New Helicopter Pilots, a word of advice.

[walker 0]

Hi All

I wrote this in another thread but decided it needed a thread of its own. It is just a bit of advice in reply to some one who was upset about being classified TK if his helicopter crashed but it is general advice for New Guys. I am sure it will be picked over and corrected by real experts as well as all and sundry, that is the nature of the ArmA community, and I for one would not have it any other way; that is what has improved my ArmA game play over the years. Any way to the meat:

Helicopter pilots are respected in the community, good ones are treated like gold by their clans and jealousy guarded. If people are shooting at copters get their ID and pass it on to the server Admin

The pilots role

DO NOT PRACTICE BEING A HELICOPTER PILOT IN MP!

One thing to ALL NEW GUYS please do not practice being a pilot in MP! It can make you look bad mannered at best and label you forever as a stupid numpty at worst. The SP mission editor is the place for that, stick in some enemy AA units so you can get used to choosing a Landing Zones (LZ) that will not attract their attention.

Practice, Practice, Practice.

Like any good player in any role you can make your self a range of training missions in the editor, to sort out your own problems. Find out what slopes you can land on and at what angle and how you need to fly to land on them and take off from them. Practice your Auto-rotation Landings, do this even when you are experienced, it is part of your pilots skills and needs to practiced regularly. If you set a mission in the editor you can include a tail rotor failure script, or brute force it by setting up a playable AI with an MG or heavy sniper rifle as well as you in the pilot role, then team switch a shoot out your tail rotor, then team switch back into the pilot role to practice Auto-rotation landings.

Moving to MP Pilot

Once you have practiced. Act as door gunner for say 7 MP trips to get a feel for what is needed. On your first three MP pilot trips out; Tell the passengers you are new and ask for experienced door gunners; if they are good they will be talking to you about the LZ and when over it telling you whether you are clear to land. Choose the safest LZ for your first few trips. Beware of yellow chain, Red chain and lag spikes or Desync, if they happen consider auto-hover. If you have a bad ping do not choose any pilot role. Look for servers that have good pings for you.

Plan, Plan, Plan.

An experienced pilot should take a minute, before take off to examine the LZ in the Map; looking for possible obstructions such as Electricity Pylons, also consider slope, try to land uphill, turning lateral to the slope in the last few seconds; but if it is too steep axe it. Or turn left side of chopper toward the rising slope and tell the passengers it will be a wheels up hot landing so they need to eject 1 metre from ground.

Plan both Ingress and Egress routes. Choose routes that avoid exposure to enemy fire; such as valleys and hills. If you have the chance a pilot should rotate the helo over the LZ to see the lay of the land and so the Pilot and door gunners can spot obstructions, but this will not be possible over a hot LZ. DO NOT OVERFLY OBJECTIVES that have not been taken, helicopters are precious things. Helicopters need to stay about 600m behind allied lines.

Black-hawk Down

If you are hit in the tail gain height, default key [q], and use Yellow vehicle channel to tell all passengers to bail out, then you do the same. That is for standard ArmA; in reality and probably in the coming ACE mod that is not a possibility. So if you want to try to save your copter and passengers or so it can be repaired, you are going to have to do an auto-rotation landing. Nose down, Engine off glide it in and the last few seconds pull up to kill your speed.

To get back to base in standard ArmA using auto rotation. KEEP THE POWER ON. You need to gain a lot of height, then stick the nose down to gain speed this will straighten you up due to the forces of airflow over the hull and allow you to fly somewhat, then as you come into a spot near BUT NOT OVER the base, cut the engine, and try to do an auto-rotation landing.

On the role of Osprey pilot

If doing a hover landing at an LZ choose one that is further away than the blackhawks would land. You are a BIGGER TARGET and you contain more valuable troops, killing a Full Osprey means all the OPFOR's christmases have come at once. If you doing a para drop FLY with their commander up front if your forced to use text the commander can the map read and give the text go. Give the grunts a warning to stand by 30 seconds before jump, then a GO GO GO remember that they cannot see out.

You have 3 para drop options:

1) A slow Low lateral run well back from objective.

