Ka-10M “HAT”

The Kamov Ka-10 (NATO reporting name Hat) is a Soviet single-seat observation helicopter that first flew in 1949.

Design and development

The Ka 10 was a development of Nikolay Kamov’s earlier Ka-8, which had been successful enough to allow Kamov to set up his own OKB (design bureau) in 1948. The Ka-10 made of similar layout to the Ka-8, with an open steel-tube structure carrying an engine, a pilot’s seat and two three-bladed coaxial rotors. It was larger, however, with a revised transmission and rotor hub design, and a new engine specially designed for the helicopter, the 41 kilowatts (55 hp) Ivchenko AI-4 flat-four.

Operational history

The Ka-10 made its first flight in September 1949. Three more prototypes followed, which were evaluated by Soviet Naval Aviation. A Ka-10 was displayed at the 1950 Tushino Air Display, and one made the first landing by a Soviet helicopter on the deck of a ship on 7 December 1950.

In 1954, 12 of an improved version, the Ka-10M were built for the Maritime Border Troops. They had a twin tail rather than the single vertical fin of the Ka-10 and modified rotors and control systems.

MSFS Ka-10M features

• native helicopter flight model with CFD simulation
• accurate weight and size
• multiple liveries
• animated mechanics – control levers, rotor mast
• animated default pilot model (IK bones)
• kneel tablet with navigation map (Pelican’s nav MFD)
• custom downwash effects
• custom engine, gear and rotor WWISE sounds
• Kuznetsov carrier group is a part of Ka-10M package

Availability

Ka-10M “HAT” helicopter & Kuznetsov carrier group package price tag is about $6

MSFS marketplace – PC and XBOX v1.x (Ka-10M with custom flight model, v2 update should be released in late December)

SimMarket – PC only v2.x (Ka-10M with native flight model + Kuznetsov carrier group)

Planned improvements

• Landable Kuznecov aircraft carrier (Nov 2022)
• Native flight model (Nov 2022)
• Failures and voice assistance (English, Russian and Chinese languages) (Jan 2022)
• Landable and controllable cargo truck (SimUpdate12)

Credits

• Project management and aircraft configuration – thealx (TouchingCloud)
• Modelling – Mykrode (GOT Friends)
• Texturing – 270inc (GOT Friends)
• MIsc modelling and texturing – Cyrus Smith (TouchingCloud)
• Flight model fixes and carrier scenery creation – SpacerPlay
• Map layout – CaptnJackBilbo

Ka-10M Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: one
• Length: 3.70 m (12 ft 1.75 in) (fuselage length)
• Height: 2.5 m (8 ft 2.5 in)
• Empty weight: 249 kg (548 lb)
• Gross weight: 390 kg (860 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × AI-4G , 40 kW (55 hp)
• Fuel amount: 33 liters (8.7 gal)
• Main rotor diameter: 2 × 6.12 m (20 ft 1 in)
• Main rotor area: 2 × 58.8 m² (633 sq ft)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 120 km/h (74 mph, 65 kn)
• Range: 150 km (93 mi, 81 nm)
• Service ceiling: 2,500 m (8,200 ft)

Paintkit

Paintkit is a collection of the livery creators, contains: textures (*.png), livery package example, UV layouts (*.png), textures sources (*.xcf)

Download paintkit from Google Drive

1. Instruments

1.1. Front panel

1.1.1. Battery voltage indicator – discharged if value less than 24V, charged – 24V or higher

1.1.2. Battery power consumption – discharges if value higher than 0 amps, charges if lower.

1.1.3. Electrical switches:

• main battery switch – required for helicopter electronics to operate before engines start
• alternator switch – recharges battery and supplies electronics with power during flight
• landing light switch – toggles front lamp power
• navigation lights switch – toggles rear lamps power
• gauges light knob – changes instruments backlight brightness

1.1.4. Mixture handle – controls fuel/oxygen proportion, no fuel flow in close position.

1.1.5. Magneto key – enables magnetos, activates starter in far right position (no automatic start available, hold key until engine combustion appears). Keychain can be read as a motion vectors indicator – it is affected by body acceleration and gravity vectors.

1.1.6. Engine parameters:

• oil temperature, units – Celsius
• fuel pressure, units – kg/cm2
• oil pressure, units – kg/cm2

