Helicopter Pilot Rating

[Scooby_Doo16]

So i flew a blackhalk with some of u tonight, just for future refrence did i suck or not so as to leave the flyin to some one else?

[TG]

Hmm..dunno. Can't recall being in a blackhawk with you :p

[Darnit696]

Na you was good enough so that I did'nt feel tha compelling urge to jump out. :D

[Scooby_Doo16]

lol... i did however manage to find a building in my way... wonder how it got there?...

[SaintMg]

building have that nasty habbit of sneaking up on you one second nothing but clear air the next thing you know you are covered in buildings

not to mention trees cranes and other strange and wonderful chopper magnets

[TG]

Yep - every chopper pilot experiences that from time to time ;)

[Ruslan74]

i find it amazing how a single palm tree leaf can deter a 4t blackhawk... lol... i mostly use the MEC/PLA chopper for public transport purposes though, its gun really lack any appeal unlike the BH's dual miniguns...

[doobiwan]

I find it's those dang trees that sneak up behind you and grab the tail rotor the most annoying.

[Ruslan74]

yeah i wonder at times how the Ents from LOTR managed to get into BF2... :p

[stoke]

Whats up with people planting tall tail rotor grabbing palm trees at heli-pads ?
And like 20 metres further there's like no plants at all ... just desert.
Unbelievable !

[Ruslan74]

i wish in the next patch you can C4 palm trees to cover the helo pad so the chopper will respawn in the bushes... :D

[doobiwan]

Lol. nice! Although that does give me ideas . ..

[Ruslan74]

hehehe... let me guess... you are going to plant C4 atop the trees the BH skims when it goes to repair/rearm? :rolleyes:

[doobiwan]

Thanks, that's another . . . ;)

I was thinking steal a Truck and park it on the helipad, with c4 on the roof.

you park it in such a way as to make it look like someone just used it to get to the chopper . .

[Ruslan74]

sneaky.... until a friendly hops in and runs away with the truck! :D

murphy is loose within those BF2 maps like Santa on elf steroids! ;)

[sss]

i do that all the time.. park c4/mined vehicles near flags.. so bad apc's and tanks drive right up next to them

[Ruslan74]

*makes note to self to avoid suspicious looking vehicles in funny places while driving armor*

thanks Doobi. ;)

[NerdBoyZa]

SSS:

That is way cool:cool: - why can't I come up with Sh%t like that? I'm obviously way too naïve. Damn noooob.

Explains how I have been killed sometimes without knowing WTF it came from.

[BambisRevenge]

Yep - every chopper pilot experiences that from time to time ;)

lol like when my copper skills where judge by TG in the one fatefull day when i strafed through refinery in dragon valley and my tail just HAD to smack in to an invisible tree!

[Darnit696]

Now heres a question. Does anyone know if being the gunner in a chopper counts toward your kills and hours in a chopper? Or do you have to be the pilot to log the hours and the kills?

[sss]

being a gunner also counts... wish they would split it up tho.. give the pilot extra credit he does all the hard work!

[Gathu]

Got to agree with SSS. I got my helicopter medal and badge in one go with him as pilot... Even got more points than him that round:D. Did not feel quite fair, as he had to point out quite a few targets for me, and basically made it as easy as can be.

[TG]

Gad, I'm a terrible TV gunner. I miss the most ridiculous shots.
I definitely need more practise.

[rainy]

Does anyone have some practical advice on how to fly these suckers?

I just gave it some shots with my new joystick. What kills me is the rolling - i deactivated it for now. I can actually get from one end of the map to the other and back - but don't ask how. I find the chopper controls in general very sluggish and unresponsive -sucker keeps overreacting, and I have to equal out, then equal out the equaling out, and so on. Maybe I need to tweak them a bit.

[sss]

dunno.. i play pure keyboard!

[TG]

Pure keyboard? Dang, sss.

@ Rainy - I use the logitech "Profiler" software to max out the sensitivity for my joystick. It definitely made the choppers more responsive for me. - I found the worst thing was the 'twist' - it was very sluggish.

[Darnit696]

I play keyboard and mouse for the chopper and stick for the planes. The planes is a new thing for me and I'm giving it a bash since I think it would be a handy clan skill.

I learned to fly choppers in BF Vietnam. (Actually Jane's Longbow Flight Sim was where I first learned about chopper flight) On one of the updates/patches/add-on's/EA Thingies they introduced these little two man heli's. I think they were based on a Hughes Model 369 OH 6 http://www.helis.com/60s/h_h6.php. That thing was an absolute bastard to fly.

Flying choppers on BF Vietnam was far more difficult than on BF2. They have made it easier cause to many peeps could'nt fly the damn things. The Huey then was more prone to falling out the sky due to pilot error than the blackhawk now. They have made the heli's especially the transport choppers positively bus like.

Having blurbed all this here are my humble observations on flying Choppers in BF2.
Obviously since I use a mouse to fly control observations will be made with reference to mouse/keyboard controls.

