Milviz MD530F

[chopper_nut]

Ok so I did some more flight testing today. Uninstall, all virus scanners off, download and install again. Still won't start without unlimited fuel checked, collar is still the same. I unfairly criticized the Rotor brake animation earlier, it's actually fine.

Oil pressure sitting below the red line at ground idle just after engine start. Ammeter showing a charge without the generator on.




The real thing. Again, just after start. Note oil pressure at the top of the green as the oil is cold and ammeter more or less showing 0. (Poor quality due to dusk video capture)

As the oil heats up after start, the pressure drops back to the bottom of the green range. When you bring the power up to flight idle, the oil pressure goes back up to the top of the green as here...


Here is a shot of the t/r pitch link animation I was talking about. Also, the bell crank isn't connected to the pitch change 'spider'


A note about the size of the pilot. First a shot of the sim.


And me in the real thing showing the cameraman what I think of him having a camera (note how much of the cockpit I take up)


If I'm looking out horizontally, the door frame is right at eye level as here. (the camera is more or less at eye level)


I know that the sim is a 530F and I'm flying a C but I know that these things aren't different between the two. The cabin was enlarged on the E but from my understanding, the width in the back cabin was where most of the enlarging was done. I might be wrong on this though.

More flight testing tomorrow.

[Ian Warren]

Nick ... Opps I wanted a Finger UP ... Super cool way of wrapping that up.

As for pilot size .. I maybe not as big as you - I am just as tall .. till I put my thermal jacket on .. but that so and is a good description related to the pilot sizes

[chopper_nut]

Cheers. I'm sure there will be more to come.

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (chopper_nut @ Jan 8 2015,10:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Cheers. I'm sure there will be more to come.

Hells Bells ... look at your avatar .. pretty much a dang good example of the size

[chopper_nut]

Haha yeh I should have just used that

[Ian Warren]

The pilot models .. obviously just school kids with receding hair and stubble and by the looks an attitude

[Ian Warren]

Don't think you need to do a airframe size check the pilot and pax door will still be the same size designed from a standard 500 .. but the egg was stretched ever so slight , I got caught out with rotor diameter, once have a proven airframe they generally stick with it unless modified.

[chopper_nut]

Yeh you're more or less correct there. I think there was just a bit more head room in the back of the E and F

[chopper_nut]

Just done some extensive flight testing on the machine. I feel like a test pilot at the moment. Don't read unless you are interested in the 500 or in the flight realism of this addon. You will be so bored, you will want to jump off something very high. As some of you know, I am still using a Logitech flight stick with a twist grip for yaw control.

All flying was done at or near 1000ft 20C and 15kts of wind. (RW weather)

5 to 8ft hover @700ft AMSL
37lbs TQ
680C TOT
Feet off the pedals - Slight right yaw regardless of wind.

*Notes - Power seems about right, possibly slightly less torque than I would expect. Will pick up with almost no pedal input. The 500 requires a lot of pedal compared to other machines regardless of what model. Wind has no effect on power or control input which is inaccurate.

30kts
34lbs TQ
665 TOT
Moderate amount of left pedal to hold it straight and a moderate right yaw, feet off the pedals.

*Notes - Speed and pedal settings at these lower speeds are very hard to measure by myself without someone 'in the right seat' monitoring the parameters.

40kts
34lbs TQ
660 TOT
As above but seems to be much twitchier at this speed.

50kts
36lbs TQ
680 TOT
As above... twitchy. Maybe slightly better than above.

*Notes - This should be the lowest power setting as this is close to the minimum drag speed. As you can see it is within a few lbs and a few degrees TOT of the lower speeds. I would have thought it would be more noticeable.

60kts
35lbs TQ
665 TOT
Still twitchy but amount of left pedal required has reduced and with 'feet off' produces a slow right yaw

70kts
35lbs TQ
665 TOT
Pedal setting was slight left pedal with a slow right yaw with 'feet off' again. I think at this speed and power settings, the pedals should be neutral or 'right foot forward'

80kts
36lbs TQ
680 TOT
Pedal setting was as above and with 'feet off', it yawed right but it wasn't an increasing right yaw. It was stable.

*Notes - Not sure about the increase in TOT here given that the Torque hasn't increased much. I will try this again on the next flight.

