Awesome news
Hello,
Recently I was excited when I saw that my favourite helicopter got an update in MSFS; however, my excitement vanished when I realised that it was not fixed in a way I was hoping for. Maybe it is my fault that I haven’t voiced my concerns earlier as I was sure that someone else would definately point this out:
The engine/rotor performance is very unrealistic - when not loaded to MTOW you can happily climb vertically to over 30 thousand feet with just a minor decrease in vertical speed near the top. That’s with a take-off weight of roughly 1150kg (with full fuel and two 100 kg persons on board with some baggage). At higher altitudes you can give the full collective and go over 3000 fpm straight up with all parameters sitting nicely in the green and engine not even braking a sweat at less than 80% ng. Although I haven’t got a privilege to fly an MD500 in real life I am pretty sure that it, or any other helicopter known to man, can’t do something even remotely similar.
And yes I know that even attempting such flight is nowhere near the normal flight envelope; however, IGE/OGE hover parameters at different altitudes are more frequently tested in various flight missions and having this absolutely ridiculous reserve of power at all altitudes really affects the realism and immersion.
It would be really nice to see this addressed in the future updates and thank you for this awesome little bird - it just needs to drink less red bull 
I’ve noticed that the engine is less happy and more realistic (higher turbine temperatures and less power) under such experiments when starting from cold as compared to a start with the engine running. Perhaps it is some sort of throttle parameter bug? 
I always start cold and dark. Either way, I’m not trying to make it rocket science. And it’s not. The helicopters are for fun. It’s a game. Any developer that claims study level, or any of that blaa blaa, is kidding you. It’s impossible to simulate real life 100% to a “T” on a screen. Don’t overthink it and just enjoy the flights.
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Binding the ‘Throttle axis’ is controlling the collective, what is the right command to control the throttle & idle ring engage/release?
As described everywhere since day #1, you’re not supposed to bind throttle. That’s a well known issues that we hope is fixed in the August sim update. And when that is fixed, don’t do what you’re doing. There are helicopter throttles and collective bindings. Use those. Not the airplane ones. The idle stop is custom code. There’s no custom bindables. When availability to create them with XML RPN comes along, then there will be some. Since you asked the basics, I will add that Microsoft/Asobo are not done developing autopilot either. So that will be available when they are done and after I add the code.
Hello, I am realliy enjoying the md500 on xbox. I bought the north sea scenary just to land on platform…
Do you know if there is a way to change the default mass configuration if I want to add/remove items so I do not have to change the set-up every time?
Thanks
There is a way. You can open the flight model cfg file and change the first number for each weight station. That will be the weight that loads first then. Other than that there isn’t a way to save. It’s been requested to Asobo though.
On Xbox? I Have to figure out how to get to this file but I am not sure you can access directly to files. Maybe through extern disk but it seems to me it will be to complicated for this…
Sorry, I read too fast. No. Not on Xbox. There is no way to save weight and balance settings. Sorry.
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Hello,
Unfortunatly, I cannot yet create a new topic like 222b msfs on xbox.
I just tested a bit the 222b. It seems to be a very nice heli! Not easy to land because of the visibility but I need to practise.Thanks a lot for your work.
I have some little cosmetic issues:
- no check list available in msfs (hopefully, there are a lot of tuto video but do you have some available somewhere?)
- Only 2 internal views uable. All instruments views are outside of the cockpit
- there is just 4 external view and only 1 actually shows the aircraft. The external views on the md500 are great!
I am using custom views instead but if you can check it out for a next uprade, it would be great!
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Thank you!! Much appreciated!
You can find the checklists on my website. I just added them today.
I updated the camera views and several other things that you can read about on the change log at my website as well. Marketplace update was submitted, but they take a couple of weeks to process them.
Thanks again!
Thank you for your reply. The marketplace can be sometimes a waiting nightmare but I am glad we have on xbox some nice new aircrafts. I looking forward for those upgrade and your next projects in MSFS!
btw, I noticed this tiny red blinking. As if u had an invisible mirror reflecting the beacon, strange. The fix to turn off and on again is fine for me!
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No problemo! Yeah, i tried to find that blinky thing before vacation and failed, lol. Sorry!
Also another idea for your future upgrade, can you add the dust the effect (the 500e has it) when you are hovering above ground? It helps when landing to know we are almost above ground.
In the check-list, you have “ENG 1 FUEL PRIME switch – OFF” at the end of engine start (it is fine, I saw it also IRL YT video) but when you do it, the engine stops.
After some flights on the 222b, it seems to be unbreakable. It hard bounces on building after faulty landing without a scratch! The 500e on the contrary doesn’t allow you any mistakes on landing.
I understand the landing gear of the 222b allow you a bit more rough landing but sometimes if feels I should have break the heli and start again the training
Hi Capt, wanted to provide an update. I made several minor changes to the throttle settings to give me more “room” in the sweet spot where most hover takes place and this made a huge difference. I also removed some spring tension in the rudder peddles.
I enjoy this helo immensely and have been exclusively flying it since I bought it. I can finally enjoy VFR in the weeds with this!
Video for reference: https://www.bitchute.com/video/mXAc7QFpAOaL/
Two small items when you do the next update would be nice:
- Reconnect the fuel cut off switch.
- Add an audible alarm when the warning lights annunciat. When arming the complete failure mode, by the time you feel the controls go mushy and see the warning light, it is all over!
Hello,
I like so much the MD500 I started a YouTube channel about exploring sceneries and trying to land anywhere.
Here is my first video :
Enjoy and thanks in advance for your feedback!
Hello @CAPT_COWAN,
In my last video, I used the cam under the MD500E. It is great that the objective is moving according the helicopter movement to make like it follow the target. How did you programed it? Is there a way by any chance to reset the cam to look in front of the helicopter? It doesn’t seems the initial position of the cam follow the heading when spawning.
Thanks for you help!