1.1.7. Fuel quantity indicator, units – litres

1.1.8. Altitude indicator, units – meters. Knob adjusts base air pressure, units – mmHg.

1.1.9. Vertical speed indicator, units – m/s

1.1.10. Airspeed indicator, units – km/h

1.1.11. Engine RPM indicator, units – percent of max RPM

1.1.12. Attitude indicator. Inop flag disappears after gauge powered up.

1.1.13. Magnetic poles indicator, units – degrees. Knob adjusts magnetic deviation.

1.1.14. Rotor blades pitch angle indicator, units – degrees

1.1.15. Clock with a timer. Left knob start and reset timer, right knob adjusts time value

1.2. Radio

1.2.1. Standby frequency MHz knob

1.2.2. Standby frequency KHz knob

1.2.3. Volume knob (left position – off)

1.2.4. Active frequency

1.2.5. Standby frequency

1.2.6. Swap active and standby frequencies

1.3. Misc controls

1.3.1. Toggle yoke visibility (cockpit only)

1.3.2. Toggle knee tablet with map position

1.3.3. Toggle pilot visibility (cockpit only)

1.3.4. Toggle rotor blades visibility (cockpit only)

2. Operation manual

2.1. Cold start

2.1.1. Ensure you are on a flat surface and there are no obstacles (buildings, trees, aircraft or vehicles) in a 50m radius from you
2.1.2. Turn on main battery switch (1.1.3)
2.1.3. Turn on gauge backlight if required (1.1.3)
2.1.4. Ensure battery power at least 24 volts (1.1.1)
2.1.5. Ensure you have enough fuel for your flight (1.1.7). Calculation formula – 13 litres per each 100km of flight + 5 litres for take-off and landing procedures
2.1.6. Pull the fuel mixture handle to its maximum position (1.1.4).
2.1.7. When ready, turn the magneto key to the far right position (1.1.5). Combustion should be started shortly, release the key. If not – release the magneto key, ensure you have enough fuel and fuel mixture set in the proper position. Try again. If still fails – start engine automatically with Ctrl + E keys.
2.1.8. After engine start, turn on alternator switch (1.1.3)
2.1.9. Wait until oil temperature reaches 30°C(1.1.6)
2.1.10. Raise collective handle on one half, you should hear how engine RPM increases, oil temperature and pressure will raise.
2.1.11. Turn on clutch with red switch on the collective – rotor will start to spin up.
2.1.12. Wait until rotor RPM reaches 80%

2.2. Take-off

2.2.1. Slowly push mixture handle until RPM needle will go down, then pull handle back on about 5% (1.1.4). This way you will get optimal fuel consumption for current conditions.
2.2.2. Enable navigation lights (1.1.3)
2.2.3. Enable landing light if required (1.1.3)
2.2.4. Raise collective slowly until helicopter lift off
2.2.5. Hover for 1 minute ~1 meter above ground, engine RPM should be stable (around 100%), no lift losses should be experienced.
2.2.6. Raise collective to maximum and pitch down a bit to gain forward velocity. Follow the flight plan route.

2.3. Landing on solid surface

2.3.1. Head to the landing area
2.3.2. Hold such airspeed and vertical velocity so you will approach the landing area at 10 meters altitude above ground level.
2.3.3. Right before you reach the landing area, pitch up and transit into hovering.
2.3.4. Hold sink velocity near 0.5-1 m/s, do not exceed this value to avoid vortex ring appearance.
2.3.5. After landing, lower collective to minimum

2.4. Landing on water

2.4.1. Head to the chosen water reservoir
2.4.2. Hold 50km/h airspeed and 1m/s sink rate until you touch the water surface
2.4.3. Right before touchdown, pitch up to avoid the flip
2.4.4. After touchdown, set the collective lever to half position and float to the chosen dock

2.5. Shutdown

2.5.1. Lower collective to bottom position
2.5.2. Disable clutch
2.5.3. Set mixture handle to zero to cut engine fuel supply (1.1.4)
2.5.4. Set magneto key to far left position (1.1.5)
2.5.5. Turn off lights, alternator, battery switches

2.6. Emergency landing

In case of engine failure or fuel low during flight, the rotor will no longer create lift and you will need to perform autorotation landing.
During autorotation aircraft glide with constant vertical (negative) and forward (positive) speed at such pitch angle so airflow spin up the rotor and create air resistance. Important to understand that final rotor RPM depends on total velocity (higher velocity – higher rotor RPM) and rotor blade pitch (higher pitch angle – lower rotor RPM). You have to avoid rotor RPM to exceed 100% as it will cause gear damage, use the collective to keep RPM around 80%-100%.2.6.1 Once engine failure/stop happen during the flight, lower collective and transit into entry state – pitch down to gain forward velocity and almost equal sink rate.

2.6.2 When your rotor RPM reach at least 80% transit into glide – pitch up so rotor RPM stays constant while sink rate is about 5m/s

2.6.4 ~5 seconds before touchdown transit into flare – pitch up and raise collective about 1/2 or 2/3 to decrease sink rate to 1m/s

2.6.5 Right before touchdown level helicopter to land smoothly

3. Controls

3.1 CONTROL STICK SENSITIVITY

For gamepad users (most XBOX owners) Increase REACTIVITY value of left stick (both axes to max). You can create new preset “KA10” to switch between them easily anytime.
Reason – reactivity makes aileron and elevator react smoothly on your actions, but chopper require quick controls as it does not have any kind of stabilization helpers.

3.2 CONTROL STICK TRIM

Even if original helicopter does not have trimming, you still can use it in MSFS.
For XBOX gamepad: after you transit from hovering into cruise flight, hold RB and RIGHT STICK FORWARD. At some point you will be able to release LEFT STICK into neutral position and continue the flight with forward velocity

3.3 TAIL ROTOR CONTROLS

In the default Helicopter controls preset left and right triggers of Xbox controller used as Tail Rotor trim. However, Ka-10M does not have tail rotor so there is no torque moment created by its rotation. To make turn controls more comfortable, you can assign LT and RT triggers to the Rudder Axis events, and remove them from the Increment/Decrement Tail Rotor. This way it will work similar to the airplane rudder controls – reset to neutral once trigger released.

4. Failures

4.1. Rich fuel mixture

During flight, you may experience engine power loss, in rare case – combustion failure. To prevent it:

1. ensure you have set optimal mixture handle position
2. avoid to lower collective handle too fast – otherwise fuel pressure will be not able to normalize quickly enough and sparks will get wet in result

4.2. Rotor blades frost

During flight through the clouds or mist at low temperature conditions, blades may be affected by icing. This helicopter does not have blades heater or any kind of icing detection, so you need to control icing level visually.
If icing condition is heavy which affect flight dynamics, perform landing immediately.