I am listening to episode 1 as write this. From what I can gather the Low Level Hell group host a couple of DCS servers that incorporate realistic tactics within rich PvE scenarios that are heavily weighted around helicopter operations. The hosts are two former Army Kiowa pilots currently flying Apaches. The rest of the band are either GA guys or non-pilots. Episode 1 is worth a listen purely for the very deep dive discussing the APKWS laser guided rocket. (It made me happy the hear an Apache guy ask the question I was always afraid to ask, “What’s the difference between a rocket and a missile?”) The conversation drifts equally between the real world, DCS, Flying Circus and MSFS.
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Nice. I listened to about a 1/2 an hour on the way into work this morning and can tell that this is going to be a good one.
Related is CasmoTV (18) DCS Apache Series; Real AH-64 pilot gives cockpit orientation - YouTube. The 9 minute AH-64 cockpit tour went by quick. The 4 minute DCS Helicopter Buyers guide is also a good place to steer askers of the ubiquitous question, “What should be my first helicopter?”.
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Yeah Casmo is cool. I have flown regularly on his dedicated helo themed DCS servers. He has up to 3 servers running. Typically CSAR oriented and SRS comms encouraged. Usually 1 server is mod free and the other 2 require a mod pack like the French vehicles mod.
Mover just did an interview with him last night.
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Just when I thought I ran out of interesting podcasts! Great find @smokinhole. 
I think Low Level Hell is going to convert a lot of fixed wing guys to rotorheads. 
Cool…putting this on my list to take a listen to on my drives to and from work!
This podcast is excellent, and I really appreciate that Casmo willingly brings real-world info to the gaming community.
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It is. Thanks!
The series kinda dried out for me after episode 03 when they got heavily into describing the helicopter flight training programs across the various branches of the military.
Hoping they spice it up a bit from here on out.
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To me it´s surprisingly interesting!
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I agree that subsequent episodes haven”t been quite as interesting. Being a bit of a nerd I find nuggets everywhere that made listening worth the time. Casmo has a good interview style and seems to bring out the best in his guests. The different approaches to training are striking. Now that I am a civilian heli-noob one thing that struck me is how the Army teaches autos before hovering. Autos are way harder. They have their reasons for doing it that way. And since they train more outstanding helicopter pilots than anyone other entity on Earth, it is hard to argue with the results.
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EP03 blew my mind. The boys were really sweating it out trying to describe all the factors involved in rotary-winged flight in podcast format where they can’t use diagrams or hand gestures LOL!
It’s just bloody unbelieveable all the factors and dynamics involved!!! Fixed wing flight seems trivial in comparison!
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There’s this thing called Traverse Flow. It’s one of the basics that gets taught right away because it is experienced at several points on every flight. A typical takeoff goes like this: you lift into a hover and check lights, fuel and power (manifold pressure in my case). Without doing anything with the collective you nudge forward into a walk which soon turns into a run. You continue to push forward on the cyclic to overcome the climb that passing through ETL really wants you to enter. You need to stay at a few feet AGL to keep out of the coffin on the height-velocity chart. At about 40 KIAS you can then relax and fix the attitude and let her climb while accelerating further to around 60. That’s all pretty easy. But I kept rolling to the right just around the point past ETL where I needed lots of forward stick. I was beating myself up over it because I really wanted to fly “pretty”. What was happening was that the leading edge of the disk was creeping into ETL before the rest of the disk–which is still traversing in some downwash. That makes the disk want to flap up but precessed 90 degrees later, resulting in a right rolling moment. You feel all of these wild little theories come alive in your hands. Anyway, my takeoffs are better and I don’t roll any more. Those guys can talk so intelligently about this stuff because they are incredibly well trained. But helicopters let you experience all these myriads of forces and very quickly the impenetrable theory hits home. It becomes easy. Or at least easy-er.
On the other hand airplanes can be flown well without knowing why. I still hear professional pilots talk about stall speed. There’s no such thing of course. But so long as you don’t yank back on the yoke in a 4G turn the flaws inherent in the term will never be an issue.
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I am jumping around between episodes, and 9 is really worth a listen, IMHO. The guest and Casmo’s interview are outstanding. Really made me wish for a DCS SH-60 to use around the fleet.
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