How do I become a helicopter pilot and fly helicopters in multiplayer? (NooB)

[KlashCreative 10]

I am new to ARMA 3. In multiplayer I cannot enter any helicopters as a pilot and fly. When I try it kicks me right back out and I get a box at the top right of the screen that says you must be a pilot to fly helicopters. I can enter all other part of a helicopter except the pilot seat. I have read the field manual, searched the forum and internet. I cannot find an answer to my problem. Sorry if there is an obvious answer to this.

[progamer 14]

Many servers use scripts that make sure only players who selected the pilot slot (were you select the character or whatever) and only players in the pilot slot can get in as pilot.

[robbyj 10]

Depending on what server your on, server hosts usually set it so you can only get into a helicopter if you selected the pilot class in the lobby. Any other class will be kicked out when trying to get in. The reason why you can't find an answer to your problem is because problems like that are rules set by the server host and can be altered at any time. As to how to fly really try to practice in the single player showcase "helicopters". A few tips, try to use the arrow keys not your mouse (unless your in auto hover) and when flying if you cant seem to control the heli at any point quickly double tap shift to enable auto hover. It should set you straight. Hope that answers your question.

[Harzach 2517]

Also, it is not uncommon for clans/communities to limit access to valuable assets to community members or trusted/proven players.

[KlashCreative 10]

Thanks for the info! :)

[chortles 263]

For practicing: note that the SP Showcase "Helicopters" to my knowledge (still) only uses the armed PO-30 Orca, but you can use Close Air Support - Day 1 to practice with the AH-9 Pawnee (the upcoming Day 2 version will use the AH-99 Blackfoot) and the MH-9 Hummingbird's handling characteristics I believe are similar to the AH-9's. For any other helicopter or the aforementioned ones, you can just go into the Editor and double-click a spot on land to place a unit, then select the side/faction/Air class and pick whichever helo you want to practice as a pilot of. :) Set its status to Flying to already be airborne/hovering at 50 meters' altitude, or for any other starting altitude its Elevation to something else in meters.

[KlashCreative 10]

For practicing: note that the SP Showcase "Helicopters" to my knowledge (still) only uses the armed PO-30 Orca, but you can use Close Air Support - Day 1 to practice with the AH-9 Pawnee (the upcoming Day 2 version will use the AH-99 Blackfoot) and the MH-9 Hummingbird's handling characteristics I believe are similar to the AH-9's. For any other helicopter or the aforementioned ones, you can just go into the Editor and double-click a spot on land to place a unit, then select the side/faction/Air class and pick whichever helo you want to practice as a pilot of. :) Set its status to Flying to already be airborne/hovering at 50 meters' altitude, or for any other starting altitude its Elevation to something else in meters.

Thanks a lot, that's great info!

[chortles 263]

As with Battlefield 3 I would absolutely say "do not try to learn on the fly", since the Editor (even moreso than the SP Showcases) means that unlike Battlefield 3, you don't get the "no offline helicopter practice" excuse. :lol: Moreover, some of the user-made missions absolutely rely on at least adequate helicopter transportation, if not close air support as well.

For example, often on a server running a Domination or Insurgency type mission the destinations will be so far away that often-times (especially now that beta introduced more helicopters) the practice will be for the infantry players to pile into a helicopter whose pilot is responsible for getting them to the vicinity of the objective, making a safe landing in a good spot where the passengers won't come under enemy fire as they disembark, and then returning to base ASAP for repair/refuel/rearm if needed and to pick up any passengers, i.e. people who connected after the match started (join-in-progress) or people who got "killed" and chose to respawn (at base) instead of waiting for a revive. Therefore, probably even moreso than in BF3, the quality of the players' experience is absolutely dependent on the quality of the helicopter piloting, because helicopters are their ride to the battlefield! As such, some server admins or mission-makers may be picky/restrictive about who gets to pilot.

Synopses of the beta helicopters, albeit I'm speaking of the dev build (v0.71.107150) versions:

• AH-9 Pawnee: The resident "attack scout" just like BF3's AH-6J Little Bird, but it does not support passengers, heatseekers or guided missiles; only twin Miniguns and a pair of unguided rocket launchers (they're fired in pairs so the 24 rockets = 12 shots). The co-pilot has the action menu choice to "take controls" so as to pilot the aircraft if need be, but it does not give him weapons control.
  
