When flying a helicopter with a HOTAS, opening the inventory, map, or pause menu resets the in-game analog controls to their neutral positions.
This affects more than the collective:
Cyclic pitch and roll return to center.
Collective moves to approximately 50%.
The helicopter continues reacting to these values while the interface is open.
When the interface is closed, the controls immediately jump back to the current physical HOTAS positions.
Here is a detailed video that clearly demonstrates the issue: https://youtu.be/qIeDdxUcLuI
If the Sticky option is selected for the HOTAS collective in the control settings, the collective no longer resets to 50% when opening the inventory, map, or pause menu. Please see Attachment 2 for a demonstration.
Steps to reproduce
Launch Arma Reforger without mods.
Start a Game Master session.
Place any vanilla helicopter and enter it as pilot.
Move the joystick away from center.
Set the collective to a position other than 50%.
Open the inventory with Tab, the map, or the pause menu Esc.
Actual result
The cockpit animations visibly show the cyclic returning to center and the collective moving to 50%.
The helicopter reacts to these neutral values even though the physical joystick and throttle have not moved.
Expected result
Opening an interface should not change flight-control values.
The game should continue reading the HOTAS axes or preserve the last received values while the interface is open.
Additional information
Reproduces in Game Master without mods.
Reproduction rate: 100%.
Platform: PC.
Collective device: VKB STECS.
vJoy disabled.
Game version: 1.7.0.54
Joystick: VKB STECS as collective, VKB Gunfighter as cyclic, VKB T-rudder
This makes opening the map or inventory unsafe during flight and can cause a helicopter on the ground to take off by itself.