Another "just a question"

[Stanhope]

Just like cryo i have a situation i've been faced with a few times recently. And would like to get some advice on.  So the situation:  an AO just finished and i'm (as a pilot with a chopper) close enough to evac people within a minute or so.  When i'm approaching the evacpoint I hear snaps and I can tell that the fire is comming from my 12.  This means that 1 bullet could send the heli crashing into the ground (if that 1 bullet hits the pilot, me).  

 

So what should I do?

( considering: 1 there could still be enemies at the ao targeting me, 2 people like to fire of their guns when the ao finishes, 3 people think firing in the direction of a heli will encourage the pilot to pick them up)

 

What I usually do: bug out as soon as I hear snaps comming from my 12 and, when i'm at a safe distance, tell people not to fire in the direction of my chopper.  Then I go back to evac people.

 

This has on one occasion caused a player to be 'upset' with me and fire his 30mm at my chopper, knocking out the engine and the main and tail rotor.  Causing me to crash, and another pilot having to fly the 10k to the old ao.  This is a bit of an extreme reaction I usually only get called all kind of things.

 

Usually people get mad because I 'waisted their time'.  Yes I did waist a full minute or mayby even 2 minutes of their time.  But if I'm shot down they'll have to wait even longer.

 

So am I handeling it wright or shouldt I handle it differently (an how then)?

[GamerbugUK]

You did, in my opinion, the correct thing, if you go down for any reason it's a lot longer to evac than a mild inconvenience until you know its safe.

 

AI often despawn a bit late, with sniper teams being a typical culprit, and there is no reason for you to think gunfire is anything but at you if you are hearing it.

 

Just let people know you are waving off a minute until it's clear, ask them to do security and check the area with scopes, binos etc and tell them to stop shooting if they are.

 

I don't fly in I&A but the things ground troops do to piss of chopper pilots is numerous, I do feel for you guys (though the things some pilots do is just a annoying).

 

As always record and report idots who target you and take you out.

[Stanhope]

Tnx and yes i also see a lot of pilots doing stuff that annoys me as a pilot and is really annoying inf.

 

And scince that 30mm I now record every time I join one of the servers.

[Amentes]

As a pilot, you are solely responsible for the safety of your passengers and your aircraft.

 

You acted to keep your passengers and aircraft safe. If people moan about that, let them moan, or ask them politely to keep a civil tone.

[Eagle-Eye]

Found myself in the same situation quite a few times, where enemy AI hadn't despawned yet when I got to the evac point, or people fired their gun at the helo so I would notice them (as if the bright orange smoke grenade didn't already do that).

 

Either way, regardless if it's during ingress or evac, if you hear fire and think it's aimed at you, you either bug out and re-assess the LZ, or you put it down really quick. In the end, you're the pilot and thus boss of your helicopter. Basic rule is always: if you don't feel comfortable doing it, don't do it... So if you think you can put it down safely, go for it. If you can't, wave off.
 

In my opinion, doing an "improvised landing" is tricky, and should be avoided as much as possible.

1) You're usually not prepared to land where you eventually end up, and may end in a crash-landing and a bent heli, or a big ball of fire. This also makes you slightly slower (trying to gauge the new aimpoint, estimating your clearance with nearby objects, ...) and may still get you shot because of it.

2) You may land some distance away from the intended LZ or Evac marker where infantry is gathering (which will also get you yelled at, because poor guys with a sore finger after the slightly longer virtual run to AO / heli ).

3) You usually don't know where the fire is coming from. For all you know, you may be landing right in the middle of enemy infantry.

 

In my experience, bugging out is respected by most (or at least they don't want to make a fuss about it) but it may get you yelled at from time to time. I remember this one time I was on short final to an LZ when a Tigris took notice of our helo. Immediately, I took a hard defensive turn, started jinking up, down, left and right to avoid the spray of bullets, but a guy in the back kept verbally yelling over vehicle chat... "No, fly lower, faster. Lower, goddamnit. Okay, put us down here (probably looking at a tiny patch of clearing in the middle of a forest right below us while I was travelling +150km/h), come on, put us down, GOD F*KING DAMNIT PUT US DOWN NOW"). Then, when I did land after about a minute or so, 300m further from AO than intended LZ, I got another mouthful. 

