System Requirements

EC 135 V5 and EC 135 Pro are add-ons for X-Plane. EC 135 V5 is available for X-Plane 11 and X-Plane 12, EC 135 V5 Pro is available for X-Plane 11 only. 

To use the add-on, you need

• X-Plane 11.55 or X-Plane 12 in it's last release (we do not support beta versions!),
• a computer system that is able to run X-Plane in a performant matter,
• at least a high resolution joystick with throttle controller (used as collective) and rudder controller,
• Supported operating systems: Windows 10 or later, macOS 12 (Monterey) or later, .

We strongly recommend pedals for rudder control.

For a realistic flight experience, we recommend a VR headset.

Notice Controlling the helicopter via keyboard is not possible and not intended. The Pro version is intended for use in a home cockpit; additional hardware devices are required for this. 

Installation in X-Plane

The add-on is basically installed like any other aircraft in X-Plane.

1. Download the package you want.

   Freeware and Plus version are same download. The Plus features are activated by entering a license key.

2. Extract the download into a freely chosen subfolder in the X-Plane aircraft directory.

   The download is delivered as a 7zip package. To unpack, a corresponding tool is required.

   Please pay attention to the folder structure. Behind the Aircraft folder, X-Plane expects exactly one subfolder and then the folder with the helicopter. Occasionally duplicate structures arise when unpacking.

3. Start X-Plane and load the helicopter.

4. If you want to use a Plus or Pro version, enter the license key.

   Call up the menu item About > Licensing. In the window that appears, type in the license key using the keyboard of the PC and confirm. A successfully entered key is saved and does not need to be entered again. In the case of several parallel installations (e.g. EMS version and VIP version), the key must be entered once for each installation. After entering the license key, it is necessary to restart X-Plane so that all unlocked functions are available.

   

Setting up your controls

It is imperative that the helicopter is loaded to successfully complete the following steps!

Assure your controls (joystick, pedals etc.) are calibrated. Assign the axes of your controls using the example of a Saitek X52 in the following figures. 

We strongly recommend setting the response curves for all axes to linear,

To use the manual engine control, the TWIST GRIPS for controlling the throttles must be the axes TROTTLE1 and THROTTLE2. A calibration via the menu item General Operation > Calibrate Twist Grips is then required.

EC 135 V5 plugin will manipulate the general sensitivity and artificial stability settings of your joystick. When going back to another aircraft your own preferences will be restored. Please do NOT change the settings made by the plugin in order to obtain a realistic controls response!

Mapping useful buttons

For a good flight experience it is very useful to have important functions on the buttons of the joystick. Some of them are X-Plane's own commands, others are custom commands generated by the EC 135 V5 plugin. Assignment takes place also in X-Plane's joystick settings page. Absolutely minimum required to control the EC 135 V5 are the following commands: 

• BEEP TRIM functions realized by X-Plane's trim commands
• FORCE TRIM RELEASE FTR button
• CDS/AUDIO RESET Button

Refer to Controls explanation to learn more about the typical cyclic stick buttons in order to improve your flight feeling. 

Don't miss our video tutorial with a step by step explanation for setting up the controls.

Adjusting flight model calculations

As with all helicopters that are modeled with really (!) hard skids, in X-Plane there is usually a resonance on the ground that causes the helicopter to shake or even slide across the ground. This effect can be eliminated by setting the number of flight model calculations in the X-Plane settings to a high or very high value. In X-Plane 12 values up to 8 or 9 are necessary.  

Using a non centering joystick or a joystick with hardware force-trim-release function

If a joystick without centering is used, a configuration setting in the ec135v5.ini file is required. The entry JoystickHasFtr=1 makes this setting . For details about the file, refer to the preferences file format information.

Notice Using the autopilot with a non-centering joystick is subject to limitations.