How to fly Helicopters.

[IRONVALOR]

One of the hardest thing to do under fire is trying to learn how to fly one of those helicopters.
Alot of folks will get frustrated and never step foot behind the stick again and sometimes I could not blame them.

Whether it is an attack Helicopter or a Troop transport helicopter such as a Huey the controls are the same and I would like to go over them right now and maybe help some of you out.

Your Right trigger or RT is the throttle. Toy around with this a bit to see the effect of Full throttle Half Throttle and Low Throttle.

When Taking off it is important to use full throttle to get yourself in the air quickly.

Your Left Trigger or LT decreases your throttle. You can use this also to lower altitude and also land.

Left bumper is to fire primary weapon if equipped

Right bumper is to deploy your flares if equipped

Your left stick is what spins your helicopter 360DEG basically this is what your Foot pedals would do in a real Helo

Your right stick controls Forward and backward and will pitch the helo side to side it is important to have a light touch on this as you will find yourself dropping the nose of the aircraft too far or pitching too far to the left or right causing your aircraft to be uncontrollable.

A Helicopter has an advantage over jets in that it can move forward backwards and side to side.
It can hover and can be flown in tighter spaces and hold more soldiers.

It is very important to know the characteristics of the Helicopter in which you are flying.
Some like the MI28 Havoc or the AH 6IJ Little Bird are Attack Helicopters. Where in they have weapons that can be controlled by the pilot in flight. Usually you can only fire at what is directly ahead of you with these weapons so it is important to know how to position your helicopter for optimal delivery of ordinance. The Little Bird can have four soldiers inside including the pilot and the two people on the side are able to use their weapons to engage 180DEG either side. This is particularly handy if you have some marksmen in your ranks that can pick off an entrenched Squad. And not to mention there are more sets of eyes that can spot.

The other set of helicopters are the utility Helos.

Such as the UH Venom. or "Huey" and KA 60 which are primarily troop transport helos.
These Helicopters are good for getting your squad in remote parts of the map or behind enemy lines. While they do not come with pilot controlled weapons they usually do have side mounted weapons which can be utilized.

Positioning of these helicopters is something the pilot needs to be mindful of. If the enemy is on the starboard side of the craft and your gunner is on the port it makes sense to position your helo in such a way that the sidegunner is able to engage without having to waste time moving to the other side.

These types of Helos are particularly helpful in straffing missions where you would be able to lay down some suppressive fire on heavily fortified positions and loosen up enemy defenses.


The important thing to remember about being a pilot is not only are you flying the craft you are a real estate agent as well.. Its all about Location Location Location. Be in a place where you can spot enemy foot mobiles and technicals. And of course always use your mic to let your team know of enemy placements and movments if possible..

Starting out flying the Helos you are going to crash and you are going to die.. this is just what happens. But do not get discouraged and stay at it and you will earn those wings in no time soldier

IRONVALOR

[IRONVALOR]

Holy Shit. Iron My Helicopter just got hit Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ( Thats WTF To you Civvies) do I do now.

This is the inevitable and is going to happen. Some asshole with an RPG or Launcher is going to take a shot at you and sometimes He is going to make contact.

Well All is not lost my little angel.. You will notice that Your helo is going to pitch in the direction that it was hit.. It is important to use your right stick to compensate for this and take evasive action.. If you have not figured this out that means Run Motherfucker! Fly yourself to a place on the map that is relatively safe from Enemy fire and land that bitch so an Engineer can fix you up Ricky Tick.

Or if you are smartly laid out I.E. You have an engineer on board He is able to disengage from his side gun and use his repair tool in flight to make the repair.. Myself and Eagle7 found this out but In flight repairs can only be made in the Utility Helos or the Little Bird as the Venom and other Two Man Helos you cannot.

If you can get yourself away from Enemy fire and do not have an engineer on board. And your helo is not too badly damaged then it will heal itself like a Praise Jesus miracle. Then you can get yourself back into the fight.

If your aircraft is too badly damaged and you cannot get yourself to a safe area then Bail out. It is much better to bail out and engage the enemy than to die in a John Denver like crash. Make sure though if its a bail situation that You make sure those on your aircraft know that they are going to be without a pilot and to get the fudge out. Try to raise Your altitude if possible so everybody has time to parachute out.

For those that dont know Your B Button is the bailout button and to deploy your chute hit the jump button 4x. Or we are kicking dirt over your body and calling it a proper burial.

Keep em Flyin!

IRONVALOR