90kts
42lbs TQ
700 TOT
Pedal setting as above

100kts
48lbs TQ
720 TOT
Pedal setting was neutral and stable.
This was the highest speed I could achieve given the AUW of the aircraft.

Yaw control is my biggest complaint with the flight model. I dialed the sensitivity on the pedals back but it is soo twitchy at the speeds above that it is impossible to fly in balance. My arm is sore from trying to keep it in check. The other thing is that it is impossible to make coordinated turns. It seems that it behaves like an aeroplane where you need to put pedal into the turn. This of course is incorrect. The speed vs power settings is suspect too. In the C model, I was pulling 35lbs of torque at 650 TOT and that roughly gave 80 to 90 kts. Given the C18 vs C30 factor, the model seems fairly accurate, however, at 50 to 60 kts, the power and TOT should be the lowest and as the speed increases, both should increase and likewise back towards the hover, both should increase which as you can see, it doesn't. I appreciate that the 530 has quite a lot of power but I feel that it should be a little more pronounced.

Next test flight will be at altitude.

[chopper_nut]

Just flew the 530 to the top of Ruapehu to see how she likes the altitude. I started at Turangi with the aircraft slightly overloaded and because it has to be flown with unlimited fuel, I knew it would be overloaded when I landed. The flight up confirmed what I found on my previous flight that at above 90kts, it can be flown with your 'feet off the pedals'. It is very difficult to fly in balance and climb at a low speed because of the strange yaw control and quite often I found that if my eyes were diverted away from the balance ball, the aircraft would start to yaw so severely that the IAS would go to nothing and the aircraft would just be sort of turning about the vertical axis. Once up at altitude I found that the machine still had power to burn. I was able to hover at 9000ft at about 40lbs of Torque and I THINK the TOT was around 680C. It was close to MCP anyway. The OAT was 10C which is quite warm for up there but I would have still thought that one would Torque Out before Temping Out at that altitude. I think that given the fact I was overloaded by about 50lbs and the warm day, the machine seems to have too much power. After landing up there, take off was the same parameters.


Just to prove that I did it.

[Ian Warren]

I'm very sure they would take Alt even tho sitting on a mountain would be set as a default .. think they need to trade in there beta tester maybe

[chopper_nut]

Yeh well you would think that given the reason for the 530 coming into existence, they would have tested at altitude. I get the distinct impression that they didn't have access to a real 530

[Narutokun]

QUOTE (chopper_nut @ Jan 9 2015,7:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeh well you would think that given the reason for the 530 coming into existence, they would have tested at altitude. I get the distinct impression that they didn't have access to a real 530

That and FSX chopper dynamics are still being figured out although I would sooner just replace the whole darn thing when I get the time.

[chopper_nut]

Yeh fair enough. Helicopter dynamics are something that takes a bit of figuring out in real life and in the sim.

[SeanTK]

Wow...they really borked the scale of the entire model by the looks of it. Not sure if that is even fixable.
(referencing page 2...for some reason I couldn't see page three before posting...hmm)

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (SeanTK @ Jan 12 2015,5:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wow...they really borked the scale of the entire model by the looks of it. Not sure if that is even fixable.
(referencing page 2...for some reason I couldn't see page three before posting...hmm)

I do like the possibilities that FD is going to get a look at and maybe a 500 driver in the mix

[chopper_nut]

The proportions of the model seem OK apart from the pilot. If you exclude the pilot, the model seems pretty accurate to me.

[chopper_nut]

So there's been an update to this model. None of the model issues have been fixed however the yaw control is 110% better. It's still not super accurate but it's a lot easier to fly now. For some reason, the ball still steps out in a turn but it doesn't seem to affect the controlability too much. It will start without unlimited fuel selected now but it's still not really flash on the start. The erroneous gauge readings haven't been fixed either. The sound hasn't been fixed, it's still got looping issues and the swish swish. In terms of just flying the thing, it is better and hopefully it is start of the process to turn this into a really great addon.

[Ian Warren]

I did notice Milviz was having a 30% special, I must keep eyeballs out for those , I'm sure I missed but with continuous updates maybe next time.

[chopper_nut]

Yeh I saw that. Specifically stated that the F4, the 530 and I think the King Air aren't included.