Tips on flying a helicopter?

[WCG 1]

I've been attempting the helicopter showcase over and over again. So far, I've learned two things: how to take off, and how to crash. Note that I can't pick where I crash, or not very well. I tried to attack those vehicles by crashing into them with a kamikaze attack, but I don't get anywhere even close. Any tips?

With vehicles, I learned that I need to drive in third person, and to take my hand away from the mouse entirely, so that I don't even accidentally nudge it. With just the keyboard, in third person, I can drive around OK.

But that doesn't seem to work with helicopters - not for me, at least. Third person might still be better than first person (I tend to go nowhere in third person, so at least I stay in the air longer), but I seem to crash even faster with the keyboard than with the mouse.

So, any recommendations? What do you use, mouse or keyboard? Any other tips? It's extraordinarily boring just trying this showcase over and over again, but since there aren't many single-player missions yet, it would seem like a good time to practice. But I can't get far enough to tell what I'm doing wrong.

[seife 1]

I use keyboard only with mouse for looking around. Works fine for me but imo it's quite hard to fly the showcase helicopter. Maybe try flying around with the Littlebird in the Editor to get a feeling and if everything breaks loose Auto-Hover to stabilize.

[Dowly 0]

I've always used both mouse and KB when flying helos in ArmA. Can't really give any tips other than make small adjustments, especially with the AH-9 as it's very agile.

[Dallas 9]

Rebind your collective to W/S.

[RuecanOnRails 10]

Just give up now, the helicopters are currently in an un-flyable state in my opinion.

Helicopters should be further developed in Beta release. Just wait until then to see what direction BIS take with the flight model. In the mean time, pick up Take On Helicopters and set it to expert if you want to practice flying as the flight model from TOH will likely be the one they use. (if not identical, it will be closely based on it)

[max power 21]

Just give up now, the helicopters are currently in an un-flyable state in my opinion.

On the contrary, they are quite easy to fly. They just require a little familiarity.

[kostor 10]

Just give up now, the helicopters are currently in an un-flyable state in my opinion.

Well, it's a good thing not everyone is you, because for an example, I can fly them very well. Just need some practice...

Some advises:

1. don't toggle free look when flying a helicopter. use it only when needed (unless you've got some kind of track ir).

2. use the WASD and C,X only when you don't need to be very delicate with the helli. they do speed things up...

3. don't land at 0 speed. honestly, when I am trying to land like that (at 0 speed) the helli starts to spin slightly, which makes the land longer...

4. keep practice. if you think you are in danger, activate the auto-hover.

[Dowly 0]

On the contrary, they are quite easy to fly. They just require a little familiarity.

Yeah, I agree. Especially the Little Bird is much easier to fly than it's ArmA 2 cousin.

[chrisb 196]

Have to agree, they are very easy to fly, as are all the aircraft A2/3..

[Mattar_Tharkari 10]

Buy a joystick with throttle, you will find it much easier, all the best pilots use them. Track IR or similar is also a bonus particularly on the Ka-60 where your view is almost nothing but instrument panel.

Flying takes practice, lots of it. Set up some scenarios in the editor.

You can alter your view on the Ka-60 by pushing the Num pad 2 key 2x/3x so you can just see your feet - will help with landings if you don't want to use 3rd person view.

[Leon86 13]

Just gotta be patient when flying a helo, use small inputs with the keyboard, keep the crosshair near the horizon and it's pretty hard to crash, it takes ages to lose speed and altitude, so you also need patience for that.

flying with the mouse works well too, also, slow smooth inputs work best.

[WCG 1]

Thanks for the... varied replies. :)

I find these helicopters quite easy to crash, myself, and the controls are not at all intuitive for me. But I'm not very good with this kind of thing, anyway. (By which I mean that I'm really bad at this stuff!)

I will try different helicopters in the Editor, though. I'm sure that practice will help, eventually. And if worse comes to worst, I can just stick with infantry missions. Thanks again for the tips!

[Saliiim 10]

flying with the mouse works well too, also, slow smooth inputs work best.