 

Wasn't too bothered by it then, but as I still remember it so vividly, maybe it left a bigger mark than I thought. 

[Amentes]

That's when the phrase "Shut the fuck up" comes into play Eagle

[Eagle-Eye]

At the moment, I was too busy flying like a boss.

[GamerbugUK]

I do get frustrated when pilots don't land at the earliest 'safe' opportunity and try to get just too close to the AO, or on the obvious sheltered side of a hill and land right on top; but at the end of the day its their desicion. Ditto if I mark an LZ about 500 - 1k away from an AO zone, behind the cover of a town, and they plonk it in an open field with enemy CAS flying around.

 

Oh and showboating pilots doing unneccesary rolls, flips, and NOE flying, then get you killed as AA and CAS slaughter them.

 

However as a ground pounder I get just as annoyed at shooting in the air after an AO, shooting at approaching helis, and throwing 20 smoke grenades at an evac point.

 

Either way I just live with it if it's not hurting anyone.

 

 

 

[duffyman]

 

[Stanhope]

@duffyman i personally have seen the entire art of flight series, and highly recommend all pilots to watch at least most of them.

[ZeroZeroSix]

5 hours ago, Gamerbug said:

 

AI often despawn a bit late, with sniper teams being a typical culprit, and there is no reason for you to think gunfire is anything but at you if you are hearing it.

 

On a different note, at what despawn time are we looking at? Personally I never had any trouble with hostiles still being around the old AO once a new one was set up. 

Also I'd like to point out that there's always that one idiot who thinks its funny to shoot in the general direction of the incoming helicopter, throw grenades and loads of smoke around and obviously is better at this horrible game than all of us. 

 

Anyhow, if in doubt rather make the right (=safe) choice so I guess you made the right call. Dont mind the trolls.

 

[Eagle-Eye]

After the mission is completed, it can take up to a few minutes for all hostile units to despawn. If you just dropped some guys at an LZ and are on your way back to base when the mission is completed, immediately turn around and head for the biggest concentration of infantry, 9/10 you're back at the old AO before it's 100% safe.

[GamerbugUK]

16 hours ago, Eagle-Eye said:

After the mission is completed, it can take up to a few minutes for all hostile units to despawn. If you just dropped some guys at an LZ and are on your way back to base when the mission is completed, immediately turn around and head for the biggest concentration of infantry, 9/10 you're back at the old AO before it's 100% safe.

 

One example for me was a side mission where we had to destroy an AA battery. I got to the sandbag area and ended up laying right next to a tank, it couldn't shoot me as I was just too close. The mission completed but the tank was in front of me for about a minute or two blasting away in the direction of distant allied troops, then just disappeared.

[Cebi]

@Stanhope: You can guess calibre and direction of incoming fire. Most of the time I get engaged by 12,7 rounds from E snipers.  

 

What I do is dependent on these factors:

 

What type of Helicopter I am in

MH-9 has obviously no protection and low HP while CH-67 has somewhat protected cockpit from small arms fire and large HP pool. When it is a night it is not difficult to spot muzzle flashes and engage with UH-80 miniguns. If I am riding V-44X then an only thing that can ruin my day very fast is 30mm/40mm cannon APFSDS and bigger or shot from 12,7 through a cockpit canopy.  

 

Can I land in a cover of some hill or a structure?

 If I can spot direction of incoming fire I will try to land in cover or land with your cockpit facing diagonally or away from a threat.

[Stanhope]

@Cebi, I usually fly a ghosthawk or a hummingbird (or pawnee if it happens to spawn)

 

When i'm flying with the humming I will most likely abort the landing and fly to safety unless there is cover real close.  Because which ever caliber it is, it will ruin my day if it hits the engine or me.

