Why pilots fly high.

[McBumLuv]

Out of curiosity, I was wondering what the reasoning behind pilots flying at sky level (700-800 meters) on Kashan was, according to the community.

Post your thoughts on why this is, and say what technical aspects make flying higher more efficient then flying low.

All I can remember from the times when I used to fly alot was that when I flew low I tended to die often, but flying high usually yielded a higher rate of success.

[Truism]

It's because of the fog. A Helicopter that is high and knows the direction of it's target can peer through the fog more effectively, while trying to defend against it is much harder because you don't have a point of reference to start looking for the camoflaged helicopter.

[DenvH]

When flying high you can't get shot by a tank, that's what I can think of. I like flying low though, using the terrain.. But tanks can easily shoot you down when you fly low, so you need good intel to kill that tank before it kills you.

[Scared_420]

when ur low u cant fly back to kill whatever is shooting at you, when you fly high and something shoots at you, you know where its coming from and can go smoke it

[Scared_420]

oops sorry didnt see kasahn on first post,,, flying low on kashan is suicide,,, wide open flat terrain with big view distance, HAT could even hit ya from 1000m away no prob

[sakils2]

They are compensating for something.

[Glimmerman]

I fly high because:

A. out of visual range AA

B. increased speed

C. Can focus on targets without them knowing it until its to late.

[mat552]

If you terrain mask, you had better be damned good at it. (I'm not) In the f16/mig you can really zip by, and if you alter your heading and alititude a little every second, tanks arn't going to be hitting you. Drop one flare every 1.5-2 seconds, and aa can't lock onto you. It works, but you need to land to rearm much more frequently. (On quinling the chinese get their mobile AAV with guns, and that makes it pretty much suicide, unless you are one crazy sunvuabitch and get down in the trees, even then..)

Most of us fly high because it's easier. The AA can't see you, neither can anything else that's trying to ruin your day, aside from other jets or helicopters. You can pick where and when you dive from (jets) or sit back and pop a hellfire or couple cannon rounds here and there.
Simple as that.

[Taliban-IED]

Always fly high as bomber/groundstriker and wait for some lazing and use bombs against AA ,especially a-10 and froggy cuz its realy easy to shot it down with a apc or tank if they fly low ..or even with light at, which i did once.

[Tim270]

Your going to have to fly high on Kashan as its out of AA range + most likely you are going to be hunting the other teams chopper, and who ever is higher has the advantage.

[Kruder]

People trying to avoid tanks with jets????
Why even bother flying then?

[Rissien]

Because only other jets can reach me and i can strike down my foes from the heavens and theyll never see me.

[angellfall]

mm... tbh i rarely even bother going above 600m... And kashan offers alot of cover if you just know where to look from... But most of ppl often tries to kill enemy attack helis in kashan what is well... stupid.. With a good spotters you will get plenty of ground targets to go for (tanks apc etc.) Those are assets you need to get rid of not those attack helicopters, let aav's kill em.

All you need is a skilled spotter, trying to avoid aa missiles. Point is to fly only when you have target pointed for your helicopter. If gunner is not so experienced you should only go for lazed targets or inf targets what you can hit with rockets and cannon. Divebombing really is a good method to be effective NEVER hover that is just a way to get urself shot down.

[AaronFraher]

You fly high because there is not really any possible way to beat these MBT's with 120-125mm lazors, which can be brought to bear on a target with little or no drop in the round in .5-1.0 secs. You can get above the gun elevation of all ground vehicles except the BMP3. Also it means the crew has to scan the sky aswell as ground level/horizon which most rarely do. Flying high also means you have more potential energy if you need to disengage, seen as both the gunship and the target need to be in each others weapon platform engagement envelope to engage. Flying high also means you can be above the ceiling of MANPAD's depending on how high you are.

As you can see all this is completely unrealistic behaviour, but until PR gets Fixed/Rotary wing aircraft into shape it'll have to be done. These examples are specifically from the rotary wing perspective.

[dtacs]

Fact: Birds flying low will always be killed faster than those flying high.

This is due to the lack of vision for alot of players, plus the lack of sounds the chopper makes as it is higher up.

Usually its the retard pilots who do hydra runs who lose the choppers, but alas, they never last no matter what height they fly at.

[boilerrat]

You fly high because there is not really any possible way to beat these MBT's with 120-125mm lazors, which can be brought to bear on a target with little or no drop in the round in .5-1.0 secs. You can get above the gun elevation of all ground vehicles except the BMP3. Also it means the crew has to scan the sky aswell as ground level/horizon which most rarely do. Flying high also means you have more potential energy if you need to disengge, seen as both the gunship and the taraget need to be in each others weapon platform engagement envelope to engage. Flying high also means you can be above the ceiling of MANPAD's depending on how high you are.

As you can see all this is completely unrealistic behaviour, but until PR gets Fixed/Rotary wing aircraft into shape it'll have to be done. These examples are specifically from the rotary wing perspective.

I thought we already had Fixed-wing aircraft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[driver-ch-driver]

I thought we already had Fixed-wing aircraft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

we do, but our map sizes are too small to use them properly...

[K4on]

...especially a-10 and froggy cuz its realy easy to shot it down with a apc or tank if they fly low ..or even with light at, which i did once.

congratulations >.>

[AaronFraher]

I thought we already had Fixed-wing aircraft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We obvioulsy have them. But they have about 10-20% of their RL capabilities, and are limited by vievdistance,mapsize and several other things. Flight model isn't the best aswell, along with other airframe/flight dynamics related things.