Project Reality Forums

Well it's rare to see pilots ejecting because :

1. Most of the time your jet/chopper dies in 1 shot, not leaving you enough time to bail
2. Most pilots will try to go back to base and repair before going down
3. There is still this feeling from vBF2 which taught a pilot to not eject but die instead, so he can respawn at main faster and grab the next jet/chopper (even if this is invalid in PR due to long assets spawn times)
4. You need to be at about 300m to eject without hurting yourself when hitting the ground
5. On the ground, you do not have a really big role with your pistol

Pvt.LHeureux wrote:Well it's rare to see pilots ejecting because :

1. Most of the time your jet/chopper dies in 1 shot, not leaving you enough time to bail
2. Most pilots will try to go back to base and repair before going down
3. There is still this feeling from vBF2 which taught a pilot to not eject but die instead, so he can respawn at main faster and grab the next jet/chopper (even if this is invalid in PR due to long assets spawn times)
4. You need to be at about 300m to eject without hurting yourself when hitting the ground
5. On the ground, you do not have a really big role with your pistol

6. Transport pilots won't take the risk to go in hot zones to pick up ONE pilot. So once ejected, you're basically on your own and screwed.

In PR the asset is more valuable than your own life.

Bob of Mage wrote:Shouldn't only jet pliots get parachutes? I would think that making a limited jet pliot kit would be the best idea, if thats the way it is in the real life.

This is honestly the best way to deal with it. First of all, helicopters rarely fly at heights required for the parachute to open safely. Secondly, the only viable way for the pilot to parachute from a helicopter is the way the EC Tiger works: The rotor blades are jettisoned from the rotor mast, allowing the pilot to be ejected to a safe distance before opening his parachute.

That also brings up the point that since most helicopters lack this provision, jumping out and opening your chute too soon risks getting it caught in the rotor blades.

Sources: Research, my grandpa was a US Army forward observer in helicopters during the Vietnam war

MikeJT wrote:Just curious, how often does everyone actually see a pilot eject?

Been playing for ages, never seen it.

While playing PR:F I've ejected quite a few times and had to request CASEVAC

A few of thous times however I forgot to drop my pilot kit then jump in the back of the chopper, just to find it taking off before I can jump out and drop my kit

Or request kit from chopper or crate if you forget the drop kit trick.

Fine as it is really IMHO.

PLODDITHANLEY wrote:Or request kit from chopper or crate if you forget the drop kit trick.

Fine as it is really IMHO.

You can drop a kit anywhere, just not inside a chopper which doesn't help if its taken off just after you've realized that you haven't dropped your kit

Also you can only request a pilot kit from the chopper itself so that doesn't help either

Doh thought we could request anything.

After playing for 4 years I only learnt last night that choppers could reload from the Dam Helipad on Jabal - never seen it done before.

PLODDITHANLEY wrote:After playing for 4 years I only learnt last night that choppers could reload from the Dam Helipad on Jabal - never seen it done before.

lol, must be a left over supply object from vBF2.

PLODDITHANLEY wrote:Doh thought we could request anything.

After playing for 4 years I only learnt last night that choppers could reload from the Dam Helipad on Jabal - never seen it done before.

Used it before to repair a Huey that was on fire.

Just like tv stations. ^^

Constantly switching seats will also help you if you should forget to drop your pilot kit before entering a transport chopper (might be fixed for 1.0? ).

Pvt.LHeureux wrote:Well it's rare to see pilots ejecting because :

1. Most of the time your jet/chopper dies in 1 shot, not leaving you enough time to bail
2. Most pilots will try to go back to base and repair before going down
3. There is still this feeling from vBF2 which taught a pilot to not eject but die instead, so he can respawn at main faster and grab the next jet/chopper (even if this is invalid in PR due to long assets spawn times)
4. You need to be at about 300m to eject without hurting yourself when hitting the ground
5. On the ground, you do not have a really big role with your pistol

I think this really needs to change. Especially #1. It seems AA is a very hit or miss afair. You either hit and take it down or miss and it keeps on going unaffected. Rarely do I see a chopper 'take damage' and need to RTB or land immediately. Would be nice to see a helicopter lose a tail rotor, or a jet lose 1 or both engines, or even lose part of a wing, rudder or stabiliser, severely altering its flight characteristics (eg. lose an elevator and you can pitch up and down as easily, lose both and you can't at all. Lose your rudderfin and you can control the yaw of the plane. Lose a wingtip and your plane rolls towards that side and requires more thrust to maintain level flight). I don't know if this is all possible within the BF2 engine however, and it would be a lot of work to implement it in a game where there's usually only 1 jet pilot needed per side on most maps which even have jets.

saXoni wrote:In PR the asset is more valuable than your own life.

This is also a shame, but not much can be done about it I guess. I was thinking though, if it was possible to link the pilots life to the respawn of the vehicle. eg. If a pilot is shot down, ejects, survives, gets picked up, and returned to base, the jet respawn timer is cut by 50% or something? Being on the side with no air support really sucks. I think rescuing pilots would become a more common occurance if getting them back to base meant you get your air support back sooner (even if another pilot ends up flying it).

[R-DEV]Rhino wrote:While playing PR:F I've ejected quite a few times and had to request CASEVAC

Falklands is an exception to the rule though. There's 6 jets to be piloted. Rarely is there 6 REALLY good pilots on a team, and if you prove yourself as a competant pilot, then your team is probably much more willing to get you back to a jet.

That being said, think we've hijacked this thread enough?

Sorry OP.

Arggg, i have died by this so many times!

I'm such a nub..

I think the Jet Pilot kit and Helicopter Pilot kit is a great idea
It would solve the pilot paradrop problem ^^

And I don't think the Refractor Engine can support destruction physics on vehicles... But, I might be wrong

Maybe make a separate heli and jet kit. Heli one doesnt have a parachute. Also, you can only use them in respective vehicles ofcourse. Limiting them would result in smacktarding... This doesnt help recovering downed jet pilots though...

Bob of Mage wrote:Shouldn't only jet pliots get parachutes? I would think that making a limited jet pliot kit would be the best idea, if thats the way it is in the real life.

Good idea, not sure if it would cause confusion etc. Plus it would take alot of work separating the kits. Care to work on it?


If you want to get picked up, you throw your smoke, then drop your kit. Simple as that.

I don't like separating the kit. Makes it even more complicated.

Separating the kits would also allow proper jet pilot kit geometries, right now it looks pretty silly.

I asked before but I don't remember the answer given, why doesn't the vanilla feature where you enter a jet and get the flight suit, helmet and mask get used in PR?

the jet or attack helo is worth 100 times more than the life of the pilot, so going down with it in an attempt to save it is the best option, usually, as any chance to save it is worth it. Sometimes, the second man will bail, but not often. Ive managed to land a very damaged jet maybe once, and saved countless helos while landing them on fire.

Also, rolling a chopper on its side and hopping out is certainly doable in a helicopter, in real life.