[MELB] Mission Enhanced Little Bird

[Gruman 122]

Well, why not make it a hiddenselection which can be set on the service menu? Everybody likes it different. I'm sure some guys would love it in different colors also ;-).

Circle, square, triangle, cross, point or none at all. This would easely enable custom textures also. Maybe even able to set an offset, who knows.

In my honest opinion, you shouldnt be able to quickli switch out GAU-19, M134, M260/261, Hellfire Racks on the go. I think you should select your base model before you go.

I would use the service menu more for stuff like Ammo Type for the GAU-19, M134, Different Rocket Types

I would really like if the M260/261 Rocket launchers are set up like a Hellifire Rack which you can setup with different type of rockets. HE, flachettes, smoke, illumination.

Edited July 20, 2015 by swissMAG
Some additional stuff

[cygan 16]

SwissMag you make my wish list.

[machineabuse 11]

A native solution for both authentic and HMD solutions would be preferable. That said, I have a lot of faith that syko and team will figure out a good solution :)

[kimi_uy 134]

It's possible to add just the crosshair in the HMD, which a cross would only appear when selecting the gun and the "I" symbol for rockets.

Making the HMD for this is copy paste for me and should take more than 10 lines in a config to do it. **ehem ehem**

I am still looking for a way to toggle the HMD on/off, but class MFD is a bitch to work with especially when it comes to conditions.

Edited July 20, 2015 by Kimi_uy

[yasotay 197]

Just want to add my praise for the artistry and flight modeling you have given us. Well Done!

Having spent some time around "killer egg"operators I would provide you some things that I picked up from working with them. First they do almost all of their work up close and personnel (well under 500 meters). They do a lot of their work at night and I believe they have a laser pointer on the aircraft to get the firepower in the right area. While I imagine they have the ability to make a "heavy" with rockets and Hellfire I suspect that it is not used a lot because the aircraft is so close to max gross weight it probably is not the agile little bird we all enjoy flying. They usually leave the heavy firepower to the DAP. I have never heard of a 30mm being put on MELB. I imagine it would shake the lightweight airframe to pieces. Again I imagine they leave that to big brother DAP.

I will certainly defer to others here who might know better on these matters. Again thanks for adding a thoroughbred to the flight stable!

Edited July 25, 2015 by Yasotay

[diesel5187 73]

So, I am back from 3 weeks of heavy "studying" and 1 week of well deserved decompression.

I am glad to read all the positive response to our mod and the many ways we can keep making this mod even better, I'm very excited to see where we go from here.

[tartarsauce 10]

Suggestion of adding the HUD waypoint. Trying to add a realistic navigation experience to a game in which the flight dynamics are so fast paced is something I'm struggling with, especially coming from someone playing with 1 monitor. It would declutter the screen with the HUD WP.

Perhaps there is a way to do this within the config of the mod so that it could be done on an as-needed basis, but my modding skills are hack/slash at best.

[DAGGER ARMANET 172]

So, I am back from 3 weeks of heavy "studying" and 1 week of well deserved decompression.

I am glad to read all the positive response to our mod and the many ways we can keep making this mod even better, I'm very excited to see where we go from here.

MELB is turning out to be pretty much a standard must have mod already Diesel, and its not even v1 yet. You and Syko are doing a great job on this beauty.

[broduz 71]

MELB is turning out to be pretty much a standard must have mod already Diesel, and its not even v1 yet. You and Syko are doing a great job on this beauty.

+1 to that!! The sheer adaptability and flexibility of the platform you guys have provided is amazing.

Seriously, job well done thus far.

[colonelhartigan 50]

Hi!
I think this is a great mod and I hope to see the two of you working on more projects in the far future, I enjoyed the Wildcat mod very much as well. I cannot understate how much more fun flying is for me and my group in A3 with more classic Littlebirds. Even members who aren't inclined toward helicopters have commented on how much more, frankly, badass it is, especially with the new GAU-19 sounds. I haven't seen anything about this in the thread, but will you eventually do a J model with old skool cockpit, or even some 60s variations? To see an OH-6A around the release time of Tanoa would be spectacular.

I would also like to contribute my opinion on the question of sighting:

I am fairly certain it is the Hind and Hip I am thinking of, but probably also other helicopters, that include a table in the cockpit to indicate the aimpoint for rockets based on the speed and angle of the helicopter. Perhaps you could adapt this to a small, makeshift but legible diagram on the glass of where you would aim rockets on one side and the other, guns, for various speeds at a given angle to the ground. I think that would alleviate much of the difficulty with getting rockets and guns on target without first having to do a sighting shot/burst.

