User Guide

4: FLIGHT TRAINING

4.7

Hover Hold

All helicopters tend to drift and rotate during a hover. If you’re hovering and need

to stay put, activate this auxiliary autopilot function. You must be flying slower

than 15 knots (including any sideways velocity, or “side-slip”). With hover hold

active, the helicopter assumes the current altitude and attitude.

Toggle hover hold mode on/off

In the

Longbow

, HOV appears in the upper right corner of the IHADSS. In the

Black Hawk, this is an indicator light. See Black Hawk Analog Cockpit, p. 2.54.

The Kiowa displays hover hold in the VSD. This option deactivates when you

move the cyclic stick or adjust collective using normal controls.

You can go into a hover while autopilot is active. Pressing the hover key (H)

during autopilot will slow you down and bring you into a stable hover.

Force Trim

If you’re using a joystick, you can reset its center point. This allows you to main-

tain forward flight without keeping the joystick constantly pressed forward.

Simply adjust the rotor pitch until you achieve your desired speed and are flying

level. Then, activate force trim to “freeze” the cyclic in that position. It will remain

in that position until you toggle this option off. (You can still maneuver using your

joystick, but whenever you return it to the center position, you’ll be flying for-

ward.)

Toggle cyclic force trim on/off (default is off)