How to Guide for Flying Heli Trans

[KarateDoug]

In game name: iAstralPr0jekt.


I imagine some of you may know who I am, some may not, and maybe, possibly, I have managed to make a reputation in the past for flying skills as a trans pilot. I'm pretty sure I have as I have been told multiple times that "you are the best pilot I have ever flown with, thank you"
I only boast because I have absolute confidence that I have reason to and have earned it.
But this is not to say that I haven't messed up as well and killed many inf, it happens to us all.

I will not cover the obvious and simplest aspects of flying such as, basic landing, basic flying and basic comms.

Well to start.
Each heli obviously has it's own characteristics.
But flight techniques are the same either way, pretty much.

1. I'd say that hovering is one of the most important skills one has to master.
Without near perfect hovering, you will let people down more than not.

2. Next I'd say that low flying is absolute key. Flying high makes you an easy target, but flying low makes you an easy target for the re-spawn screen. Gotta master this.

3. Flares. Not enough people use "preventitive measures". Try to use them upon entering and exiting the LZ or a commonly AA armed area. Don't use them for "secretive insertions" Behind enemy lines stuff, unless needed.

4. Flight routes, knowledge of map layouts. Use a bad flight route, enhance the possibility of getting pwned and getting "n00b, learn to fly elsewhere" on the screen.

5. LZ's. Try to adjust your LZ's so that they provide cover for the inf getting out, upon exit. 50% of the time the inf will take fire upon landing. Prepare them for this by giving them an area with plenty of cover.
Don't drop a sniper on top of a hill, he's supposed to be stealthy. Hide his exact drop location.

6. COMMS. Be as accurate as you can, this applies to whether your extracting or inserting. If you're extracting, ensure that your squad knows to be regrouped and if inserting than let them know that you will get them "as close as you safely can".

Learn these and you will be near pro.
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Variations of hovering.

TYPICAL HOVERING:
There's the normal hover which is typically used for huey's.
Easy enough and i doubt this needs to be described much. Master huey based hilltop hover drops and you've got this down. I'd say that steep hilltops, or mountain peaks are the hardest part, in my experience. Such as the mountains of Muttrah City.

NOSE HOVER:
Basically you pull the nose up to the hill, or ridge and, if in a huey or lynx, tell em to get out, or in. But in chinooks or OpFor trans this isn't good for insertions because the back end is typically too high off the ground. But it WILL work for extractions on uneven ground, provided you make the side door accessible for them to hop in.
Visually it would look like a car pulling nose first up to a curb. But in this case you would be hovering with the nose dangerously close to the floor.

SIDEWAYS HOVER:
This, imo, is for the Chinook and OpFor trans Heli's, due to the fact that inf will exit out the rear hatch of these helis, and one inf out the side door.
Imagine a car pulling up lengthwise to a curb, as if someone pulled up lengthwise to your curb in front of your house. But obviously in the heli, hovering dangerously close to the floor.
The idea is that the LZ is uneven and cannot be landed on. So you will pull up lengthwise with the side door closest to the ground. This is awesome for inserting inf on the backside of a hill, or ridge line, unseen. Very useful on Op.Archer
Pull up lengthwise to the ridge, side door closest to the ground, and expect them to bail.
This gives the inf a short fall for both the ones out the rear and the one on the side. Don't drop them 30' up. Make it low.

RIDGE LINE LANDINGS:
the idea is that you land on the crest of the hill, or ridge.
You dont land on the left or right of the ridge, you land evenly on the ridge itself.
This can be done on an upward slope, if it's not too steep. But I've been able to pull it off on what I thought was too steep. So experiment. You can do this with the nose on the higher end, or up-slope. But you cannot do this on a downward slope, nose on the low end. When you do this on an upward slope, upon takeoff the heli will fly quickly backwards. This requires a preventative measure. Ya gotta throttle up and nose forward at the same time but the momentum will fling you forward when you do this, so ya gotta practice, as always.

TRAIN HOVERING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
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LEARN TO FLY LOW, CONSISTENTLY AND EFFECTIVELY:

Flying low is a key component. Flying trans up high is ineffective, imo and not needed, except maybe maybe maybe in Kashan. I hate that map for trans so decide for yourself.
You fly low, in the trees, street and vehicle level and you use all the cover you can. Buildings, trees, hills, ridges. Anything and everything to cover your heli from fire.
Not much to explain here, moving on.
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USE OF FLARES:

use them on the entrance to known or even assumed AA activity. Than again on LZ approach and once more on exit of the LZ and possibly once more after that.
This will save you more often than not.
Typically the first set I will go high nose up, pop flares and than back off the throttle for a second or two to let them get ahead of me. Than return to the low ground.
Nose up, pop flare, throttle down, than dive through and below them.