2) A fast High lateral perhaps even over the objective, the stick will be very scattered unless they halo and have steerable parachutes

3) A fast medium height hairpin, if there is no other friendly air assets in the location, or such assets are properly coordinated by an Air Controller with all ingress egress routes marked and timed. Give the the grunts a 30 second warning and the GO GO GO 5 seconds before the hairpin. The advantage of the hairpin is the stick will be closer together.

If doing a roling take off from flight deck, as long a run as you can make and autohover on.

Only do Hover landings at safe spots, hovering you are a big lumbering juicy target. Your best safety features are in height and speed.

The battle commanders role

A good battle commander should point out a range of LZ's looking out for Power Pylons and cables. Then let pilot choose the one they are happiest with. Clearings in forests are often favoured. The LZ needs to be near the Objective but not so close it brings the helicopters into AA defensive fire. Be conservative with the first LZ better for the grunts to hump an extra half klick than they all get killed before they land. The Pilot should be allowed to take a minute to look hard at the map for possible obstructions such as power lines and choose ingress and egress routes that reduce exposure particularly to Objective AA defenses. In the Helicopter the pilot is captain and has last word about their bird and the LZ.

Once you have a secure LZ keep using it; a good battle commander will keep it safe. If you think a closer LZ is now safe let the pilots know. Beware commander there are scripts out that will setpos Guarded By OPFOR trigger over a frequently used LZ, so things will get harder as the mission makers improve!

Crew Chief and Door Gunner's Role

The Crew Chief is the primary eyes and voice on LZ, the door gunner should still holler out if that right side is not clear. The Crew Chief & door gunner should also look hard at the map for possible obstructions such as power lines. It is the duty of Crew Chief & door gunner to look down at the LZ and tell the pilot if they are clear below and behind. Saying "Forward 10", "Left 10" "rotate 20" etc. until the pilot is clear. All measurements in metres and degrees, a metre is approx the same as a yard. The Crew Chief & door gunner needs to pay particular attention to telegraph polls and sign posts and other man made objects, as well as the odd tall tree sitting on its own in the LZ. All are chopper killers. If you feel the need to test your gun. DO NOT DO IT AT BASE, it puts everyone on alert and may cause a TK. Warn everyone you are about to "Testfire" Do not waste ammo, you may need it later in the mission. Fire one or two shots. If you want to practice being a door gunner again the editor is the place to do that.

Grab the stick!

If the pilot is killed or disconnects for whatever reason, you have pehaps seconds to jump in the pilots seat. Know your pilots ID you may spot their disconnect or death note in the chat, but watch for a sudden dive which may be your only warning. You will also have the addaction of move to pilot displayed off middle mouse button, that makes it certain, if you see it in flight jump in the pilots seat, you may be able to save your pasengers, copter and crew.

Passengers role

Tell the pilot thank you for getting you to the LZ safe. Protect their LZ. If the tail rotor gets hit get ready to eject. Remember to give the pilot room to land at the extraction LZ. Pop smoke to tell them where to land. It is the job of all on the ground to tell the pilot they are under fire and to abort. If you see or hear of a copter coming in damaged or hear an emergency landing request. Grab a repair truck and fuel truck (Hopefully one day we will have working fire trucks in ArmA too) but keep back until rotors have stopped, then race to the copter to get it repaired and refueled congratulate the pilot for a safe landing.

If you see numpties tail rotor shooting report to the server admin, use the space Bar to see their game name. They will be FRAPSed then banned. If the server admin is not there, the game admin can kick them and you can report with proof via FRAPS or a [Print Screen] key Photo to the clans forum.

There is additional detailed info from Dslyecxi on helicopter roles here:

http://ttp2.dslyecxi.com/veh_usage.html

Also here is great video from Dslyecxi in ArmA I, it deals with the MH-6 Littlebirds but the gist of the video applies (special thanks to SASrecon for reminding me of it ;) )

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Now let the critics begin!

Kind Regards walker

Edited July 3, 2009 by walker
Added Crew Chief check for lagspike pilot disconnect or pilot killed, defined LZ, adde Osprey, Added Dslyecxi's video

[Tankbuster 1733]

Now let the critics begin!

