A few enhancement suggestions

[ktedder]

Having been away from the sport of heli flying for some 12 years, Santa bought me a new helicopter for Xmas. FMS has been a great tool to polish my rusted skills - I can now crash inverted as well as up right. However I think that a few enhancement might help this tool.

1 - When flying at high altitude (so I can not see the ground as reference) it is difficult to orientate yourself with the flight line. At the flying field I'd move my feet and neck, plus my peripheral vision would give me an idea. Good discipline at many clubs dictate that you do not fly over the pit area. A small compass in one corner (black needle), that indicated the direction of view towards the flight line, would help to determine where the NO FLY areas are in relation to the view and learn to avoid them.

2 - This compass could also display the wind direction (red needle) , especially if it moves around like it does at the flying field.

3 - I use the same transmitter for FMS as I do to fly the heli. This is trimmed for my real heli and I do not wish to change it. Can a trim facility be added to FMS to sync the virtual model with my real model. The transmitter trims would then be the same.

[jcjones7]

Wow! I honestly thought that I would be reading another RC-snob post, but you were dead on, my friend. I too get a bit lost when the ground is gone. A compass needle would be wonderful.

One thing you didn't bring up (that exists in most Real Plane Flying Sims), is a view panning feature. If I could pan down the screen to check my orientation, that would prevent a lot of crashing, and add a bit of realism.

God Bless.