid.

excellent update. fly gooder... :D

Not siting Ed Maceys Apache as a major reference point, but one takeaway at least is that they would allways "wagon wheel" around targets, then run in rockets/guns ... I guess high hovering near a target that can shoot back (even just a rifle) is a universally bad idea, especially in a high altitude place like Afghanistan

Gonna use this for my Blackhawks in Squad lol

Really puts into perspective that the platform I work with runs about 25 pounds of F24 per hour.

Well good thing I don't know how to hover ... ehem I mean I totally did not hover intentionally ...

I'm going to need you to start every vid with "slaving, roger deslaving"

Liking the Apache combat theory thank you

>Hovering very high That's hilarious

A treeline will give you concealment. For a while. But it will not give you cover. At least not good cover, and only for a short time from nearby ground based direct fire weapons. Take it from a former artillery officer and FiST (fire suppourt team) leader. Being in a helicopter only helps you can scoot before they shoot. A clever enemy, can fix hovering helicopter in place in a clearing, by firing over the treeline. While his helicopters, his SHORAD and MANPADS, his mortars, his field artillery, all cover the clearing tree line just waiting for you to unmask. Shoot Scoot Communicate

Some of us grew up doing the deep attack so hovering is part of it. There is time for hovering, just depends on the fight.

things you learn in your first 2 seassions of heli in dcs

could you start showing your control input indicator? the rctl+enter thing? It will help me and other pilots understand what we should be doing with our stick at certain times, otherwise we just reinforce bad habits by doing what we've always been doing.

6:50 "obviously there's probably not a whole lot of tanks there". 'Probably' but if you're ever inclined to do a "Plan B" video....... Thanks for that segment, getting the WP on the ground with the KU...... the KU deserves some study time; in some DCS model there's a way to dedicate your hardware keyboard's NUM pad to typing in values directly but I can't backtrack to that video or which aircraft. Any clues appreciated.

Very informative. Thank you.

Fly choppers a lot, and one thing is that the game has advanced but the ground AI programming has not. Once with range of SAM, if if you are only a little exposed to it, and if you have clutter behind you, it fires, they have superhuman line of sight...and perfect radars. The ground AI needs improving to make this sim more realistic.

its generally better to slide side to side rather than try to turn away from a missile in helo as well. High hover is essentially suicide.

Some people about Mi-24P: "It isn't easy to launch missiles from hover, Hind is horrible" Apache pilot about AH-64D: "Don't hover so much..." Btw, didn't yet check the fuel consumption in Apache so it was interesting point. In Mi-24 the fuel consumption is same regardless the flight situation or weight, about 840 liters per hour. Why you can be at high speed cruising, NOE, hovering, fully loaded or completely empty, it doesn't matter as turbines consume that almost constant rate.

Super helpful.

I just saw another video where I saw this happen IRL to a KA-52.

Speed is LIFE!

after watching this for the entire length im fully convinced that pineapple belongs on pizza.

:) Stationary targets, good for Apache, not as Apache

excellent points, Casmo. Perhaps it would be possible to explain when would be a good time to have a low hover - that way we can see what the use cases would be. [if you are able to do so, of course]

Overheating engines are bigger issue then loose fuel lol.

nice

Not to worry the ground always makes sure it never hover for very long😁😁

I work Apaches at night all the time as an ATC and they’re always asking me to just sit and high hover lol… then they land for fuel, then they do it again

Question, what's the callout instead of splash? Shaq? Where'd that come from haha

Casmo, we need you to do an autorotation video! CTV... you are our only hope! Thanks in advance if you can :)

He does make a good point

Great info thanks

Is it still acceptable to hover at a far range for hell-fires? I'd imagine it wouldn't be optimal to slowly be flying towards a SAM site that hasn't acquired you. 'raceways' to follow is a great idea, but I wonder, for the hell fires, I'd still have to turn in due to turning limitations on the missiles.

I really enjoy doing popups in helos... maybe not practical, but it is sexy. I guess back in my time during desert storm it was a more common practice, but there have been incidents since then. Casmo, I'd love to know what percentage of your training time was spent in popups, but that's probably OPSEC. Real life aside, can you talk about situations in DCS where you'd prefer to hover and popup?

Just looking at real pilots flying that thing, it looks like they don´t hover very much, they are usually moving around.

These pixel pilots who think they're real world pilots crack me up

Maybe you could talk a bit about dealing with manpads; if it isn't sensitive, of course?

Thanks for the tipp im definatly gonna use your advise :D I do hope ed does something about Georges aim with the gun. For me he cant hit Sh*t even at close range

Not a problem, I can’t hover. My Apache is a slow moving fixed wing.

I'm surprised you and ShackTac's Dslyexci aren't best friends. He has talked a lot about helo engagement tactics in his "Art of Flight" series that goes over a lot of what you've mentioned here.

700 at flat pitch? Shoot, the 60 can be as efficient as 740 in flight.

Is there a link for the insurgent engagement video we can see at the end of this one?

This is the first time running across your channel. Are you an actual 64 pilot? The way you know about the bob-up box, and when to transition your symbology. Its great.

What do you put in the aux gallons external entry on the fuel page? 230lbs per bag? Or 230 lbs.. Period. ?

You get the max fuel burn at maximum power, which is at maximum speed and in hover OGE. You get least fuel burn at economic speed. EVERY helicopter pilot learns this in his second class... Oh wait.. we're not talking about real pilots here.

I want to know what the S hook is for on the side window. Since I am never stationary in a "hover" this video does not pertain to me in that way. :D

I only hover before landing and taking off

How viable would it be to perform low altitude strafe-style hellfire engagements on medium-threats (like armored vehicles with heavy machine guns or guided missiles) in case of flat areas with little to no covers? As, store targets from distance, go low, approach target with speed as copilot shoots, offset while missile is following laser, break away once rounds on target... Is this a good idea, or would this be a suicide for a helicopter?

So many problems with power levels, the engines always turn off, and rpm is too high. I have so much to learn, and its so frustrating not to even be able to hover and use weapons. I downloaded a file from Users that would help set up my Hotas, and that is not helping. When I try to fly the training mission for the 30MM, the right hand side says Next, "WAS-UP" the Gun- Tedac left hand grip WAS UP ( NOT HIGHLIGHTED) I press the WAS-G/UP and it does nothing. I tried all of the WAS buttons and the training mission will not continue for Me. Thanks for any help with this training mission Clear Skies Mike