OH-6A - Flying the Loach Mod in DCS 

Somehow I don't think Magnum and Higgins are going to catch ride with Mover.... 😤🚁

At the start of your first takeoff you sound like that hornet test pilot who found out that rolling the F18 will depart the flight

I always loved MD 500 series. Our local police have 3 MD 530F.

Been hoping this would happen! Your comments are as I expected them to be, and I don't say/mean that as a bad thing. Once I applied heavy curves on all axis and turned the Y saturation down just a bit on the cyclic, I was able to really feel how great the flight model for this thing has been done and you can really move the stick through it's IRL counterparts range of motion. Give that a try! If you spend a little bit of time on your axis tuning it really does reward you with a great experience. Case in point, my rookie ass has been doing auto rotations from 1200ft for hours on end each time I log on lately.

I've never flown anything in DCS, but in real life I've flown about 800 hours in OH-58s. I only had one flight in a National Guard OH-6, but I found it much less twitchy than the OH-58A or C. I attributed that to the difference between the OH-58's semi-rigid rotor system compared to the OH-6's fully articulated system. The AH-64 Apache has the same type of rotor system as the OH-6, and it is very stable. Not surprising since it was designed by Hughes Helicopters, just like the OH-6. The difference in the OH-6A and B is 103 shp (317 vs. 420).

If anyone is looking for a fun place to fly this thing there is a search and rescue mission in a server called Ky's Palace of Pleasure. It's Wolf Pack US server 11. I fly it every night and there's rarely anyone in there.

I'm glad that your view of the OH-6 is like mine :-) What's your thoughts on the Gazelle though? I love it

Looks pretty squirrelly, Mover.

"How do I egress?" That's the neat part, you don't!

The original Hughes 500 and OH-6A are essentially the same aircraft. the 500E is the pointy nose one (which evolved into the 530). iirc the "Bravo" model has the more powerful engine along with the "T" tail boom.

Once you add some control curves to it, it is a dream to fly… It flies exactly how any helicopter would without stability enhancements or hydraulic assistance… like a European sports car, what you feel is what you get… it is definitely a finesse/fingertip flyer and I love it… you all remember the Apache was a bitch to fly too until you got the hang of it

Try reducing saturation but leave the curves at zero! Helps me a lot in DCS making yhe stick movements much less sensitive as there isnt an extender on my stick. Helps me fly the Hind perfectly with saturation down to 60

I have the older Puma and the OH-6 in dcs, hates it at slow speeds. You think you have it balanced and behaving for a bit, then the gremlins wake up and you’re suddenly a bull rider! I’ll stick to the gazelle. Very much enjoying the UH-60L

Apparently the difference between the A and the B is just a re-engine. The A had the Allision T-63-A5A (317 SHP), the B had the Allison T-63 (420 SHP).

Looks like my first helicopter flight model: an undamped pendulum hanging from a single lift point. 😅

I have zero Loach time, so I was wondering how it compares. I found it very twitchy but manageable after a little practice. Good stuff.

The guy on the other end sounds like Cleetus McFarland.

Maybe see if any Vietnam Loach Pilots from the unit your OH-6 served with are on DCS and set up some kind of Patreon to have them teach tactics in DCS or even let UH-1 DCS pilots run a pink team mission with them? He spots and they hit? Say 50 bucks per mission and the money goes to restoration?

Helicopters, like motorcycles, never seem to translate to computer play.

Why don't we have an Airwolf mod? 🤔

Well, now that the hype is wearing off, I'm not so sure about the fm any more. Hard to argue with a guy who's actually flown it. I've had fun with it so far, and it definitely didn't have any gazelle 1.0 obvious cyclic weirdness. Gets weird in quickstops for sure. Strange things happen with pitching up at speed. Not sure about this "pendulum" talk...one of the critiques of the gaz was that it had no "pendulum" effect. Kind of inclined to prefer the AH-6j fm, as incomplete as it was. Too bad it doesn't work with the new downwash effects, which I thought were a big step forward.

Looks like that could be the V1 version and not the 1.1. The latest version is super stable with some negative curves on the cyclic.

Helicopters just don't do well in a sim. The lack of feedback just kills it

Gonna need my white pants for this one...

There is a OH-6A 1.1 update. Not sure if you're using that one or not.

How are you liking that pimax

hehehe😁

500C is cool. But d model is boss.

I gave it a try and all I have to say is, it still needs a lot of work. I would not have released it with the flight model like this.

You need to set up your curves. Much better.

This thing flies like a sack of bricks, none of the helicopter mods fly remotely correctly, its aweful... and no curves are gonna save it...