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O-6R Hoverfly VTOL Ornithopter

The elusive Four-Blade VTOL ornithopter! Finally got around to polishing and uploading!

How to operate / Guide video transcript:
Controls are more or less as usual: Arrowkey yaw and wingbeat frequency, WASD pitch and roll. The differences here is we don't bother with the usual incidence bias and feather controls, and we trade them for this lever here, which rotates the wing roots to achieve VTOL. The hoverfly MUST take off in VTOL mode; it does not have the ground clearance necessary for horizontal takeoffs.

Now, procedure:
While it isn't strictly necessary, I recommend taking off with autohover selected "ON". Autohover here is just a throttle governer that enables the aircraft to hold altitude in hover; it does not control attitude at all. Once airborne, you can fly freely like a helicopter in VTOL mode, or transition to forward flight. I recommend selecting autohover off before doing this, as it will remain active otherwise and have the effect of cutting your throttle if you cross your target altitude. You can sort of use it like a ceiling that way if you're inclined. The mode transition is relatively easy and you don't have to be all that careful with it. It does take a little bit of time, though.

Beware that, in both modes of flight, the Hoverfly's control gains are very slow. This ornithopter prefers a light touch. Also note that it will autotrim to any attitude you command of it, maintaining that attitude to the best of its ability. If you happen to have flown the PMDG Boeing 737 in FS2020, it feels a little like that. You'll have to be a little more patient with this one than some of the others. The wing rotation mechanism is complicated (by Stormworks' standards) and rather delicate, so it can't afford to be so snappy.

Transitioning back to vertical flight is simple also: just rotate the wing roots backwards. You can do this with autohover on or off, as desired. Note that the wings can be rotated a bit beyond their vertical point. You can use this for slow, backwards flight, or to adjust the angle you hover at in vertical flight. I have noticed that rotating the wing roots while the wings are under a lot of load (say, in a turn) can occasionally cause microcollision. I did my damndest to design that all the way out, but it still happens sometimes. Just be careful with it. Beyond that, landing is pretty much as you would expect.