basically it is when the helicopter descends into its own downwash, as the downwash is quite turbulent, the blades lose the ability to bite clean air and the chopper continues to sink into the "bad air". normal procedure is to pitch the nose down and fly out of the bad air into clean air ( a problem if low to the ground) or alternatively use left or right cyclic to slip into some cleaner air.

i notice my cal 30, appears to sink quite a lot into its own wash, and wonder if anyone out there suffers the same.

try pulling out of a quick stop with power and see how responsive the cal is?

( i.e fly straight and level at a medium speed for 10 meters, then pull back slightly and kick the tail through 180deg to head back the way you came, apply power and enter a hover at as close as possible to the point where you kicked the tail around. This is done without climbing or descending, so when pulling aft cyclic, you have to also lower the collective slightly, then raise collective to prevent the sinking. give yourself some height, only about 3-5 meters is okay) i dont think this will work on the sim, as sims probably dont cover this effect.

i also understand that the maneuver mentioned can actually deliberately cause entering vortex ringstate, but my other models dont suffer anywhere near as bad as the Cal 30, hence my original question.