PeterWolf’s Planes

1.2.0

🚁 New Aircraft: The Helicopter (peterwolfs_planes:helicopter)

• Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL):
  • Takes off and lands vertically directly on heavy-duty tubular landing skids—no runway required!
  • Hover equilibrium at ~50% throttle, balancing gravity ($0.04\text{ blocks/tick}$) for a rock-solid stationary hover.
  • Throttle up (W) to climb; throttle down (S) to descend or initiate smooth autorotation landing.
• Fuselage & Cockpit Visuals:
  • Distinctive open minecart-style cockpit tub where the player sits with a clear forward view.
  • Heavy-duty tubular landing skids with front upturns, tuned with ground offset (-1.625F) so the bottom of the tubes rests flush with the ground surface.
  • Realistic cockpit instrumentation: functional analog speedometer and altimeter dials mounted on the dashboard.
  • Centrally mounted animated cyclic control stick directly in front of the pilot, dynamically reacting to pilot inputs and aircraft attitude.
  • High rotor mast with 4-blade horizontal main rotor (120 units wide) and vertical tail rotor, both spinning smoothly in real-time.
  • Aft engine deck, tail boom, and vertical tail fin.
• Aviation Warning & Navigation Lighting (ICAO/FAA Compliant):
  • Port (left) red and starboard (right) green position lights.
  • Aft white navigation light on tail.
  • Synchronized high-intensity flashing white strobes and red anti-collision beacon on the vertical tail fin.
  • Emissive glowing layer (RenderTypes.eyes) active while the aircraft is occupied.
• Crafting & World Integration:
  • Survival crafting recipe using iron ingots, redstone, iron bars, and a minecart.
  • Added to creative inventory tab, starter kit (/function peterwolfs_planes:kit), and runway chest loot tables.

🎮 Helicopter Flight Controls & Aerodynamics

• Instant Response (Zero Lag):
  • Removed slow low-pass smoothing (0.12F) on helicopter cyclic controls, replacing it with an immediate 0.60F factor.
  • Eliminated camera fighting (centerPilotLook) on pitch, giving crisp 1:1 mouse steering with response times under 50 ms.
• Exponential (Expo) Control Curve:
  • Implemented an exponential response curve ($|x|^{1.85}$) for both pitch and roll cyclic controls.
  • Controls are gentle and precise near zero (neutral stick) for steady hovering and fine trimming, while smoothly ramping up to full authority at larger deflections.
• Cyclic Stick Pitch (Mouse Forward / Backward):
  • Mouse forward: tilts cyclic stick forward, pitches nose down, and accelerates forward with strong horizontal thrust ($1.85\times$).
  • Mouse backward: pulls cyclic stick back, pitches nose up, and flares to brake forward momentum or fly backward.
  • Cruise Attitude Hold: pitch angle does not snap back to zero during forward flight, enabling continuous, comfortable cruising without endlessly dragging the mouse.
  • Bounded Deflections: clamped to realistic, safe limits (max $+16^\circ$ nose-down, $-12^\circ$ flare), preventing wild overshooting and runaway dives.
• Cyclic Stick Roll & Lateral Flight (Mouse Left / Right):
  • Swapped left and right response: moving mouse left/right banks and propels the aircraft in the newly inverted direction.
  • Bank angle clamped to a safe $\pm 14^\circ$ envelope, maintaining stability without sudden tipping.
• Anti-Torque Tail Rotor (Keys A & D):
  • Dedicated pedal control to rotate the tail boom and steer heading ("obrót ogona" / yaw authority) even while hovering motionless.
  • Keys A and D strictly govern tail rotor rotation without inducing roll.
• Effortless Hover Stabilization:
  • Simply looking towards the world horizon ($\pm 4^\circ$) automatically levels the aircraft back to $0.0^\circ$ pitch and engages a stable, motionless hover.
  • Deadband centering ensures easy, vibration-free hovering.
• Aerodynamic Rotor Thrust & Translation Sink Physics:
  • Tilting forward/backward (pitch) or sideways (roll) redirects rotor thrust away from the vertical axis, causing natural altitude loss (sink / opadanie) rather than climbing.
  • Forward, backward, and lateral horizontal airspeed induces aerodynamic sink ($v_{\text{horiz}} \cdot 0.024$).
  • Flying forward, backward, or strafing sideways naturally descends unless the pilot gently adds throttle (collective), exactly like real helicopters.
  • Aerodynamic parasite drag modeled for forward and lateral airflow.
• Control Reset on Boarding:
  • All control deflections (pitch, roll, rudder, cyclic stick, yaw rate, pitch rate) immediately reset to zero upon boarding the helicopter.