Flying with only the keyboard is suicidal. The mouse is the best way to fly, I've heard many people say that it's better than a joystick due to the smaller inputs that you can implement.

[Th3HoneyBadger 1]

I find the flight model pretty accurate. I fly with a Thrustmaster Warthog and track IR. Makes it much easier.

[nodunit 397]

Just out of curiosity, what other flight related games have you played and are you familiar with the instruments available?

Reason for asking is because knowing how to use the information will help greatly in learning how to pilot aircraft versus winging it.

Edited March 31, 2013 by NodUnit

[Gorbachev 1]

Flying with only the keyboard is suicidal. The mouse is the best way to fly, I've heard many people say that it's better than a joystick due to the smaller inputs that you can implement.

I guess I'm the anomaly here. I fly exclusively with the keyboard and hold alt, let go to aim the helicopter precisely at targets with the mouse. Then go straight back to alt look. This includes landings without autohover for quicker landings.

[Nathan1506 1]

Joystick isnt really needed, i fly just fine with the mouse. As said before, the WASD keys should really only be used when delicate movements arent needed, like when turning at speed. Use first person view with helecopters, and fly mostly with slow mouse movements :)

Arma 3 Helecopters are MUCH easier to fly than A2 ones, the littlebird feels almost identical to the BF3 model.

[chrisb 196]

Thanks for the... varied replies. :)

I find these helicopters quite easy to crash, myself, and the controls are not at all intuitive for me. But I'm not very good with this kind of thing, anyway. (By which I mean that I'm really bad at this stuff!)

I will try different helicopters in the Editor, though. I'm sure that practice will help, eventually. And if worse comes to worst, I can just stick with infantry missions. Thanks again for the tips!

Must say it’s a little flippant of me and others to say its easy, when clearly for you its not.

Best I can say to begin with is go onto the airbase in the editor choose a heli (empty) then a unit to fly it (you), put the ‘auto hover’ on then start it up and get upto a good height. Once at a good height say 300, take the auto hover off and dip the nose slightly, go so far put the auto hover on again. Repeating this process first, then adding in turns etc at least will keep you up there whilst your learning. Auto hover is a great tool when your learning..

Just practice, we all crashed them to begin with in the series, whether we choose to admit it or conveniently forget it ever happened, just keep going around the perimeter of the island first..

Better still perhaps, get ’DBo Afghanistan’ it’s an arid landscape that is good to practice landing etc. Its for A3 on Armaholic under addons, don't have to port it over from A2..

[paecmaker 23]

Looks like I am a bit different than most people.

I always fly in free look and only fixen my view in combat. I also only fly with the keyboard unless in combat where smaller more delicate manouvers are needed.

All in all I think flying is easy(maybe except landing)

[deepfried 1]

Just give up now, the helicopters are currently in an un-flyable state in my opinion.

Nope, actually they are extremely easy, too easy, the flight model is very simplistic and arcadey. For the final game we will be getting the Take on helicopters flight model which is much more realistic and about 30x harder.

Edit: Actual tip: use a 360 controller, map collective to the shoulder buttons, analogue collective to the triggers, and cyclic to the left thumb stick, use the right thumb stick for freelook. The collective on the shoulder buttons gives you "sticky" collective adjustment great for hovering and taking out targets, the analogue collective on the triggers allows you fine a responsive collective control when manoeuvring over terrain, allowing you to pull of some impossible feats. Note I do not recommend this control scheme for the ToH flight model, only the current placeholder Arma 3 model.

Edited March 31, 2013 by Deepfried

[Treehugger 1]

My tips (From flying in Arma 2):

• Change hotkeys for tilt forward/backward to opposite than default value, so that "w" have your heli tilt/move forward and "s" having the heli tilt backwards.

• Use the mouse for manouvering smoothly when flying, while also using the "w" and "s" key to make tighter turns once the heli is banking to either side.

• Hold down "q" key while flying, to get some extra speed.