Regardless, a fantastic mod, thank you very much.
 

[delta3242 399]

Do you have any future plans for another helicopter? Once the little birds are done of course.

[b00ce 160]

Glad to hear.

I may be misinformed or stuff was changed, but doesnt the pilot in command normaly sit in the right seat of the cockpit? Because this way he can let go of the collective to manipulate the CDU and the other toggle switches. Let go of the cyclic wouldnt be the best move. Any plans to change that, or will you keep it that way that all LB pilots won't have to readjust from the vanilla MH-9?

Best regards

The PC (Pilot in command) and PI (The other pilot) change seats all the time. Its really up to pilot preference. Though my pilots tend to put the PC on the left which is backwards from what it is "supposed to be". Not sure if this trend translates to 160th littlebirds from regular army medevac blackhawks though.

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Wow, did not realize I was that far back in the thread. Anyway great work on these little buggers, I somehow just now got around to fiddling around with them and I'm having a lot of fun with them. Great work guys.

[diesel5187 73]

The PC (Pilot in command) and PI (The other pilot) change seats all the time. Its really up to pilot preference. Though my pilots tend to put the PC on the left which is backwards from what it is "supposed to be". Not sure if this trend translates to 160th littlebirds from regular army medevac blackhawks though.

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Wow, did not realize I was that far back in the thread. Anyway great work on these little buggers, I somehow just now got around to fiddling around with them and I'm having a lot of fun with them. Great work guys.

On some aircraft like the uh60m it doesn't really matter where the PIC sits because for starters it requires 2 pilots to operate and it is an IFR bird which means that both left and right seat have their own set of controls. One seat has individual systems which are meant to be redundant to the other.

Other airframes have very specific limitations and specify where the PIC WILL sit. And unless we can get the operators handbook for a current littlebird, we probably won't find out which is correct.

[officeramr 269]

Will the littlebirds gain AA missiles, i believe that the LB uses FIM-92's singers rather then AIM-9

 

Also i love the sounds of the helicopter, very few mods have such nice sounds on them 

[robert31178 100]

On some aircraft like the uh60m it doesn't really matter where the PIC sits because for starters it requires 2 pilots to operate and it is an IFR bird which means that both left and right seat have their own set of controls. One seat has individual systems which are meant to be redundant to the other.

Other airframes have very specific limitations and specify where the PIC WILL sit. And unless we can get the operators handbook for a current littlebird, we probably won't find out which is correct.

 

I am the Training Petty Officer at the USCG station where I currently servet. Talking to the Training Officer of AirSta Astoria, a Jayhawk pilot, I learned that the policy for two pilots is in place because you can't reach everything from one seat in that particular helicopter. That's one of the main reasons for two pilots; in the H-65 Dolphin you are allowed to, as air crews, go with one pilot, a flight mech, and a swimmer if that's what's available or if you need to save the weight for picking up an extra survivor. Not ideal but within policy.

 

On the -60's they usually run the PIC ( Pilot In Command) as the left seat, and he/she pretty much does the duties of the co-pilot and leaves just the flying up to the right seat, or pilot at controls. This might be because of how they fly approaches to boats for hoists. The USCG does this on cutters too, you have a Deck officer in charge of overseeing the bridge crew including the Conning Officer, who just drives the ship. Same idea in our heli's. Not sure how this translates into how the Army runs stuff, but that's what I know about -60 ops in the USCG. 

 

I also know that in the Army in Vietnam the co-pilot sat left, pilot sat right......but reading a book about the Seawolves I saw that on their Hueys they sat left seat and flew because of how the instrument panel was in the Huey. Apparently on the right side it went way out to the door almost, on the left it was about a foot shorter, offering better vis. 

 

Lastly, in Hugh Mills' book "Low Level Hell" he talks about his "gunsight" in the OH-6. His a/c was configured for a mini gun on the left side of the a/c angled downwards a little, and then he sat front right, crew chief aft right...this countered the weight. On take off he would hover over a rice paddy and squeeze a burst off, then make a mark in grease pencil on the bubble to use as a rudimentary gunsight since the little bird had none. It irritates me when I hear someone complain about how hokey the pencil mark is on the MELB. It was absolutely like that at some point!!

[robert31178 100]

I quoted myself like a dumbass. Sorry. Moderators? Little help please?

