Helicopter "No-No's"

[mattnett1]

Here are teh biggest "No-No's in PR"
1.Flying High
If you fly way to high, you have a MUCH larger chance of getting locked on by AA or by Aircraft. This is a No-No because if someone takes you down by a RPG or something you will be SCREWED. Don't expect to fly too high. Fly below the Clouds.

2.Flying Low
This is pretty safe but deadly. Flying low has a much larger chance of getting hit by RPG. Don't do this because you can hit objects and that. But it is good for fast movements.

3.Don't do crazy maneuvers.
I know tons of people crash A LOT in PR from that. Just because you have a lock doesn't mean you suicide into a building. You pop flares. And if you have 0 left you just let it hit you.

4.Don't tell your teammates to jump out before you land. This kills your teams' tix. This is very common because you usually kill them when you land.

5.Don't waste flares because you get small arms fire. This is pointless and stupid. This will kill you and your team by getting a enemy AA to lock on.

6.DO NOT try to run over enemies in heli's. This is the most stupidest thing ever and will waste your tix.


Thanks for reading. Add more if you would like.

[saXoni]

I assume you're talking about transport-helicopters.

1:
Flying high works very well if you need high speed. Getting altitude, then slowly flying towards the ground gives you more speed, and it will be harder for the enemies to hit you.

2:
This depends on how experienced you are. I can fly low without any problems, but I'm sure a new pilot would have more problems. Let's take Muttrah as an example. Using the buildings as cover is excellent. The enemies will have problems shooting you, and the chance of getting seen is lower.

3:
This also depends on how experienced you are. But, if you have 0 flares left, you should not let the missile "just hit you". Lose altitude, and get the fuck out. Doesn't get easier.

4:
Telling your teammates to bail out before you've landed depends on the environment. Bumpy hills are hard to land on, therefore, you'll tell you passengers to bail out when you're hovering.
Not bailing out of the chopper before it has stopped is common sense.

5:
True.

6:
This can be done if you're experienced, but you will most likely break the servers rules by doing it.

[Ratface]

I agree with #1 in most cases, unless the map (such as Silent Eagle) gives all spawn-in kits a parachute, in which case I always fly up to 800 meters in my huey (if the squad requests...), slow down over the dz, and drop paratroopers behind enemy lines.

Very effective again any ground-based SAM sites, however there is the problem of jets or the havok :/

[mattnett1]

No. Just helicopters overall.

[saXoni]

Originally Posted by mattnett1

No. Just helicopters overall.

Then why wouldn't you fly high when you're flying a CAS-chopper? The chance of being hit by a SAM is 0 (if you're over 1300). The only thing you'd have to worry about is the opposing team's CAS-choppers.

And since you're saying we shouldn't fly low, I assume you mean we should fly over the buildings, but not over the clouds. This doesn't make any sense, as the enemies would spot you a lot easier, and the risk of getting locked by anti-air is a lot larger.

Either you fly over the clouds, or below "building-level".

[Tarranauha200]

Actyally barrelrolling while releasing flares is quite effective way to distract the missile.

[declan54321]

Something I see pilots doing a lot is trying to execute a 'realistic' landing. This is pretty hard in PR. They fly towards an LZ, hold S, and pull back. This makes the chopper almost do a backflip (unrealistic), and they almost always crash.

Try to do a 'plane' style landing, coming in low and skidding to a halt.

[splatters]

Originally Posted by declan54321

Something I see pilots doing a lot is trying to execute a 'realistic' landing. This is pretty hard in PR. They fly towards an LZ, hold S, and pull back. This makes the chopper almost do a backflip (unrealistic), and they almost always crash.

Try to do a 'plane' style landing, coming in low and skidding to a halt.

Skidding is fine if you have lots of room and no obstacles, but a proper chopper pilot can perform a realistic landing with ease without doing a backflip or almost crashing.

Also, what comes to altitude it really depends on the map and situation. Flying high usually exposes you to AA more than flying low, however flying low or med altitude exposes you to the real danger like cannons (be it APC, tank or AA) small arms and other infantry weapons.

I'd like to add one definate no-no which applies to all helicopters but especially CAS: Never hover, but if you absolutely must don't do it long enough that the enemy can zero in on you (i.e. over 5-10 seconds with infantry weapons, and about 3-5 seconds with anything else if you are in their elevation range) I've shot down countless and seen even more choppers get shot down with AT weapons, tanks and APCs, most recently Apache hovering at about 250 meters with a LAT in Shijia Valley. Don't do it!

[PFunk]

I find that the BH is an excellent chopper to 'flare'. It doesn't do so well in vertical landings where you hover and ease down, but does do an excellent job of flaring to kill speed, rather quickly.

The Huey however is a mother of a tough sucker to land from high speed. It is the Huey which I find fits the description of 'nearly doing a backflip' when trying to kill speed in a flare. The huey works well with the high speed gliding landing, but requires more effort to kill speed over a longer distance if one wants to do a shorter landing, which fortunately the Huey is unparalled in accomplishing as one can practically crash its skids into the ground and be perfectly fine.

In short:
BH is a great bird for flaring to kill speed.
Huey is godawful at flaring to kill speed.
Every chopper exists somewhere in that spectrum and it pretty much takes the cultivation of a specific skill for each chopper which you may wish to fly.

All that adds up basically adds up to the old adage that I learned when playing IL2: Know your plane's capabilities inside and out.

[A. Reaper]

Letting the AA missile hit you makes no sense, and ruins the point of evasive maneuvers and flares. If you just deployed flares, the effect last longer and you can save more if you lower as the flares drop, creating a nice cover for longer than 2 seconds.

For flying low, just don't. You make it way too easy for an RPG to hit you, or even the possible sniper-through-cockpit in Huey or similar. Flying high is safer, and if you hover for a sec it lets those who have parachutes HALO if they want to.

Rest seem ok.