How do you land helicopter smoothly?

[☯CentaurW4♞]

When I was trying to land the chopper, 80% of the time the chopper will inevitably slide and bump into objects. What's the collective setting for trying to land? Any easy way to land the chopper? My landing success rate is 50/50 which is really irritating, whenever I thought I got the trick I messed up the next time. Please some experienced pilots tell me what I should do.

[Dutch Plan Der Linde]

Press G, it makes u auto hover, then hold own Ctrl. Make sure u have it preset in your mind will u will land in the future, have it planned out. Also make sure u can actually fit in the LZ.

[NotFuji]

I'd advise not using autohover, it makes you incredibly easy to hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AG3ba7LkYo

This is for Arma, but it applies to any game with helicopters.

[☯CentaurW4♞]

Originally posted by NotFuji:

I'd advise not using autohover, it makes you incredibly easy to hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AG3ba7LkYo

This is for Arma, but it applies to any game with helicopters.

Yeah even with G, it is still very hard to land smoothly and it will make you an easy target. Thanks for the video. I think it can help a lot.

[ChaosBahamut]

When in doubt, give the Pilot training map a try. That way you can get practice without pissing off your team.

[FBlue]

Originally posted by ChaosBahamut:

When in doubt, give the Pilot training map a try. That way you can get practice without pissing off your team.

I still suck at helicopters. I didn't like the practice map that much. Found that Song Be was a bit better to practice on. Hit either the "`" or "F3" keys to get into console. Then type "open vnsu-songbe" and it will open that map. You can do this for any map. You can also add bots with "add bots (enter number of bots)"

[Karl Pilkington]

well it depends mainly on how you enter the LZ.

for instance, when I'm going to land back at base, and I want to reload and get back up ASAP, I come in full speed with half or under collective, do a sharp u turn at 90 degree roll, roll back up right and apply a little collective just a few feet above the ground and land softly. But that is after a lot of practice.

you don't want to try to land straight forward after flying particularly fast, as it takes a while to simultaneously slow the heli and reduce lift. Try entering LZ's in a sharp turn attitude, and level out and counter act any drift before you touch the ground.
This sharp turn allows the rotor disc to slide downward through the air rather than catching it. You're basically autorotating the whole time (low to no collective) then you pop collective back some right before touchdown. and altogether it is stitched as a smooth combat landing.

Try paying attention to that floating ball that drifts around in the middle of your gauges. That tells you your horizontal/compass vector. Try to get it in the center, that is where you will land. Further out from the center tells you at what rate you are going to head in that direction. center means you have no velocity in any particular direction (hover). But in real world this is not used much. But for practice you want to move the mouse in the opposite direction of the ball (it's left of center, move mouse right until it's centered). After doing this several hundred times it will be second nature.


If you're forced into entering an LZ head on, try to fly as low as possible so you're not going to take a while to flare. Flare (pull back hard) right in front of LZ to knock off your airspeed combined with zero collective then level out again to come to touch down such that your tail doesn't hit the ground first (but have it close for best time performance) You want to sort of pivot around the where the tail is over the LZ as you pitch forward to land.

[☯CentaurW4♞]

Originally posted by Thrashaero:

well it depends mainly on how you enter the LZ.

for instance, when I'm going to land back at base, and I want to reload and get back up ASAP, I come in full speed with half or under collective, do a sharp u turn at 90 degree roll, roll back up right and apply a little collective just a few feet above the ground and land softly. But that is after a lot of practice.

you don't want to try to land straight forward after flying particularly fast, as it takes a while to simultaneously slow the heli and reduce lift. Try entering LZ's in a sharp turn attitude, and level out and counter act any drift before you touch the ground.
This sharp turn allows the rotor disc to slide downward through the air rather than catching it. You're basically autorotating the whole time (low to no collective) then you pop collective back some right before touchdown. and altogether it is stitched as a smooth combat landing.

Try paying attention to that floating ball that drifts around in the middle of your gauges. That tells you your horizontal/compass vector. Try to get it in the center, that is where you will land. Further out from the center tells you at what rate you are going to head in that direction. center means you have no velocity in any particular direction (hover). But in real world this is not used much. But for practice you want to move the mouse in the opposite direction of the ball (it's left of center, move mouse right until it's centered). After doing this several hundred times it will be second nature.

Thanks, the video someone sent helps a lot. Your comment helps a lot too. Im just frustrated sometimes I land like a pro and sometimes I slide into oblivion. I just don't know exactly how you land slowly and steady.

[TheStranger]

I am still struggling to fly and land helos. I read guides and also wached videos (including the one from ARMA), but I can't get the hang of it. It can't be that hard. Well probably too hard for me. I know what I want to do, but the helo feels so sluggish and always does the opposite.

Or maybe there is a guide out there that explains all controls? Perhaps flying would be easier with a Joystick.

Although it is of course a complete different thing I have no problems flying and landing ships in Elite: Dangerous.

[[PBS] Ben Dover]

I just fly straight towards the lz, push my nose up while i hold the decrease button to reduce speed and altitude. You save alot of time doing it and its much easier than turning around before landing

[☯CentaurW4♞]

Thanks guys, I already have no problem landing slowly by picking up my nose before entering the LZ and just smoothly approach LZ. I just need more practice on the sharp turning landing, that one takes a lot more practice. But overall I've improved for the past couple days, thank you guys for all the tips.

[TheStranger]

Yeah thx a lot for the tips! I guess it just needs a lot of practice, because I managed to land the helo now a few times without being blasted to smithereens :)

I also read that it is better to use the advanced flight model, because with the normal one it auto adjusts the collective meter. Are there any other differences between the two models?

[NotFuji]

Just the collective

[Karl Pilkington]

Originally posted by Ben Dover:

I just fly straight towards the lz, push my nose up while i hold the decrease button to reduce speed and altitude. You save alot of time doing it and its much easier than turning around before landing

this is only true if the turn radius is large. if you do a tight 180 while rolling into the turn (like within the radius of the repair zone at base), it will shed that lift immediately where it's much faster than staying level since the blades start spinning faster with low collective while you are level and still creates some lift, despite the blade pitch angle is less it is being driven by the incoming air pressure from below and therefore creates a lot drag going towards the ground. when the rotor disc is tilted towards perpendicular with the ground, it will slide downward through the air much easier.

[NotFuji]

Originally posted by Thrashaero:

Originally posted by Ben Dover:

I just fly straight towards the lz, push my nose up while i hold the decrease button to reduce speed and altitude. You save alot of time doing it and its much easier than turning around before landing

this is only true if the turn radius is large. if you do a tight 180 while rolling into the turn, it will shed that lift immediately where it's much faster than staying level since the blades start spinning faster with low collective while you are level and still creates some lift, despite the blade pitch angle is less it is being driven by the incoming air pressure from below and therefore creates a lot drag going towards the ground.

Not only that, flaring your nose upwards like that is pretty counterintuitive to landing, since you're gaining altitude from transitional lift while trying to lower altitude by dropping collective.

[Kaixer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-5ZLYfo3Zo
I don't understand much about what he says but... yeah...