Nice guide, I'll give it a go. I used to like flying helos in OFP but could never get it right in ArmA. This time, I'm going to persevere.

By the way, it's Role not ROLL. :)

[demonic87 10]

I find flying really easy, and i sucked at flying in ArmA 1. I just need to work on that emergency landing.

[eejiT 10]

Great guide mate.

Have to admit i am laughing a bit because the first time i saw you on a server (which was today) you crashed your chopper killing all ^_^

[walker 0]

Great guide mate.

Have to admit i am laughing a bit because the first time i saw you on a server (which was today) you crashed your chopper killing all ^_^

Hi eejiT

Actually I did not. Have not played yet today. But I was listed as pilot on helicopter that crashed yesterday so I think that is what you mean. Edit actualy thinking about it yes it was today about one in the morning so your right. :o

What happened was that: I was the Crew Chief. We hit a Lag spike and the pilot disconnected. Leaving me as the listed person in charge of the copter. When the lag spike had passed. I should have checked the pilot was still there though :( So yes definitely my bad. Will add that to the Crew Chiefs Role (Thanks Tankbuster )

And thanks eejiT for the timely reminder.

Kind Regards walker

Edited June 24, 2009 by walker

[M1Garand 10]

Nice Guide!

i hope i can use your words to full affect as i am new to the ArmA Series

[Thirdup 0]

Good stuff.

[marius00 0]

I'm new to arma... but great post.

Very importante i reckon! - DO NOT PRACTICE BEING A HELICOPTER PILOT IN MP!

[OrLoK 20]

hello all

On the whole, good sensible advice.

Especially the courtesy aspect. It doesn't get you points, but it can get you remembered.

good stuff.

rgds

LoK

[d3boy2002 10]

Hmm... How good is "good"? I can land on a roof and everything but I seem to be a bullet magnet. I get hit, my rear roter stops, and I smoke but I can usually still make it back to base. I make good landings in hot places but sometimes I blotch it.

[Junker 0]

I seem to be a bullet magnet. I get hit, my rear roter stops

Pick you LZ carefully and plan ahead - Flying low works too.

As soon as i see light red dots on the screen i get low and land to drop off the cannon fodder and head back to base :P

[Herbal Influence 10]

I felt the need to add this from another thread (about the egoshootermode http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=74908&page=1):

Originally Posted by monty67t

.... I was a crew chief in a Blackhawk for several years in real life. The view and perspective you get in the cockpit view is nothing close to the real thing. In real life you have crew chiefs on both sides of your aircraft telling you where you are, calling you into LZs, etc. The only way I will fly a helicopter is in 3rd person view.

[buddhabang 10]

Nice one mate.

[jonneymendoza 10]

what is a LZ?

[walker 0]

Hi all

In reply to jonneymendoza LZ = Landing Zone

An LZ is a military term for any area where aircraft land.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_zone

Kind Regards walker

[BoneDust 10]

I want to fly choppers and I'll practice when I get ArmA2. I was very active in the Falcon 4 community and love to fly. I've never played Arma or OFP online although I was very good at flying helos in OFP.

Where are all the clans to join once I'm ready for MP? :)

[mattxr 9]

I'm new to arma... but great post.

Very importante i reckon! - DO NOT PRACTICE BEING A HELICOPTER PILOT IN MP!

lol because if you do that on a public server you will usually be kicked or banned lol for being a noob.

[Mc Speedfreak 10]

very good.

now its up to players to take posts like this seriously :) it really can affect the way the session is played and it sure will affect how you (the pilot) will be received in the future.

maybe a similar write up for other roles (medic, engineer etc) might be worth while and even worth a sticky. after all its role description and MP advise :)

[bwc153 10]

I would like to add on to this.

Do NOT loiter around the LZ and surrounding area, the enemy WILL target you with AA missles.

ive been in 2 birds shot down, with same pilot because he wandered around too much..

just drop off cargo, let the door gunners have a little fun for 15-20 seconds, then fly home.

[Inkompetent 0]

Very good thread! More stuff like this!