 

When i'm flying the ghosthawk it depends on the caliber and the direction the fire is coming from anything from the front can ruin my day real bad, and if it's coming from one of the sides or the back i bug out if i guess it to be more than a 7.62 since they can mess the engine up in a single shot or maybe 2.

[GamerbugUK]

28 minutes ago, Stanhope said:

@Cebi, I usually fly a ghosthawk or a hummingbird (or pawnee if it happens to spawn)

 

When i'm flying with the humming I will most likely abort the landing and fly to safety unless there is cover real close.  Because which ever caliber it is, it will ruin my day if it hits the engine or me.

 

When i'm flying the ghosthawk it depends on the caliber and the direction the fire is coming from anything from the front can ruin my day real bad, and if it's coming from one of the sides or the back i bug out if i guess it to be more than a 7.62 since they can mess the engine up in a single shot or maybe 2.

 

Honestly sounds like you are doing it right, just carry on like this.

[Aegis_RVIR]

holy shit I got quoted in the original post, I feel honored

 

Jokes aside, when you are the pilot, you are in charge of the aircraft and you are 99/100 times responsible for the crashes.

If you feel uneasy with how things are at the moment, simply run and turn later back. There is no shame in living to fly another day.

And if they are yelling at you, tell them that they should come in the pilot seat and fly the heli towards the LZ whilst a tank/tigris is just casually waiting there.

[Auntystatic]

its up to the guys on the ground to make sure the LZ is clear of danger before they call in for evac, if you are taking fire wave off until its safe to come in and tell us ground pounders we are not doing our jobs properly, you won't hear a complaint from me as I'm only good at crashing not flying

[Stanhope]

Something related to this but a bit off topic:

 

Yesterday i was flying to a freshly spawned AO, I marked a safe LZ and a flightpath in advance.  The flightpath was needed to make sure i turned into the right valley and didnt expose my bird to a bunch of enemy vics at the same time.  So there i was cruising at about 170-220 through a valley when suddenly someone in the back decides to delete my flightpath.  Since i didnt have a waypoint set on the LZ (but did mark stuff related to speed on that flightpath) i suddenly had no clue how far i was from the LZ let alone where to go.  So i slow down to a stop and put my heli in autohover, type in chat that i'd return to base if someone deletes my flightpath again and redraw the flightpath, and just to be safe put a waypoint on the LZ and memorize how to fly there.  Guess what happens moments after i had redrawn my flightpath?  Somebody deletes it.  So i slow down, turn around fly 100-200m back and then turn back around and go to the LZ.  Agreed this isnt the best way to handle this, but i'm a bid fed up with people deleting stuff i mark to get them somewhere safely.

This isnt the part that shocked me, this happend to me before (and i did exactly the same).  

The part that shocked me is when 2 guys in my heli decided they would try to votekick me.

The weird thing was that at the moment they tried the votekick me we were traveling at about 200km/h at about 20-50m.  So if i did get votekicked they would all die.  I really dont see the logic in that.  If someone doesnt like the way i fly and asks me to leave the pilot slot for a better pilot and enough people (or the right people, like admins) agree i would do that without any hesitation.  AFTER i got everyone safely out of my heli and put the heli where it belonged.  NOT in the middle of a flight with a nealy full ghosthawk.

 

What do you guys think about this and do you guys know a better way to handle people deleting the stuff you mark on the map?

[SkullCollector]

11 minutes ago, Stanhope said:

What do you guys think about this and do you guys know a better way to handle people deleting the stuff you mark on the map?

 

Mark it in your group channel. Unless you run an open group and such people join it, nobody you don't trust will have access to it. Bonus: it prevents clutter on the map for side.

EU1/2 aren't my domain, but I'm pretty sure chat and map markers work the same way everywhere.

 

And honestly, it's a public server. Dicks will be out and about, so come prepared and have a thick enough skin to ignore whatever flak you get. It shouldn't be up to you to school impatient players, just kindly set the bird down. Have a talk with them if it itches you too much. The odd ones to complain shouldn't make you ruin the game for your other passengers.

