Objective

Your task is to approach the f rigate, avoiding the other Merlin
helicopters, andtouchdown safely onthe landing deck. You start
airborne, with the frigate nearby. You have a time limit of two
minutes to complete the task.



Missions

Easy: Ship is stationary and there are no crosswinds. 
Medium: Ship is moving but there are no crosswinds. 
Hard: The ship is moving and there are crosswinds.

Controls



i) Cyclic  controls forward speed and roll angle

ii) Collective  controls up and down movement

iii) Tail rotor  turns led or right when hovering

You may use either keyboard or joysticks or a combination of the
two. Press space to select

To calibrate your joystick press J when on the controls screen.
Centre joystick(s) and press fire. Deflect each joystick to all
four corners i.e. Onward lee, fonward right, rearward led,
rearward right. Press the joystick fire button to finish
calibration.

			JOYSTICK                        KEYBOARD

Down/acell.             DOWN                            Q / up arrow
UP/Decel.               UP                              A / down arrow
Turn Left               Left                            Z / left arrow
Turn Right              Right                           X / right arrow

Ctrl + Q = exit to DOS
SPACE BAR = Change view
Alt + any arrow key = fine control
Esc. = Quit

(a) During approach

Banking led or right when hovering will give sideways helicopter
motion. Banking led or right in fonward flight will make the
helicopter turn.

Speed  digital display of your speed in knots. Shows zero when
you are hovering, and negative when you are flying backwards.

Altitude  digital display of your height above the sea, combined
with a clock calibrated at 10 feet intervals. Heading  direction
of flight.

(b) Descending onto the landing pad

Once your helicopter is over the landing pad the pitch bars will
be replaced by a diamond and a + symbol. The letter L will also
appear next to the altitude readout which will now give height
above the deck of the ship. To be centrally positioned over the
deck you will need to adjust your position so that the diamond
overlays the + symbol. This may be achieved by using the cyclic
control to push the diamond towards the +. For example, if the
diamond is low and to the left of the +, push the cyclic control
right and fonward. Use the collective control to descend gently
onto the deck.

External views

Two additional view modes are available during flight, selected
with Space:

a) From directly above  useful forlining up duringthe final
descent.

b) From behind  When using either of the external views, a
status line will appear at the bottom of the screen showing:

ALT  altitude in

feet

Speed  speed in knots

VSI  vertical speed (climb or descent) in feet per second

Instrument panel

Mounted centrally on the panel you will see the following: a)
Countdown timer showing time remaining, in seconds b) Message
strip displays helpful tips

Scoring

Your score will be given as a percentage, with 100% representing
the maximum possible i.e. a perfect landing. Points will be
deducted for the following:

a) Displacement from the centre of the landing pad b) Heading
misalignment

c) If any of the three wheels are not on the landing deck d) A
heavy landing

Acknowledgements

The Merlin Helicopter Challenge was developed for use by the
Royal Navy for recruitment purposes. We gratefully acknowledge
their permission to release Merlin to the general public. If you
would like further details on careers in the Royal Navy, please
contact your local recruitment office.