And indeed lots of pilots need to not only practice landing, but to actually use terrain masking. Playing 'The Longest Day' I see three out of four helicopters get shot down because the pilots are too dumb to stay out of line of sight of the Tunguskas, which at 2+ km, often more, will shoot them down simply because they fly OVER the hills instead of AROUND them.

All AA platforms are to be feared and respected. A Tunguska, Shilka, ZU-23 gun, Avenger or MANPAD (Strela/Igla/Stinger) make short work of ANY AND ALL HELICOPTERS within line of sight in a radius of 2km. If they have upped skill levels they might shoot you at as far as 5km away, so stay down behind all terrain you can find.

Using VOIP (or text chat in lack of voice comms), let the passengers know that they'll have 5 seconds to get off the helicopter if you know you are landing in a hot LZ. Then take off whether everyone has left the helicopter or not.

The part about planning is also really important. Some parts of Chernarus are quite flat or has no terrain masking with 2-3km of an objective from certain directions. Make sure before you take off where you are to drop off the passengers, and plan a route assuming that the enemy has AAA or SAMs. Always best to be on the safe side.

Also can't put enough emphasis on practicing offline in the editor! You'll get nothing else than a bad reputation if you keep killing people because you don't understand the basics of piloting, or haven't learned to properly control the aircraft in ArmA2. It can even lead to beign banned from servers because you waste everyone else's time.

[walker 0]

Hi all

Added a bit on the role of Osprey pilot in the first post.

Kind Regards walker

[CarlGustaffa 4]

@G-Xavion: If so that is really really sad. If 'noobs' (I take it you are 'l33t') are not allowed to make mistakes and be, well, not too good, they doesn't deserve being kicked and banned for that. If they crash a chopper, so what? If they don't follow orders when told to not touch a chopper again, then I agree - kick. Ban? No, not until several tries occurs, or when deliberately acting stupid.

Everyone deserves a fair chance. Being kicked/banned for being new to the game simply doesn't cut it for me.

I should also mention that I have been on very teamplay oriented games where only the server clan members where allowed to fly. And let me tell you, they do the same mistakes as the 'noobs', including: too hard landings, crash on takeoff, crash into terrain and obstacles.

Edited July 2, 2009 by CarlGustaffa

[walker 0]

Hi CarlGustaffa

Nobody is saying the New Guys should not pilot. ;)

We all have start at some point.

What is being said is that an MP mission is not a place for a Pilot to be saying: "How do I start the engine? What is the Auto-hover for? Can I fly this copter with my joystick/360 controller? What is an LZ? Why is the LZ so far from the objective? Why cant I fly over the objective?" etc. And I have heard each of those questions asked in MP. As well as seeing Blackhawks lolly gagging over the objective when there were troops back at the base.

The place to learn to fly is the editor in SP.

Once the New Guy has learned to pilot they should sit in the crew chief seat for a few to get the feel of MP play differences. And when they take the role for the first time let people know they practiced qualified in SP sat in crew chiefs role for a few and are doing their first MP pilot roles. Yes they should still be allowed to fly but those caveats.

And yes I have seen experienced pilots do stupid things too. They just tend to do them less often.

As to wanting get in the fight. If you are on a clan server you will have a role at all times. you start off scouting then drop the troops off, perhaps an LZ security team first, then the main troop body, then you will be splitting time between SARSA, CASEVC, and CAS runs in an attack helo or a jet before doing the extraction, you may be part of a team from three to six or maybe more other pilots and with navigators crew chiefs and door gunners a FAC maybe even Rear Air Controller working from the base with a radar script and map marking out ingress and egress routes arranging CAP SARSA and all the rest of it.

A good pilot is a GOD in this game a bad one gets whole squads killed.

Kind Regards walker

Edited August 5, 2009 by walker

[CarlGustaffa 4]

I'm just saying that not all new players will be reading this thread, so some room for errors, mistakes, neglect, and sheer stupidity should be allowed for. Within reason of course.

[max power 21]

In ArmA it was not difficult to make a powered landing with no tail rotor. Is it harder in ArmA 2 or something?