• AH-99 Blackfoot: A renamed RAH-66 Comanche with a pilot and gunner, armed with a "Gatling Cannon 20 mm", twenty-four (24) air-to-ground guided rockets, and four (4) short-range air-to-air missiles. Notably, at least when the gunner is AI, the pilot has the action menu choice of "manual fire", which will turn basic weapons control over to the pilot who will still being able to control the helicopter's flight. However, the cannon is locked forward while under pilot control (relinquished with the "cancel manual fire" action menu choice) and only the gunner has access to the gun camera (three zoom levels, built-in nightvision view, both BHOT and WHOT thermal views, and a built-in, real-time rangefinder display at the bottom). The gunner also has the action menu choice to "take controls" while retaining weapons control and access to the gun camera, but doing so locks the cannon into whatever position it was in at that moment until he chooses to "release controls".
  
• MH-9 Hummingbird: The "transport scout" Little Bird, able to carry up to six passengers (two interior seats plus two passengers per side-mounted exterior bench). Its cargo contains four (4) First Aid Kits, one GPS, one Smoke Grenade (Yellow), one Smoke Grenade (Purple), and on dev build v0.71.107150 it also has (4) Steerable Parachutes and allows its passengers the action menu choice to "Eject". TL;DR: If you eject with a Steerable Parachute in your Backpack slot, you'll get the option to "Open parachute". ;)
  
• UH-80 Ghosthawk: ... let's just call it "the Zero Dark Thirty" special. :lol: I'm not so sure about how much any "stealth" is simulated in this game, so in general its role is akin to a Blackhawk (Battlefield 2/Bad Company/Bad Company 2) complete with left and right door gunners, each with a Minigun, and the Ghosthawk has eight passenger seats. As an interesting bonus, its cargo includes as many as twenty (20) First Aid Kits (FAKs), a Medikit and ten (10) Steerable Parachutes -- the latter goes in the Backpack slot and has no storage space -- and the Ghosthawk's passengers have the action menu choice to "Eject".
  
• PO-30 Orca: A renamed Ka-60 Kasatka (yep like in BF3) except that instead of having only two passengers and two door gunners, the camo Kasatka/Orca (the black version is unarmed) has a forward-fixed Minigun on the right and an air-to-ground guided rocket launcher on the left, both controlled by the pilot, and eight passenger seats, so as many as ten players can be inside a single Kasatka/Orca. The co-pilot also has the option to "take controls" and "release controls" but does not get weapons control.
  
• Mi-48 Kajman: Think of an "uparmed" Mi-28N (hell you can find bits and pieces of the Mi-28N in the Mi-48's look) but with eight passenger seats in the back, therefore its role as a hybrid is reminiscent of the old Hind gunship. This one's armed with a 30 mm cannon, eight (8) air-to-ground guided missiles and thirty-eight (38) unguided rockets fired in pairs (therefore 19 shots). Like the Blackfoot the pilot may take "manual fire" control of the weapons and the gunner has access to a gun camera with the same features (albeit a noticeably dirtier lens). However, the gunner may not take piloting control and the Kajman has half as much total cannon ammo as the Blackfoot, split between HE and APDS shells, which may be instantly swapped between. On dev build it has the same cargo as the Ghosthawk and the passengers have the action menu choice to "eject".
  
• CH-49 Mohawk: Unarmed transport helicopter which can only be entered by passengers on the right or by the co-pilot and pilot on the left, but it has a whopping sixteen passenger seats. It has the same cargo as the Ghosthawk and the Kajman and the passengers may eject.

[Kieran 11]

i suggest that you open the editor and practice flying on that.

you will then have the option to try out all the helicopters at this stage beta has to offer.

FPS should be much better as well

[soulcrush 10]

i was wondering the same thing glad i found this post :)

[X53Gunner 10]

You could also start your own server and password it to practice.....

[Dark6-6 10]

I made a mission with every chopper etc and instant respawns for training. Pm me and ill hook you up if you'd like.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2

[progamer 14]

As with Battlefield 3 I would absolutely say "do not try to learn on the fly", since the Editor (even moreso than the SP Showcases) means that unlike Battlefield 3, you don't get the "no offline helicopter practice" excuse. :lol: Moreover, some of the user-made missions absolutely rely on at least adequate helicopter transportation, if not close air support as well.

For example, often on a server running a Domination or Insurgency type mission the destinations will be so far away that often-times (especially now that beta introduced more helicopters) the practice will be for the infantry players to pile into a helicopter whose pilot is responsible for getting them to the vicinity of the objective, making a safe landing in a good spot where the passengers won't come under enemy fire as they disembark, and then returning to base ASAP for repair/refuel/rearm if needed and to pick up any passengers, i.e. people who connected after the match started (join-in-progress) or people who got "killed" and chose to respawn (at base) instead of waiting for a revive. Therefore, probably even moreso than in BF3, the quality of the players' experience is absolutely dependent on the quality of the helicopter piloting, because helicopters are their ride to the battlefield! As such, some server admins or mission-makers may be picky/restrictive about who gets to pilot.