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USE CONVOY'S:
It's commonly believed that the more heli's used for a mission that the more chance of losing more assets. This is a bunch of BS. I'm not saying you should use all 6 helis to trans 1 guy on Beirut (although it looks freakin kickass!), but you want to have an escort.
This gives the enemy more helis to spread their fire over. Instead of purely focusing their fire on you, they will typically 90% of the time shoot at both, thus causing less damage to you, or the escort.
It saves you more than not. And once again heli convoys look kick ***.

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CRATE DROPS:

You dont need to hover to drop a crate. You can drop crates full speed and they will survive, they will survive pretty high drops too. But you dont wanna slowly pull to a slight hover and drop it. The enemy is gonna know exactly what that means. Make it look like you were hauling *** and accidentally dropped one. It takes practice but you can get pretty accurate with this.
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MAKE THE PASSENGERS SHIT THEIR PANTS:

Once you are confident and consistent with flying like a Mad Man, make each ride a time to prove your stuff. Make them think they are gonna be back at the carrier, or HQ due to your mess up. Than safely land them on their grid.
You will build your reputation if you get good enough at this. And if you're in 1 or 2 servers more than others, you will be known over time and as a result people will pick you, even wait for you, turning other pilots down, just so they have the security that they will most likely survive. And shit their pants.
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Be brave but don't be a dummy. You're not gonna fly a squad upside down through the streets of Muttrah.


And for heavens sake, get some video footage. Not enough trans videos out there.

[sharpie]

QUite helpful, thanks Astral

[goguapsy]

Be brave but don't be a dummy. You're not gonna fly a squad upside down through the streets of Muttrah.

Ok, I was actually thinking of that while reading the thread.

KarateDoug, you psychic?


P.S. Thanks for the hovering part (my biggest problem with the huey (only chopper I fly or LB) is that I can't get low enough on a hill top... how close should I be hovering? And how can I tell if enough is enough for them to jump?

Thanks!

[AnimalMother.]

pretty good stuff


only pointer about the sideways hover is that you have to be extremely careful not to touch down just one side of the chopper on the hill. It almost 100% results in a rolling motion that with the chinook leads to very messy situations.

but practice practice practice!

(and i think flying upside down low over muttrah is good, makes the enemy look at you in awe whilst they get slayed by friendly forces )

[Jigsaw]

CAPS FTW?

No. Thread re-named.

Otherwise good guide.

[Nickbond592]

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MAKE THE PASSENGERS SHIT THEIR PANTS:

Once you are confident and consistent with flying like a Mad Man, make each ride a time to prove your stuff. Make them think they are gonna be back at the carrier, or HQ due to your mess up. Than safely land them on their grid.
You will build your reputation if you get good enough at this. And if you're in 1 or 2 servers more than others, you will be known over time and as a result people will pick you, even wait for you, turning other pilots down, just so they have the security that they will most likely survive. And shit their pants.
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Be brave but don't be a dummy. You're not gonna fly a squad upside down through the streets of Muttrah.

Worked for me

Ps, good little guide

[KarateDoug]

KarateDoug, you psychic? Yes, yes I am.

how close should I be hovering? And how can I tell if enough is enough for them to jump?

Thanks!

It really comes down to practice with a friend. A friend can tell you when you're getting low enough. Once you know what that looks like from the different cockpits you'll repeat it. The lower the better, but obviously if you're too low than you're walking a very fine line.

"only pointer about the sideways hover is that you have to be extremely careful not to touch down just one side of the chopper on the hill. It almost 100% results in a rolling motion that with the chinook leads to very messy situations."

I agree on that one. This pretty much goes for all hovering situations and I gotta say that the sideways hover and the nose hover have always been the toughest for me to pull off. But it can and has been done and then repeated effectively and consistently. Ya wanna be low, but ya dont want those wheels touching. That's gonna flip you and wipe people out. Once again, practice with a buddy.



