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Get to the choppa!
How to fly the helicopters, in reply...
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Most people will be happy with the above two posts and a bit of playing around. But if you're still having trouble, this is your troubleshooting section. Bear in mind that this is a shitload harder to type than it is to do, so don't fret too much about the wall o' text. Handy tips below are in italics, and I'll assume you are using my gamepad setup from here on in.
If you can, get into an empty server to try this out. You're going to want to start with the Blackhawk (it's easier to fly, and has a more informative HUD) so join as attackers, bomb the first three points, then switch to defenders and jump in the Blackhawk. In rough order of difficulty:
TAKING OFF
Alright, first thing is getting off the helipad. This is mercifully simple. Increase your SPEED (left stick, up) and you're up up and away. Landing will not be so simple.
From here, you can generally keep your SPEED held up (left stick, up) while you figure out the other basics. It'd certainly be embarrasing to crash because you forgot about that whole vertical lift thing. Later on, you can play with varying speed in various situations.
ATTACK RUNS
Assuming you haven't touched the other stick, you should now be in a HOVER above the helipad. PITCH UP (nudge your right stick forward, and be gentle at first) and the nose of the chopper will go down (assuming you haven't inverted settings). You'll start drifting forward, and losing a bit of altitude. You can counter some of the loss of altitude by keeping SPEED up, but this isn't always necessary. Woo, moving forwards! The natural progression of this is attack runs that you will do in the Apache. For now, in the Blackhawk, try tilting your nose down about 10 or 20 degrees (you can see your pitch on the HUD) and get used to flying forward at this speed. When you need to stop, you can return to a HOVER by PITCHING DOWN (right stick back) until you are level again. Now, play with a couple of the controls and then try to return to a hover (ROLL LEFT/RIGHT and PITCH DOWN will attempt to auto-correct to a hover if you let go of the sticks).
Remember to be far more gentle with the right stick (PITCH and ROLL). These are generally what cause you to crash.
BASIC TURNS
Pfft, you want to turn now? The nerve. Basic, no crash turns are easy (and slow, but baby steps here). Simply YAW in the direction of your choice (left stick, left or right). If you've just been on a fast ATTACK RUN your nose is probably still pointing at the ground, so you'll likely need to also PITCH DOWN (right stick down) a bit to bring the nose back to level while you turn. To finish, gain a bit of altitude with SPEED UP (left stick up) after the turn. You're ready for anouther attack run.
You're now at the point where people won't fear getting in a chopper with you, congrats!
BADASS TURNS
I know what you're thinking, that basic turn looked lame. Really lame. How are you going to pick up ladies in this chopper if you don't look like a badass? A more difficult (and, importantly, much tighter) turn can be done using both sticks. Basically, YAW (left stick L/R) and ROLL (right stick L/R) in the same direction at the same time. What makes this tricky is that you'll need to pay attention to your PITCH and SPEED at the same time. By now you should be getting a feel for what you need to do -- PITCH the nose back (right stick back) a bit while turning so you don't crash, and increase your SPEED so that you gain some altitude (left stick forward).
This is good: http://www.shackpics.com/awwwww_yeah_a0xjx00ovgihnkkzc5jc.png
This is not: http://www.shackpics.com/holy_shitballs_35eecghzm465yi14kzsr.png
View of the HUD inside the chopper: http://www.shackpics.com/files/HUD_lirjyo6x6uxoldqzsxhz.png
(try to keep the tilt of that middle line, which indicates your roll, less than about 45 degrees at first, or flaming wrecks will ensue).
It's a good idea to learn to do this in both first and third person view (LB). Third-person view is invaluable if you're cornering near cranes or other obstacles.
LANDING
If you have made it to this point, landing is all you have left. You're trying to setup a HOVER above the helipad, so while you're approaching the helipad, try to straighten out your ROLL and PITCH to level (as I said above, everything but forward PITCH auto-corrects, so you can effectively let go of the sticks unless you are plummeting towards the ground). Kill your forward momentum by PITCHING DOWN (right stick down) gently. Switch to the exterior view of the helo (LB) and slowly kill your SPEED (left stick down) until you touch down. You can actually make fairly rough landings with no damage, so don't pretend like you're landing an egg or something.
Well, that's all I've got. Post your helo tips and tricks in reply, and make me a better pilot :)
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