Synopses of the beta helicopters, albeit I'm speaking of the dev build (v0.71.107150) versions:

• AH-9 Pawnee: The resident "attack scout" just like BF3's AH-6J Little Bird, but it does not support passengers, heatseekers or guided missiles; only twin Miniguns and a pair of unguided rocket launchers (they're fired in pairs so the 24 rockets = 12 shots). The co-pilot has the action menu choice to "take controls" so as to pilot the aircraft if need be, but it does not give him weapons control.
  
• AH-99 Blackfoot: A renamed RAH-66 Comanche with a pilot and gunner, armed with a "Gatling Cannon 20 mm", twenty-four (24) air-to-ground guided rockets, and four (4) short-range air-to-air missiles. Notably, at least when the gunner is AI, the pilot has the action menu choice of "manual fire", which will turn basic weapons control over to the pilot who will still being able to control the helicopter's flight. However, the cannon is locked forward while under pilot control (relinquished with the "cancel manual fire" action menu choice) and only the gunner has access to the gun camera (three zoom levels, built-in nightvision view, both BHOT and WHOT thermal views, and a built-in, real-time rangefinder display at the bottom). The gunner also has the action menu choice to "take controls" while retaining weapons control and access to the gun camera, but doing so locks the cannon into whatever position it was in at that moment until he chooses to "release controls".
  
• MH-9 Hummingbird: The "transport scout" Little Bird, able to carry up to six passengers (two interior seats plus two passengers per side-mounted exterior bench). Its cargo contains four (4) First Aid Kits, one GPS, one Smoke Grenade (Yellow), one Smoke Grenade (Purple), and on dev build v0.71.107150 it also has (4) Steerable Parachutes and allows its passengers the action menu choice to "Eject". TL;DR: If you eject with a Steerable Parachute in your Backpack slot, you'll get the option to "Open parachute". ;)
  
• UH-80 Ghosthawk: ... let's just call it "the Zero Dark Thirty" special. :lol: I'm not so sure about how much any "stealth" is simulated in this game, so in general its role is akin to a Blackhawk (Battlefield 2/Bad Company/Bad Company 2) complete with left and right door gunners, each with a Minigun, and the Ghosthawk has eight passenger seats. As an interesting bonus, its cargo includes as many as twenty (20) First Aid Kits (FAKs), a Medikit and ten (10) Steerable Parachutes -- the latter goes in the Backpack slot and has no storage space -- and the Ghosthawk's passengers have the action menu choice to "Eject".
  
• PO-30 Orca: A renamed Ka-60 Kasatka (yep like in BF3) except that instead of having only two passengers and two door gunners, the camo Kasatka/Orca (the black version is unarmed) has a forward-fixed Minigun on the right and an air-to-ground guided rocket launcher on the left, both controlled by the pilot, and eight passenger seats, so as many as ten players can be inside a single Kasatka/Orca. The co-pilot also has the option to "take controls" and "release controls" but does not get weapons control.
  
• Mi-48 Kajman: Think of an "uparmed" Mi-28N (hell you can find bits and pieces of the Mi-28N in the Mi-48's look) but with eight passenger seats in the back, therefore its role as a hybrid is reminiscent of the old Hind gunship. This one's armed with a 30 mm cannon, eight (8) air-to-ground guided missiles and thirty-eight (38) unguided rockets fired in pairs (therefore 19 shots). Like the Blackfoot the pilot may take "manual fire" control of the weapons and the gunner has access to a gun camera with the same features (albeit a noticeably dirtier lens). However, the gunner may not take piloting control and the Kajman has half as much total cannon ammo as the Blackfoot, split between HE and APDS shells, which may be instantly swapped between. On dev build it has the same cargo as the Ghosthawk and the passengers have the action menu choice to "eject".
  
• CH-49 Mohawk: Unarmed transport helicopter which can only be entered by passengers on the right or by the co-pilot and pilot on the left, but it has a whopping sixteen passenger seats. It has the same cargo as the Ghosthawk and the Kajman and the passengers may eject.

So I'm not supposed to land were my passengers get shot in the aircraft or while exiting then fly away? This is news to me!

[chortles 263]

... I have no idea what you're talking about?

[terox 316]

i suggest that you open the editor and practice flying on that.

you will then have the option to try out all the helicopters at this stage beta has to offer.

FPS should be much better as well

This is the advice you need to follow.

Once you have a few hours practice at this, you are much less likely to cause an issue on a live server and get kicked for being "un-skilled"