Wardogs Flight Sim Fly this drill

Trainer / Drills / Hover taxi

Hover taxi: stop over-correcting your helicopter

Big inputs need bigger inputs to undo them, and the helicopter starts to seesaw. Sliding sideways along a line is the quickest way to train that out.

Updated 2026-09-28

The mistake it fixes

Sim Controls lists over-correcting as the first of five common mistakes: a big input needs a bigger opposite one, and the corrections turn into an oscillation. The second mistake on his list is holding the stick slightly off centre, because even a tiny deflection keeps the aircraft pitching or rolling until it noses over.

How to fly it

  1. Lift to about 5 m and face across the line you want to follow.
  2. Make a small roll input toward the direction of travel, wait for it to take effect, then centre.
  3. Once you are sliding, hold the speed with brief taps rather than a held key.
  4. Keep the nose pointed the same way with small pedal (yaw) taps.
  5. To stop, tap the opposite way and centre again before you overshoot.

Cologne TM uses the game's train tracks for this: face west or east, then fly sideways along the tracks while staying directly over them, slowly at first and faster as it gets tidy. In his intermediate lesson he adds a harder version: hold one yaw key so you pirouette continuously while you slide down the centre of the tracks. He calls it the best drill in the game for linking the controls together.

The drill

Lift to about 5 m and slide 200 m east along the line with the nose held north. Stay within 3 m of the line and between 2 and 8 m up, then stop on the end marker. Try it in the Lakota once it feels easy in the Little Bird: the heavier airframe responds more slowly, which punishes impatient inputs.

Fly the hover taxi drill All drills

Related drills

Hover holdHold a steady hover for 15 s, then land on the spot.Clean touchdownSet down on three small pads with no sideways drift.Target orbitCircle a target with the nose on it for a full lap.

Sources