[Liru the Lcpl.]

OP question: On the rare times I do fly a bird (and it's always my beautiful MH-6 wiwbirdy), If I here shots, I nope the **** off. If people complain, you simply state the following: Your chopper, your rules. If shots are going off, it's your responsibility as a pilot to keep people safe, even if its from fellow NATO troops. Trust me, the players always bitch more if you actually get shot down. If you're shot down by friendly fire, have that screenshot button ready and see if you can find out who it was, for the next best thing would be to file a player report on that jerk and good riddance.

 

To the new question: ALWAYS draw your flight paths in Vehicle or Group chat. Heck always draw ANYTHING in group or vehicle chat because then, you know it's not going to be deleted unless someone in your vehicle or squad is being a silly silly person and they should get evicted from your vehicle without a parachute or kicked out of the squad. Also, to the votekicking thing, player reports make everything better...

warm regards,
-Wiwu the Wiwbird pilot

[Stanhope]

6 hours ago, SkullCollector said:

 

Mark it in your group channel. Unless you run an open group and such people join it, nobody you don't trust will have access to it. Bonus: it prevents clutter on the map for side.

The only thing i mark in side is the LZ itself, all other things I mark in vehicle, as this is the channel i'm tuned to while flying and with the new update i can't see stuff i marked in other channels.

 

6 hours ago, SkullCollector said:

And honestly, it's a public server. Dicks will be out and about, so come prepared and have a thick enough skin to ignore whatever flak you get.

Well yes, i should work on a 'thicker skin'.

 

6 hours ago, SkullCollector said:

Have a talk with them if it itches you too much. 

I tried, multiple times.  The thing is most people do have the balls to initiate a votekick but not tell whoever they are trying to kick why they are trying to votekick him.

 

4 hours ago, Liru the Lcpl. said:

If you're shot down by friendly fire, have that screenshot button ready and see if you can find out who it was, for the next best thing would be to file a player report on that jerk and good riddance.

As off 3 days ago, i started recording every time i join a public server (because someone shot a 30mm nade at me, killing me and my bird and got away with it).  In those 3 days i managed to capture: 1 mass TK at base, a guy shooting a 30mm at me (what is it that makes my chopper such a good target for 30mm nato grenades?)

 

4 hours ago, Liru the Lcpl. said:

To the new question: ALWAYS draw your flight paths in Vehicle or Group chat. Heck always draw ANYTHING in group or vehicle chat because then, you know it's not going to be deleted unless someone in your vehicle or squad is being a silly silly person and they should get evicted from your vehicle without a parachute or kicked out of the squad. Also, to the votekicking thing, player reports make everything better...

The thing is, i marked it in vehicle.

And filing a player report for someone trying to votekick me?  I personally wouldnt do that.  People may think, hell they can even tell me, that I'm a bad pilot. But all they have to do is tell me and I'll see if there arguments make sense or if there are enough people that think it and i'll have 0 problems leaving the pilot slot FOR A BETTER PILOT.

[GamerbugUK]

Worth noting you can't be votekicked, so they were just wasting thier time.

 

Dicks will be dicks and people will get all bent out of shape for things.

 

Not a lot you can do to stop people removing your map markers except group chat, everythng esle is fair game for better (people using map markers to draw all over the map) or worse (you case of them deleting valid map markers).

[Stanhope]

Yea, i guess i'll mark things in group from now on.  The reason I mark stuff in vehicle is to give the players in my heli a general idea of how long it will take, how i'll fly and so that the gunners know what too look for when.

 

Lets hope there arnt any trolls in the pilot slot or i'd have to make my own private group.

[GamerbugUK]

Trolls in the pilot slot don't last long. 

 

Approach info is useful for the troops but less important than the LZ you designate, so the group solution is best. 

 

Also you can create your own group and make it invite only. Thus no one can delete your markers but you, though only you can see them as well.