To practise this in a single player game (:)) It is best to use the Chinese transport chopper since it is totally horizontal to the ground and will go straight up on take off. It is also tends to return to hover more easily then the others. On the down side it is the least responsive most bus like of all the choppers. The American Attack Chopper is the most responsive IMHO. Map wise I would choose Wake Island as a practise map since it has the most level terrain of any map that I can think of right now. (Its mostly water! :) )

Basic Flight

If you hav'nt remapped your keyboard to some obscure keyset then the following will hold true.

'w' will increase thrust/change pitch on main rotor and provide more lift.
's' will decrease thrust/change pitch and provide less lift.
'a' changes the pitch on the tail rotor and swings the heli left.
'd' changes the pitch and swings the heli right.

The mouse controls the angle of the main rotor relative to the helicopter body. If you take off by pressing 'w' and then let go of the key and do not move your mouse you will note that the chopper will stay more or less in the same position hovering. It will slowly sink back down to the ground. You have to counter this by tapping the 'w' key occasionally to maintain altitiude. If you gain sufficient height and then using your mouse like a stick. (In other words to tilt forward you move the mouse away from you. To tilt back you move the mouse toward you.) Move the mouse forward a little and the helicopter will start moving forward. It will also start to lose altitude. Why? Well you visualize that the helicopter is resting on a cushion of air that is created by the rotor blades. As you start moving forward you also fall off the edge of that cushion. The Rotor is continously creating the cushion so you will fall in a gentle arc until you hit the deck. :D That is why you will move the mouse back towards you ever so gently (you sort of control the rate at which you are falling off the cushion) and if necessary tap the 'w' key to get more lift. (Later when you know and you just want to go you will be holding 'w' down for maximum lift). If all goes well you will be moving forward gently. It is at this point that most peeps over compensate as Rainy was describing. This is because you have to understand that returning your stick or virtual stick (aka mouse) to the centre position does not stop the forward inclination of the helicopter body, all it does is bring the main rotor back into a parrallel alignment to the body of the chopper. This means you wont increase the forward inclination of the chopper but neither will it decrease. Because of the loss of altitude most peeps stress a little and pull back to much, this starts the seesaw motion going. While learning make small adjustments to the tilt. If you tilt to much the ability of the rotors to keep the heli on the cushion is not enough and in spite of the fact that you hve you finger jammed right through your 'w' key and into the desk under it you will still clobber earth. The solution is to pull back on the stick so that more thrust is available to lift the chopper instead of driving it forward.

Now you have to understand that at this point the mouse controls the tilt of the chopper. If you want to go in a direction you will move the mouse in desired direction and the chopper will tilt and start to move in that direction.

Things to note
As with all things choppers go better forward than sideways or backward. Because of this the chopper will fall off the cushion more quickly and with less control if you are going backwards, your ability to stay on the cushion is better going sideways and best going forwards. That is why if your chopper starts to fall over backwards it is sometimes better to spin the chopper around, 'a' or 'd', other times it is better to bail or say your prayers. :D

OK so you can go forward. Now lets kill you...

Advanced Flight

The heli's in BF2 have two distinct phases of flying.

Slow Flight.
Below a certain speed the chopper can be spun by pressing the 'a' and 'd' keys and will move directly in the direction of tilt in response to the mouse. (i.e if you tilt sideways the chopper move sideways). Tilting the chopper by moving the stick will result in the chopper moving in the direction of tilt. The chopper is much more sensitive to spin from the tail rotor ('a' and 'd') and to tilt from the stick.

Fast Flight
Above a certain speed the chopper will start to behave differently. If you move your stick (aka mouse) forward and do not pull it back your chopper will continue to pitch over forward. It will reach a point where you will be pressing 'w' continously to maintain altitiude. As pitches past this point even though you are pressing 'w' you will lose altititude pulling back on the stick to the centre position will stop this tendency from increasing but if you are already past the point at which you can maintain altitude then you correct by pulling back. At the point where you are moving forward and you are at max thrust (pressing 'w' full time) then the chopper will behave in a similar manner to a plane. If you tilt the stick left or right you will no longer move in the direction of tilt instead the chopper will 'lean' over in that direction and start to turn, curving through the air. This curved turn can be aided by pressing the 'a' and 'd' keys respectively depending on direction of turn.

So to conclude
Practise...more practise (Single Player :P)... dont be afraid to fall out the sky... start with small movements and feel what they do to the motion of the chopper... fly as a gunner with someone more experienced and ask them to tell you what they are doing as they do it. ( I dont know if how many guys would be willing to do this but I will if you ever need it.)... try stuff its not like you're getting charged per chopper crashed (that we know of anyway, keep an eye out for suspicious looking window envelopes in the mail. :D)

[Darnit696]

Oi damn I wrote a bladdy book. :o Rainy next time ask something simple like "How do I change ammo clips?" :D

[TG]

Something else that will definitely assist the keyboard/mouse novices:

Adjust the pitch & yaw sensitivity for heli controls. It will make things MUCH more responsive. Pitch is back/forward, and yaw is side to side roll.
When I was still using kb/mouse to fly choppers, I had my sensitivity set to around 8, and the pitch/yaw also at 8-10.

