The panel below is from the Bell 206 Jet Ranger that you will find on your Flight Simulator. To start out, I will explain some of the basic instruments that you want to watch and understand what they are telling you. This is designed to help you while you start your adventure learning to fly the helicopters in Flight Simulator.  This is really simple. Just click on the gauge you want information on and you will be flown to that topic in a split second. When done reading, just click the back arrow on your browser to come back to the panel.

Click a gauge and Go

 

 

 

  

This is the Airspeed Indicator. Basically like the speedometer in your car. Normal operating speed in this helicopter is between 80 and 100 knots. Note at 130 knots, there is a red line. Don't go above that if you want to make it home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a Vertical Speed Indicator and is like an altimeter, but shows how rapidly altitude is changing. At the top of the gauge is reads "climb". So everything above the 0 is indicating to you that you are climbing. Anything below the 0 mark indicates you are descending. The 5 means 500 feet and 1 means 1,000 feet and so on. So if the gauge reads 1 on the up side that means you are climbing at a rate of 1,000 feet per minute. Vice Versa when descending.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This gauge is a Torque Indicator and indicates the torque output of the engine. The operating range for torque is 0-85%. The pilot may use between 85-100% torque for up to 5 minutes. In our FS helicopter, we begin to come up off the ground at about 70% torque.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a Dual Tachometer. Two concentric indicators display the main rotor RPM (Nr) and the power turbine RPM (N2). Notice the words "ROTOR" and "POWER TURBINE" this would lead you to believe that the rotor is the outer ring and the power turbine is the inner ring. In fact, it is just the opposite. The green arcs depict the operating limits for the rotor and power turbine.  The yellow arc indicates a range the pilot should avoid, i.e. he should accelerate rapidly through this RPM range. In our FS Helicopter, you must be in the operating range before the helicopter will fly. Otherwise you will hear the engines whine down and a indicator light might come on in some helicopters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is your basic Fuel Gauge. It displays gallons of fuel remaining in the fuel cell. This one only goes up to 75, even though the fuel extender allows us to fit almost 100 gallons in the fuel cell. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Generator Load and Fuel Pressure gauge.This gauge is a dual instrument, displaying generator load on the left side, and fuel pump pressure on the right. There are two electric boost pumps as well as the engine driven fuel pump. The engine driven fuel pump can supply sufficient fuel pressure to run the engine up to 6,000 feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gas Generator gauge RPM. This gauge displays turbine RPM (N1). Because the engine is a "free" turbine, the compressor and gas generator turbine can turn at one RPM while the "power" turbine turns at another RPM. The large pointer is calibrated in 2% increments. The little dial in the lower right of the instrument is calibrated in 1% increments. Each complete rotation of the little indicator represents 10%.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Engine Oil gauge. This is a dual instrument, displaying engine oil pressure on the left side, and engine oil temperature on the right. Engine oil pressure limits are based on Gas Producer (N1) RPM. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turbine Outlet Temperature (TOT) gauge. This gauge indicates the turbine outlet temperature. The maximum TOT for continuous operation is 738 degrees centigrade. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transmission Oil Gauge. This is a dual instrument, displaying main rotor transmission oil pressure on the left side, and main rotor transmission oil temperature on the right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an Altimeter. This instrument tells you your true altitude above sea level. Not to read as AGL (Above ground level).

 

 

 

This is a Turn Indicator. The turn and slip indicator tells the pilot whether the aircraft is in a coordinated turn and whether the turn is a standard two-minute turn.

 

 

 

 

This is a Clock. Pretty self explanitory.

 

 

 

 

This is the Attitude Indicator. This instrument is used to indicate your aircraft's attitude while in flight.

 

 

 

 

This is the HSI. This means the Horizonal Situation Indicator. This instrument is used for ILS approaches.

 

 

 

 

This is the VOR 2 instrument. This means the Very high frequency Omnirange Radio beacon. This is another instrument used in navigation.

 

 

 

 

This is the ADF Indicator. This means Automatic Direction Finder which is tuned to a ferquency of a particular NDB (Non-Directional Beacon)