Where have all the good pilots gone?

[piethawn]

Isnt that a song???????? LOL

[Masaq]

It does worry me when some servers say Squad Leaders can't be pilots- being able to communicate directly with the commander who can relay requests for CAS or pickups is a great bonus when you're flying.

Found last night that it's a real bugger on Kashan to get the location of anything via the spotting system. The map's so damn huge, more often than not the only indication of where the spotted hostile is, is the blinking blue/yellow symbol of your teammate who just called out. When it's an AAV, that's just not enough for me to warrant getting close!

[Bonsai]

Yep! Especially on maps with the new size a well placed attack marker on ground targets is a big advantage.

[KP]

I can get by with the transport choppers, except the BH, which I loathe. Never seem to get the hang of that. Love the Merlin and Littlebird, though.

Never fly planes, but I pick up an attack chopper once in a while. Gunner or pilot, I'm not picky. Usually gunner, though, as I get a bit of lag now and then (especially on the newest Basrah).

[bosco_]

I fly everything, but I dont feel like fighting over air assets with 5 other guys, so I go tanking instead (for example)

[Colfax]

bosco']I fly everything, but I dont feel like fighting over air assets with 5 other guys, so I go tanking instead (for example)

I've noticed as of lately that less people are flying Jets in Kashan. I think guys are flying the F16s and Migs and realizing that unless they want to dogfight which some pilots love (like me) it is pointless to fly them. Since there are no bombs they cant get uber scores. And on top of that waiting for them to respawn when they crash them is a pain along with the hefty negative ticket count.

The Bombers on the other hand i personally love to fly but more often then not there are some guys waiting for them.

[ArmedDrunk&Angry]

I can tell you why I don't fly.
I got on a 3 person server with Colfax and took a F16.
I lasted about 1 minute the first time and never saw more than a glimpse of him the second.
Some of us are just ground pounders and need to accept that fact.

[Butmonkey]

I hate pilots who bail on you when the chopper takes damage.

On Kufrah Oilfields I jumped in the littlebird as an assault. The pilot flew me to refinery, on the ground there was a full enemy squad. He wanted me to jump out in the middle of them, I stayed put. It would be suicide. As we flew off we took some fire, got a fair bit away when it started beeping. He bails. I'm sitting in this chopper unable to do anything while he bails to safety. Instead of trying to land the thing. I end up smashing into the ground.

I can't fly, well I can, but its more of a crashing with style. But at that moment in time I did miss the old vBF2, pilot bails you steal the chopper so you can attempt a landing.

[ArmedDrunk&Angry]

Well given the 30s warm up time even if you had a pilot's kit you would probably crash.
I did do an autorotation once though when the pilot got d/c'd about 30ft off the ground.
The rotors started to spool up and I flared before I hit the ground and survived, although the Merlin was so damaged it would not take off.

[Butmonkey]

well the actual descent was rather slow. It wasn't like dropping a brick, more like a feather for some reason.

[Mongolian_dude]

I hate pilots who bail on you when the chopper takes damage.

I see it fit to only bail when the chopper has lost all positive collective and pressing W does jack all, leading you swiftly downwards.
Losing the pedal or pitch/roll is not the end of the bird.
Many times have I flown back to the carrier, without half or more of the above, after a close encounter with AAA, and I find it actualy improves your ability as a Pilot, especialy for attack aircraft.

And Btw, the poor negative collective can be very useful, which greatly outwieghs the lacking ability to decend altitude.

...mongol...

[daranz]

Pressing W ejects me out of the chopper! Yikes!

Though, seriously, even if the chopper is on fire and in two pieces, I wouldn't leave any passengers behind just to save my own ***.

[Lydecker]

Gimme 109'er and BF 1942. None will survive. Not planes, tanks, soldiers or your nerves. J/K.

Jets bore me. No skill, just going round and round in a damn aluminium tube 1000km per hour. I've flown them like 2 times. Once in vanilla and once in PR. Boring, I say! Choppers in PR are tricky. My old trusty Sidewinder is starting to have a bit too much (+ erratic) deadzone to be any good. LB's get tripped real easy and that damn Blackhawk sometimes takes off FAST. Attack choppers are pretty much useless.. either no gunner, bad gunner or some dickhead crashing in with a jet 2 seconds after takeoff. Did I mention boring??

I liked the Desert Combat choppers in '42. Easy, but skill was definately needed to be effective.

Ahh, FH2 will be soon here and I can own the sky again..

[Lothrian]

Attack choppers are awesome! They are either brilliant for the opposite team due to no gunner, therefore its a way of keeping the enemy numbers down (1 man choppers cant hit anything normally) or they are the deadliest vehicle in the game. Rarely is it in the middle.

I dislike jets, there really is no skill to them.

However, its scout and transport pilots that get all my respect. Anyone who can do extraction and insertion in heavy combat zones, or difficult terrain, is helping the team out much more than any jet, tank or attack chopper. Transports are also some of the hardest to handle, with almost no defences. That's were the skill lies, not in the other air assets.

[bigmoose332]

I dislike jets, there really is no skill to them.

Id like to get in a dogfight with you, lock on to you, and watch you shake off the missile.

Id like to see you keep up with every move I make with split second accuracy.

Furthermore, it's naive to say it takes no skill to fly a jet

Bigmoose

[Lothrian]

Your to fast for most things to hit, missiles cant pull the same moves as a plane therefore often miss, you have more armour than a grunt, you have massive fire power etc.

Jets really are point and shoot.

[bigmoose332]

Your to fast for most things to hit, missiles cant pull the same moves as a plane therefore often miss, you have more armour than a grunt, you have massive fire power etc.

Jets really are point and shoot.

You've clearly never faught with a really skilled jet pilot, and on that note, until you have - I refuse to comment further

Bigmoose

[El_Vikingo]

@ Lothrian

Not really, you have to use tactics in jets too. My trick is to stay high, untill someone marks a tank/APC, then dive in, unleash a AGM and go straight up again.

If there is no skill involved, how come everyone Ive seen take a jet crash it straight into the ground or a hillside?

[Lothrian]

Because they are going to fast. Its the same as driving a car, but you have an extra axis to contend with. In the same respect, take a Vodnik. I think we can all agree it takes no skill to drive one, even fast through a city or across open terrain, and yet the principle is the same thing (and people still role them ... its a bump, don't turn and accelerate!!!).

Maybe its me, I just don't see it. A good squad has a much greater influence on the battlefield in PR than a good pilot. In reality, piloting takes a lot of skill, but in game, its kind of arcadey compared to flight sims, so I see it as far less skill to pilot one.