Whew. Found time to strap in to this Rube-Goldberg designed flying machine.
Disclaimer: I am NOT a [Virtual] ‘Choppa’ guy. And it shows. However, once I figured out which Y-axis did/didn’t need inverting, the first flight wasn’t too bad. Couple of in-place orbits at liftoff aside, wasn’t too hairy. George never said a word. He’s one brave dude.
First landing wasn’t pretty but nothing broke.
Second flight I decided to play with some things. Like that trimming system. Nice. Ate a bag of Cheeto’s enroute to WP-1. No problem-o.
Landing went horribly wrong cus I didn’t realize that “hold what-cha got” trim system worked for the pedals too. I dozed off during that part of RTFM class. Reminded me of the last trip to the amusement park with the granddaughter - that ride you strap into and it spins you around and up and down. She loved it. Me, not so much.
Think this will motivate me to actually buy newer/gooder rudder pedals (the above messy 2nd landing wasn’t their fault).
Have NO idea how I’m going to be of any danger to the virtual bad guys for a long time. Seriously thinking of just sticking to Pilot and bossing George around for my entire Apache career.
ED seems to have approached HeatBlur’s initial release quality. A good thing. But only 1+30 isn’t enough to be certain.
Can’t wait for my haptic feedback thing-a-ma-bob to be supported. So stale without any feeling.
I’ve not even bothered with Hellfires yet, but that trigger guard has been a source of rage consistently.
My plan going into this was to master hovers and navigation before even attempting to learn the weapons side of the beast. I am not a helo guy and have zero stick time in them IRL, and find them very challenging in sims. I’ve been flying the UH-60 mod a lot to stay ‘current’, but I find the Apache to be much more challenging to fly.
My first flight I made it almost to WP1 before the urge to WAS up the gun and get weird overcame my dedication to training…and then I realized there were rocket pods aboard as well
- All But Axis Commands
* George AI Helper Interface - Down
* George AI Helper Interface - Left
* George AI Helper Interface - Right
* George AI Helper Interface - Up
AH-64D Pilot
- Axis Commands
* Collective
* cyclic pitch
* cyclic roll
* HOCAS Cursor Controller - X axis
* HOCAS Cursor Controller - Y axis
* Power Levers (Both)
* Rudder
* Wheel Brake Both
* (NOT VR) Zoom View
- Collective Stick
* Boresight/Polarity Switch - PLRT
* Cursor Enter - Depress
* NVS Select Switch - PNVS
* NVS Select Switch - TADS
* Stabilator Control Switch - Depress
* Stabilator Control Switch - ND
* Stabilator Control Switch - NU
* Tail Wheel Lock/Unlock Button - Depress
- Cyclic Stick
* Chaff Dispense Button - Depress
* Flare Dispense Button - Depress
* Force Trim/Hold Mode Switch AL/Right
* Force Trim/Hold Mode Switch AT/Left
* Force Trim/Hold Mode Switch R/Up
* Symbology Select Switch - Depress
* Symbology Select Switch - Down
* Symbology Select Switch - Up
* Weapon Action Switch - G/Up
* Weapon Action Switch - M/Right
* Weapon Action Switch - R/Left
* Weapons Trigger Guard - OPEN/CLOSE
* Weapons trigger Switch - SECOND DETENT
* Weapons trigger Switch - FIRST DETENT
- George AI Helper
* Consent To Fire
* George AI Helper Interface - Show/Hide
AH-64D CP/G
- Axis Commands
* HOCAS Cursor Controller - X axis
* HOCAS Cursor Controller - Y axis
* RHG MAN TRK Controller - X axis
* RHG MAN TRK Controller - Y axis
* Zoom View
- Left Handgrip
* LHG Linear Motion Compensation (LMC) Button
* LHG STORE/Update Switch - STORE/Center
* LHG TADS FOV Switch - W (Wide)
* LHG TADS FOV Switch - M (Medium)
* LHG TADS FOV Switch - N (Narrow)
* LHG TADS FOV Switch - Z (Zoom)
* LHG TADS Sensor Select Switch - FLIR
* LHG TADS Sensor Select Switch - TV
* LHG Weapons Action (WAS) Switch - G (GUN)
* LHG Weapons Action (WAS) Switch - M (MISSILE)
* LHG Weapons Action (WAS) Switch - R (ROCKET)
* LHG Weapons Trigger Switch - SECOND DETENT
* LHG Weapons Trigger Switch - FIRST DETENT
- Right Handgrip
* RHG Enter Button
* RHG FLIR Polarity Button
* RHG LRFD Trigger - SECOND DETENT
* RHG Sight Select Switch - HMD
* RHG Sight Select Switch - TADS
* RHG Sight Slave Button
- George AI Helper
* George AI Helper Interface - Show/Hide
This is what Wags mapped his HOTAS too. Probably a good starting point.
So after a few hours of lying the Apache a few thoughts:
As single operator I am using George as a glorified autopilot system mainly. I mildly trust his judgement in picking out targets and actually hitting them. I find it much easier (and more fun) to hop up to the CPG seat and do that job while I let George be in charge of hovering or keeping the nose pointed the right direction.
I like how it flies. For most the trim will be much more intuitive than the KA-50’s autopilot’s system, but it is all way less powerful. As EA moves along adding some of the hold functions to the Apaches trim will help close this gap. Hovering is a still a bit squirely for me, I probably just need more practice.
It is totally fight able using a keyboard and twist stick grip, so anyone on the fence about not having a HOTAS, go for it. I don’t think I even have any double keybinds (ie rshift+…) besides the default lcrt+v for George.
I wish there was tail rotor stabilization help function that will hold the heading when you transition to hover. Having no rudder pedals and trying to manage this with twist axis is really tricky.