• Avoid holding down "q" while flying, to keep the heli more manouverable. You will risk crashing if holding down "q" key while also having the heli nose pointing downwards.

• Flying slower makes it easier to make subtle manouvers for landing.

• Making a tight U turn will have you lower speed quickly, like before a landing.

• Don't enable auto hover too close to the ground, else the heli might dip into the ground.

• Use auto hover when landing, when its important to land presicely at a spot X.

• Land softly, else the engine might be severely damaged.

• Use flares when entering a hostile area, preemtively.

• Holding down right mouse button while flying makes you able to see farther ahead while flying.

Edited April 1, 2013 by Treehugger

[NicotinKickballovich 1]

Everyone to their own really, you simply need to find the most comfortable controls for yourself. I for example never re-binded my keys, since the days of ArmA: Armed Assault and have used keyboard + mouse for steering. Good piloting skills doesn't mean you have to own any other controllers or what so ever, I learned to fly with ease back then and never had trouble since. Be it heavy transport carriers to agile MH-6's or AH-1Z's you'll learn the difference between them all over time. Also try focusing on flying in 1st person instead of 3rd, it can be a lot harder, but it's one of the best things you can practice from.

[WCG 1]

Just out of curiosity, what other flight related games have you played and are you familiar with the instruments available?

I tried a flight simulator (Microsoft Flight Simulator, maybe?) in the 1980s, and nothing since. I was really, really bad at it. :)

I tried Wing Commander: Privateer in the early 1990s, too. That's "flight related," I guess, but a spaceship. I was also hopelessly inept at that, so I didn't play long. I really couldn't play the game, as I recall.

So, no, I'm not familiar with the instruments, and my eye-hand coordination stinks. I didn't grow up with video games, and it shows. But no problem. I haven't had time to practice in the Editor yet, but if that doesn't help, it's not the end of the world. Not everyone can be a pilot, right? :)

Thanks.

[Lucasmnunesk 2]

Don't worry dude, i was like that, i felt like shit on the beginning but now im way better, still have my problems but i understand what i'm doing wrong and i have more "sense" into what i should do. But i do think that the Helo flight model needs lots of tweaks, its way to hard to make a perfect landing, way harder than it was on A2, everytime i land i damage something, but thats it dude it has no secret just practice. try to make obstacles run and make imaginary objectives on the editor

[darkjedihawkeye 1]

I tried a flight simulator (Microsoft Flight Simulator, maybe?) in the 1980s, and nothing since. I was really, really bad at it. :)

I tried Wing Commander: Privateer in the early 1990s, too. That's "flight related," I guess, but a spaceship. I was also hopelessly inept at that, so I didn't play long. I really couldn't play the game, as I recall.

So, no, I'm not familiar with the instruments, and my eye-hand coordination stinks. I didn't grow up with video games, and it shows. But no problem. I haven't had time to practice in the Editor yet, but if that doesn't help, it's not the end of the world. Not everyone can be a pilot, right? :)

Thanks.

From the sounds of it, you have very little flight experience as a pilot in any way shape or form. That being said, I would expect some behaviors to be completely counter intuitive. The biggest issue I have to this day with pc based flight sims is the lack of an intuitive method to know what the vehicle is doing. For example if you drive a car, you can feel when the car is moving forward, backwards, uphill, downhill. Without this type of input, it gets very tricky and you will need to spend time simply learning to utilize only the input you get. Which is via a little window into the world on your desk.

Take very little steps. With an little rid, use the editor, place en empty chopper and yourself. And preview.. Manually set the weather to be calm. And work only on the collective.. That buttons that control if your going up or down at a fundamental level. Do flip on auto-hover to hold you steady and fiddle with the buttons to see he they behave and how they manipulate the aircraft. See how it behaves to a quick push or a button hold., then get a feel for setting down.

Just take things piece by piece, see if the buttons make sense and move them around if you need to. If you have someone comfortable with helicopter you play with, ask for 1v1 on a server with a custom mission. Just take you time, it is not an easy thing to master.