Low Flying Training.
I find that the best place to train for this is on an empty Qin Ling round or Muttrah. Just take the heli's and start flying through the trees, buildings, streets, canyons, as low as ya can. Push your limits as much as ya can. Basically train until you're getting as good as you feel you should be. Train with a friend if you can.
if you can manage to fly all of qin ling, through it's trees, full speed, twice. Than you are good to go as far as low flying goes, imo.
But how's your hovering?

[KarateDoug]

Worked for me

Ps, good little guide

Yeah, NickBond has his name in the "Pilots Recommendation" thread more than any other pilot. I think I may have a spot in there, but I believe I had to bribe someone to put it in there. Thank's NickBond, your feedback is much appreciated.

If my comp didnt die, I would've actually made a whole video tutorial on this, in HD. Words will have to suffice.

[goguapsy]

But how's your hovering?

Interesting suggestions, might try those out.

And my hovering is like... I know how to hover, I just take a little time controling my chopper sideways (vulnerable to guns you know?)

BTW any tips on braking fast? I think the best way is to hit S, Down and Right (or Left)... But I... you know, got a headwind (yes, PR does simulate headwind because what happened was ridiculous) and I flew abour 300km/h backwards for 150m trying to control it until I hit the mountains... In muttrah, of course.

[KarateDoug]

Well, Im a joystick user and advocate.

For braking. I throttle down, nose up a lil and pitch it left or right and than return it to straight and level.

To practice Hovering.....hmmmm. There's a peak in Muttrah, commonly used by snipers. I believe it's Grid A3. If you can manage to hover the nose right on that peak low and consistently (in an empty server) you can hover anywhere. that hill top has always been a pain in the arse for me. Or just try to master a level hover on the landing pad or carrier deck. In a huey, 21% is the perfect throttle. It wont go up or down (unless you're unleveled). It will stay put perfectly. I've actually known people who could set it perfectly and go make sandwich, or a run to the bathroom and the huey would still be in the same exact position when they returned. 21% with no left or right movement. However, a joystick is needed for that and lots of patience.

[goguapsy]

Well, Im a joystick user and advocate.

For braking. I throttle down, nose up a lil and pitch it left or right and than return it to straight and level.

To practice Hovering.....hmmmm. There's a peak in Muttrah, commonly used by snipers. I believe it's Grid A3. If you can manage to hover the nose right on that peak low and consistently (in an empty server) you can hover anywhere. that hill top has always been a pain in the arse for me. Or just try to master a level hover on the landing pad or carrier deck. In a huey, 21% is the perfect throttle. It wont go up or down (unless you're unleveled). It will stay put perfectly. I've actually known people who could set it perfectly and go make sandwich, or a run to the bathroom and the huey would still be in the same exact position when they returned. 21% with no left or right movement. However, a joystick is needed for that and lots of patience.

Cool thanks, I'll try that with a joystick. I have a problem though, my joystick is so big that it's hard to control in a room, because it keeps hitting the walls when I'm trying to steer the chopper, and it always rains when I'm in an intense flight. What should I do?

[KarateDoug]

wtf? sounds like either its the size of a big rigs shifter or you're playing in a cardboard box.

[goguapsy]

wtf? sounds like either its the size of a big rigs shifter or you're playing in a cardboard box.

Yeah, if you compare my shifter with my room, the room looks like a cardboard box.

Any suggestions?

[L4gi]

NickBond has his name in the "Pilots Recommendation" thread more than any other pilot.

Nick cant fly at all... This one time on Muttrah we were doing CAS with him flying the LB and me shooting a SAW, when all of a sudden he flew into a building. He mustve bribed someone too...

[0331SgtSpyUSMC]

Good tutorial man

Cool thanks, I'll try that with a joystick. I have a problem though, my joystick is so big that it's hard to control in a room, because it keeps hitting the walls when I'm trying to steer the chopper, and it always rains when I'm in an intense flight. What should I do?

goguapsy troll much? I'm surprised you have not been banned yet for all the useless spam that you leave

[goguapsy]

Good tutorial man




goguapsy troll much? I'm surprised you have not been banned yet for all the useless spam that you leave

How do I troll much...? I try to keep it on topic.

I was talking about my joystick BTW.



On-topic I though Cpl. Mallard was the top suggested one? He's got some 1337 flying skills in Ramiel with his BlackHawk, might wanna take a look into that.

BTW KarateDoug could you make a guide for Huey CAS please?

[KarateDoug]

BTW KarateDoug could you make a guide for Huey CAS please?

I'm horrible with CAS. Can't do.