[gatordev 214]

I am the Training Petty Officer at the USCG station where I currently servet. Talking to the Training Officer of AirSta Astoria, a Jayhawk pilot, I learned that the policy for two pilots is in place because you can't reach everything from one seat in that particular helicopter. That's one of the main reasons for two pilots; in the H-65 Dolphin you are allowed to, as air crews, go with one pilot, a flight mech, and a swimmer if that's what's available or if you need to save the weight for picking up an extra survivor. Not ideal but within policy.

 

On the -60's they usually run the PIC ( Pilot In Command) as the left seat, and he/she pretty much does the duties of the co-pilot and leaves just the flying up to the right seat, or pilot at controls. This might be because of how they fly approaches to boats for hoists. The USCG does this on cutters too, you have a Deck officer in charge of overseeing the bridge crew including the Conning Officer, who just drives the ship. Same idea in our heli's. Not sure how this translates into how the Army runs stuff, but that's what I know about -60 ops in the USCG. 

 

 

It's actually a lot more complicated than that.  The -65 is rated as a Single-Piloted aircraft, which is why it can leave with one pilot.  And if you're going to fly with one pilot, it might as well be on the hoist side.  For -60 aircraft, it really depends on the mission and comfort level of the PIC (HAC).  I've known PICs/HACs that would fly left seat on some -60s because that was the only seat that could fire the missiles and they wanted final release authority, but that was a legacy bird.  It's also not uncommon to put the non-PIC/HAC in the left seat so they get practice running the mission.

 

With more modern/current -60s out there (60M/R/S and maybe the Tango), everything can be done from both seats, except view hoisting operations, so things have become more muddled.

[colonelhartigan 50]

Well, not to divert from the PIC conversation too long:
Great U.S. Army training film from 1967 explaining the (frankly brilliant) design of the H-6, which discusses shorty around 11:40 the weapons. Apparently, by this source at least, the guns were aimed via "mechanically linked sight," which I guess would be akin to the folding rocket sight on the Hueys. I personally prefer the grease pencil.

[phantomphan 54]

Will the littlebirds gain AA missiles, i believe that the LB uses FIM-92's singers rather then AIM-9

 

Also i love the sounds of the helicopter, very few mods have such nice sounds on them 

Read the first post in the thread. They have dismissed the FIM-92.

[robert31178 100]

Gastordev, 

 

I'm speaking only from what I know about our ops, and what I said about the MH-60J and T being 2 pilots was straight from the LT's mouth. Redundancy seems like a way to go for sure, I I clearly heard him say they can't reach everything from both seats. Sorry thread lol, not trying to get sidetracked. 

[gatordev 214]

Gastordev, 

 

I'm speaking only from what I know about our ops, and what I said about the MH-60J and T being 2 pilots was straight from the LT's mouth. Redundancy seems like a way to go for sure, I I clearly heard him say they can't reach everything from both seats. Sorry thread lol, not trying to get sidetracked. 

 

I'm not aruging what you said, just giving some more background.  Part of the issue is how the specific aircraft is certified.  I can't speak for the H-6, but there are very few single-piloted certified helicopters in the military and the H-65 is one of them.  As the newer models of the -60 (the main workhorse of all the services) have come online, seat position has become less important (but not irrelevant).

[Gruman 122]

Let's assume a A/MH-6M needs to be piloted by a single pilot in real life, wouldnt he make the logical decision to take the right seat so he can control all the electronics with his Collective-Hand? 

Or what am I missing?

In the end, in Arma it just defines who can control the counter measures and the main guns.

[gunny24 46]

hey there, i dont know if it is realisitc but i would like to see a variant with mast mounted sight like this:

http://img10.deviantart.net/b632/i/2015/122/8/9/ec_md530g_01_by_thomas328-d2gvocx.jpg

or that:

http://www.eichhorn.ws/assets/images/mcdonnell_douglas_md500.jpg

so it is possible to recon the area without un-masking

[gatordev 214]

Let's assume a A/MH-6M needs to be piloted by a single pilot in real life, wouldnt he make the logical decision to take the right seat so he can control all the electronics with his Collective-Hand? 

 

Basically, yes.

[robert31178 100]

Hey Swiss!! Love your work in porting stuff into Arma 3 from 2. 

 

Hugh Mills talks about flying from the right seat in his book "Low Level Hell". On the way to and from target areas he would fly his OH-6 in the following fashion: Left hand on the stick, left foot on the right pedal, right foot hanging out the door, right hand smoking a cig, and he would prop the collective under his knee just so. It's absolutely possible to fly that heli with no hands on the collective, even if it is a straight line at the same altitude, so what you are saying isn't far fetched in the slightest. 

 

~S