I’m Kayla. I fly helis at my desk after work, coffee on the right, pedals under my feet, and my cat acting like a crew chief. I’ve spent real hours in these sims, fighting the hover, chasing needles, and blowing landings that made me blush even though no one was watching. So which one feels best?
If you're after the long-form breakdown with every sweaty detail, you can jump into my extended write-up on the best helicopter flight sims I’ve actually flown.
Here’s what my hands and ears say, not just the box copy.
DCS World — When I Want To Sweat
This one makes my palms damp. I learned the hover in the UH-1H Huey at Nellis, early morning, light wind. The skids would drift, and I’d chase with tiny pedal taps. If you’d like a microscope on that very bird, Helisimmer’s detailed UH-1H module breakdown is worth a read (review here).
One night I tried a dust landing in the Mi-8 on the Syria map. Brown-out hit hard. I watched the VSI, kept a gentle sink, and felt the ground come up in the seat of my pants. The sim gives that feeling. The sound, the shake, the way the rotor bites—yeah.
The AH-64D is a beast. I flew front seat, let “George” hold a hover, then took it back to settle behind a ridge. I messed up the power once and felt the drop. I recovered, heart thumping. Sling loads in the Huey were a whole skill too. Keep the load steady, watch the line, don’t yank.
- What I love: Heavy rotor feel. Damage modeling. Real workload. Missions feel like missions.
- What bugs me: Big learning curve. Modules cost real money. Maps aren’t the whole world. Setup can be fussy.
Still, for combat birds and raw helicopter handling under stress, DCS is my go-to. It feels honest and a bit mean, like a good instructor. For another perspective—especially if you’re weighing which module to buy first in VR—VR Lowdown has a concise ranked list you can skim (check it out).
X-Plane 12 — Pure Flight Feel, No Drama
When I need to fix bad habits, I fly X-Plane. It’s plain but sharp. I practiced in the R22 around Seattle in gusts. ETL kicks in and you feel that little pop. Vortex ring? It’ll drop you if you get sloppy on a steep descent, and yes, I’ve done it.
I also fly the CowanSim 500E and 206. The 500E is a little squirrel, quick and true. I took it up a tight valley in Idaho, early snow on pines, careful with power. Hover taxi, pedal turn, set down on a short gravel bar. The sim told me when I was ham-fisted. It told me to breathe.
Autorotation drills here are great. I pulled the throttle to idle at 1,500 feet, flared just right, leveled, and slid a few feet on the skids. Not pretty, but safe. And repeat. And repeat again.
- What I love: Clean physics. Reliable training feel. Easy to tweak weather and weight.
- What bugs me: World looks flat in spots. Default helis are fine, but I add payware to smile.
If you want a better hover and steady hands, X-Plane 12 is my quiet coach.
Microsoft Flight Simulator — The World, The Pads, The H145
MSFS is the one I fly when I want a view and a plan. The Guimbal Cabri G2 feels friendly. The Bell 407 can be twitchy, but fun after curves. The star for me is the HPG H145 (third-party), which I bought and fly a lot.
I ran an EMS hop in rain from Newark to a hospital roof in Manhattan. I came in slow, looked for wires, and saw steam rising off vents. The pad lights glowed. I could smell wet city air in my head. The H145’s autopilot helps, but I still hand-fly the final few feet, tiny pedal nudges, collective smooth. I’ve also done a sunset tour over Rio and a windy approach to an oil rig in the North Sea. Ship heaves, hands steady, heart quiet.
MSFS lets me pick a real place, find real pads, and live there for a while. It’s also great for sharing screenshots, which is silly, but hey—I do it.
If you’re hungry for even more birds and mission packs, Abacus keeps a deep catalog that snaps right into MSFS and a bunch of older sims. And if you dabble in foamies or want a simple stick-time fix, my no-drama review of the classic Phoenix RC flight sim might steer you right.
- What I love: Real-world scenery. Rooftops, rigs, hospitals, power lines. H145 systems and mission packs are deep enough to chew.
- What bugs me: Performance can dip in busy cities. Some default heli behavior needs gentle controller tuning.
If you dream of city pads, mountain rescue, and tours that feel real, this is the one I open first.
Fly enough online group hops and you’ll soon be chatting with fellow rotorheads at weird hours; if that banter ever nudges you to meet interesting people away from the cockpit, swing by JustHookup—in minutes you can connect with like-minded adults for some no-strings fun between flights.
If your sim travels ever take you through western Kentucky—maybe you’re catching the rotor demos at the Owensboro Air Show—and you’d like inclusive, welcoming companionship once the ramp lights dim, check out OneNightAffair’s Owensboro trans escort listings for discreet, verified profiles that make planning a respectful meetup as simple as programming a GPS flight plan.
Aerofly FS 4 — Smooth VR, Fast Starts
On days I’m short on time, Aerofly is perfect. It loads fast. It’s smooth in VR. I practice spot work in the R22 and EC135. I’ll hover down a taxi line, set down on a light post base, pick up, and go again. The sim doesn’t fight me with menus.
Weather and systems are light, yes. But the feel in the headset is clean. I can run ten landings in ten minutes. That helps.
- What I love: Butter VR. Zero fuss. Great for quick reps.
- What bugs me: Limited world and weather. Fewer systems to learn.
It’s a gym for my rotor brain. Mac-only flyer? I laid out the handful that work well in my hands-on take on RC flight sims for Mac.
Gear That Made A Real Difference
I’ve flown all of these with a few setups:
- Pedals: MFG Crosswind pedals. Smooth, firm, and way better than a twist stick.
- Collective/Cyclic: I used a Thrustmaster stick for a long time, then moved to a Virpil collective later. The jump felt huge. A gentle collective helps the hover a lot.
- VR: Quest 3 on MSFS and Aerofly feels great. DCS in VR is good too, but I tune settings.
You can start cheap. Just add small dead zones and soft curves. Pedals are the first big upgrade that matters. For the full scoop on springs, cams, and why your ankle gets tired, check out my honest take on flying helicopters at home with the right flight-sim controls.
Real Moments That Sold Me
- DCS Huey, hot day on the Persian Gulf map: I lifted into a high hover and felt the machine sag. Hot and heavy. I eased the collective and let it breathe. That felt real.
- X-Plane R22 autorotation: Pulled power, counted the seconds, hit the flare, and heard the skids kiss the ground. My shoulders dropped from my ears after.
- MSFS H145 rooftop in Chicago, light snow: I held a 3-foot hover, snow swirling past the nose, and eased down to the “H.” I grinned.
- Aerofly R22 VR pattern work: Five touch-and-go’s in eight minutes. No stutter, no fuss. I got better fast.
Before I ever strapped into full-scale sims, I stress-tested a bunch of pocket-friendly options—my roundup of the best RC flight sims so you don’t yard-sale your plane still saves newcomers from a pile of broken foam.
So… Which One Is “Best”?
It depends on the day. I know, annoying. But here’s how I choose:
- Pure helicopter skill building: X-Plane 12.
- Combat, stress, and deep