A quick HOTAS, HOSAS or HOCAS start

It is not only for a HOTAS

This applies equally to a HOTAS (hands on throttle and stick), a HOCAS (throttle and collective and stick) and a HOSAS (stick and stick). Whatever the arrangement, the game only needs four axes bound and one collective source.

What each control actually does here

• Pitch — the nose up and down, like nodding your head.
• Yaw — rotates the aircraft left and right on the spot.
• Roll — tilts it left and right. Once tilted, your collective thrust is what pulls you sideways, which is how strafing works.

On the HUD, AGL is above ground level and ASL is above sea level. AGL is the one to fly by; ASL mostly matters near water.

The setup, in order

1. Settings → Controls → flight assists → offIf you have gone to the trouble of a stick, turn them off. If you keep one, make it stability assist — and he suggests you can drop even that.
2. Gamepad section → HOTAS → enableNothing binds until this is switched on.
3. Bind roll, pitch and yaw axesCheck each one moves the right way before going further.
4. Bind the collectiveIt can be a throttle, a real collective lever, or the left stick of a dual-stick setup — whichever your hardware gives you.
5. Lower the sensitivityCounterintuitive, but a stick has far more physical throw than a gamepad. Dropping it to roughly 0.75–0.8 from the default 1.0 lets you use that whole range for small, precise inputs instead of cramming them into the first few millimetres.
6. Set the dead zone to suit the hardwareDefault is 0.05. A loose or cheaper stick with play around centre wants more; a tight one wants less. The dead zone is simply where the stick sends nothing at all.

Getting to a helicopter to practise on

In the firing range: walk down the main road, take a left, go around the gate, then take another left — that is the vehicle vendor. Approach the helicopter from the right side to get in as the pilot.

First flying

• Collective forward for up thrust, then pitch slightly down to start moving forward.
• Pitch up to gain altitude, pitch down to go forward — and note that going forward costs you height.
• Watch the pitch ladder in the centre of the screen, and the level/angle indicator for roll.
• Yaw alone barely works once you are moving quickly. Combine roll with yaw to make a sharp turn — that combination is the thing to practise.
• Plan ahead. The aircraft takes time to respond, so decide what you are doing before you need to be doing it.

Two maneuvers to try once that is comfortable

His framing is worth keeping: this is a basic tutorial for someone learning, not a display by a pilot with thousands of hours. Practise yaw, roll, pitch and general flying first; the advanced maneuvers come after.