🎛️ Helicopter Simple Altitude Mode (Default) & Command Switcher

• Simple Altitude Control (Default for Helicopters):
  • W (held): climbs smoothly upward (Vertical: CLIMB % (W)).
  • S (held): descends smoothly downward (Vertical: DESCEND % (S)).
  • Neutral (releasing W / S): automatically locks and holds current altitude (Vertical: ALT HOLD (W/S)).
  • Zero Maneuvering Sink: pitching forward, backward, or banking sideways to fly and turn does not cause altitude loss—the helicopter maintains a steady, level flight altitude while cruising and maneuvering!
• Realistic Mode Available:
  • Realistic aerodynamic collective remains available where cyclic tilt and translational airspeed induce natural sink that must be compensated with collective pitch.
• Commands & Switcher:
  • /helialt or /helicontrol or /planes helicopter altitude: toggles between Simple and Realistic altitude modes.
  • /helialt simple or /planes helicopter altitude simple: sets altitude control to Simple mode.
  • /helialt realistic or /planes helicopter altitude realistic: enables realistic aerodynamic collective control.
  • Running while piloting a helicopter switches the current vehicle and updates player default; running outside updates default for future helicopters.

🛑 Ground Detection & Automatic Steering Lock

• Automatic Ground State Recognition:
  • The helicopter accurately detects when resting on the ground, helipad, or landing surface.
  • Pinned solidly to the terrain with zero jitter, zero micro-sliding, and zero uncontrolled drift.
• Steering Disabled on Ground:
  • While on the ground, cyclic pitch (forward/backward) and cyclic roll (sideways steering) are completely disabled.
  • Moving the mouse does not tilt the helicopter or cause accidental forward/backward sliding.
  • Airframe stays perfectly flat ($0.0^\circ$ pitch, $0.0^\circ$ roll) on its heavy-duty landing skids.
  • Tail rotor pedals (A / D keys) remain active, allowing pilots to steer heading in place to align on the helipad before takeoff.
  • HUD control stick indicator displays GROUND in amber and locks the cyclic crosshair centered at (0, 0).
  • HUD status displays Helicopter: ON GROUND (W to fly).
• Vertical Liftoff Activation & Auto-Centering Cursor:
  • Holding W lifts the helicopter strictly vertically into the air (Takeoff: LIFTOFF % (W)).
  • The moment the skids clear the ground, the helicopter switches into airborne flight mode (isHelicopterAirborne = true).
  • Automatic Cursor Zeroing: The instant liftoff occurs, the pilot's cursor/look direction (pitch $0.0^\circ$ at horizon, yaw straight ahead) and cyclic stick are automatically snapped to neutral center (0, 0), preventing sudden lurches and starting flight in a stable hover.
  • Flight controls (forward/backward, sideways bank, cyclic stick) immediately activate once airborne.
• Smooth Touchdown & Landing Lock:
  • Upon descending to the surface and making ground contact with low/descending throttle, the helicopter smoothly touches down:
    • Pitch and roll are auto-leveled to $0.0^\circ$.
    • Flight steering immediately locks to prevent tipping over or sliding across blocks.
    • Airframe enters parked state (PARKED).

🕹️ HUD 2D Control Stick Indicator (Cyclic & Centering Guide)

• Visual Control Stick Widget:
  • Mounted directly on the right side of the cockpit HUD (docked seamlessly next to instruments).
  • Features an analog 2D crosshair arena displaying active cyclic stick position (Pitch on vertical axis, Roll on horizontal axis).
  • Instant visual feedback for flight controls without having to look down into the cockpit tub.
• Effortless Center & Hover Locking:
  • Center target box deadband illuminates in vibrant neon green ([+] / CENTER) when cyclic controls are centered.
  • Allows pilots using mouse steering to effortlessly find the neutral 0 trim position for a rock-solid, stationary hover.
  • Marker dot dynamically shifts color: bright neon green when centered, cyan during normal maneuvering, and red at extreme deflection limits.
• Tail Rotor / Rudder Pedal Bar:
  • Integrated 1D horizontal deflection bar displaying active anti-torque tail rotor / rudder pedal input (A / D keys).
• Multi-Layout HUD Support:
  • Supported across all three HUD modes: full instrumentation panel, compact mini HUD, and top-right docked layout.
  • In full combat HUD mode, provides real-time flight regime badges (HOVER, CRUISE, MANVR) and numerical pitch/roll degree readouts.