[NerdBoyZa]

Also, invert mouse controls helps... me thinks....

[sss]

damn.... you know... i dont even know what the up down left right... w a s d.. keys are actually mapped too.. its just when i jump on a chopper... my brain knows what to do... all i know off hand is space is shoot

[rainy]

Hmm, looks like I am a lost cause then ;)

Gonna keep trying offline - but you won't see me flying online any time soon, unless we find a server for practicing. I am however getting handy at being the gunner (popped Gathu and bushman the other night on Fu She...)

[Darnit696]

Also, invert mouse controls helps... me thinks....
Of course! Shyte! Forgot to mention that. :bow: You MUST invert mouse for flying the chopper. Everything I said above makes no sense at all unless you do. :o

[fivel]

Of course! Shyte! Forgot to mention that. :bow: You MUST invert mouse for flying the chopper. Everything I said above makes no sense at all unless you do. :o

Why invert...nobody told me this before :o

[Darnit696]

It makes more sense to fly that way. So much in fact that its the way it happens in the real world. :)

[TG]

@ Rainy - you can practise on Thursday night ;)

[NerdBoyZa]

Why invert...nobody told me this before :o

As Darnit said, it makes more sense, and that's how a chopper works in real life.

When you push the stick (your mouse in our case) forward, it tilts the nose forward, and gives you forward momentum. If you don't invert mouse controls, you end up tilting the nose up when you push the mouse forward....I don't know what EA were thinking when they did it that way....:banghead:

[TG]

Why invert...nobody told me this before :o

Hmm.. I distinctly remember telling you this over VOIP that night you joined my server.... ;)

[BambisRevenge]

dunno.. i play pure keyboard!


YESSH BOIS KEY BOARD ALL THE WAY!!!

i also use only keybaord and i love it!

i even fly planes only keybaord!

[SaintMg]

@ bami you fly planes using only keyboard wow what keys are mapped for what ???

[WAJKILLER2]

I fly all things , toys, cars, playnes,[no trains], automobiles, guns, tows, anti air, mounted mg, vodnic, humvee, damm outa things, ahhhh rubberduck, with keyboard. How are the keys mapped. Well get into a vehicle of any kind start pushing buttons and see what happens. Haha ha ha ha

[BambisRevenge]

ummm my keys are the default ones....

wasd for rudder turning and throttle and arrow keys for pitch and roll

is it really that hard to belive that a dude can fly ok with only the keybaord?

[FeralBanana]

blah blah blah...I don't know what EA were thinking when they did it that way....:banghead:


Well...

Lemme let you in on a little secret:

Who g**damn knows what the HELL EA EVER think??

Bunch of retarded monkeys, they are...

[stoke]

Well peeps ... I fly without reversing it, and last night I tried to reverse it and had me a couple of accidents and now I'm stuck in non reversed mode.

Mebbe that's why they made it like so :mad: !
Next flying game I play, i'm buggered.

[BambisRevenge]

i fly reveresed keybaord without any reversie problmes but when i put the mouse revered for planes im finished. i can do it *ok* with coppers coz i get more time to think.... hmmm now which way.... dammit not that way and then some of the times i can correct it

oh btw for me im not sure but i think some if the things in a copper cant actually be done with a mouse and only with the keybaord... just a thort

[SosmanSA]

My way of playing
For flying Helo... use c to get outsde view... that way you can dodge cranes etc.
You can't use this while fighting though in Apache etc. as you cannot target stuff (while at least I haven' tried yet). But in Blackhawk etc. works real well ...especially when flag hopping

BTW...I use keyboard and mouse. Mouse for pitch and up/down nose pointing in reverse mode. Keys for throttle and rudder (non reverse)

[TG]

I use internal view only - especially when flying choppers. Otherwise I tend to go horribly off course. :p

[WAJKILLER2]

I use internal view only, might work to use external view for black hawk. I use internal to keep prospective clear of where youa re, angle of attack, speed height ... da da da it goes on and on.
For keys, just the default. Works best for me, flying planes, well still learning got a few kills and basic badge but that about it. I keep flying into those damm pesky kranes. Where on earth did they come from. HMMM. I managed to win a couple of dogfights, and dont smoke while flying, you tend to crash into a friendly tank.

[w1z4rd]

A can fly a chopper now with some degree of success and skill (yay!). Hours of practice now enable me to skim the ground, do barrel rolls, and the such.

Currently I am working on perfecting the perfect hover, and my landings can tend to be a little hot, however the Assult okes the other night, hopped into my chopper the other night to be mah gunners, and I got compliments.

Once I have that perfected, I will move onto flying a jet with some degree of skill. Practice practice practice.