Really low flying and helicopters

[TF6049]

People often complain about AA and SAMs killing them too often. The simple fact is, that if you fly at 12-15 alt off the ground/treetops/whatever and don't stay in one place for more than 5-10 seconds in a hilly or urban map, you are much less likely to get locked, and therefore much less likely to die.

Thoughts?

[SgtFailure]

People often complain about AA and SAMs killing them too often.

Not forgetting the all deadly Anti-Helicopter HAT Kit.

and yes, its less likely to get locked when the chopper is flying low and fast, but a well-placed AA can easily lock a low flying huey/cobra/little bird even in maps like muttrah. for example, an AA placed on the slope of the mountains surrounding the city provides a good vantage point in which the AA can lock on and take down low flying choppers.

and imho, locking on to choppers can make the pilot panic and crash into the ground or nearby buildings, so its not about hitting the chopper all the time.

[Alex6714]

Depending on the enemy assets, flying low is the best solution.

There are many things to break your lock and you are less visible.

Hence why I did it this way in this video, even back when there were vodniks, easy to avoid if you have a building between you.

For example the AA on the mosque at the beginning that didnt see us coming.



But it depends on the situation and what you are trying to achieve.

[thejollyroger12345]

oh alex, u make cry when i miss the hellfire spams

[[SAF]stal20048]

Am i right in saying the bf2 AA has a usage ceiling at around 700ft, tested it once when squad leader of nato 2s air squad and found that one out. The problem with low flying being its counter productive on a wide open and flat map such as kashan, or even quinling, if the AA is perched on a hilltop.

[McBumLuv]

In a helicopter, yes. Low flying is a death wish on maps like Kashan, mainly. You could possibly get away with it on quinling because of the lower view distance (meaning you can't get spotted as easily from high flying helis), and the many hills and valleys. In a jet, however, low flying is something quite hard to do, but it can be pulled off, and it's something I'd love to learn how to effectively do.

It's mainly about knowing your opponent, and reacting to the environment. IE, coming in from different angles on Baracuda, and knowing how much risk you can attempt (higher risk for higer gain against completely incompetent enemy, or extremely conservative use when you're unsure of them).

[Cpl.Small]

Flying low is a good tactic if you're a good pilot not many people can do it low and fast on say muttrah through all the buildings. But yer for maps like kashan get up high bout 400-600 ft up in the clouds

[JohnTheRipper]

well the chain gun on the cobra of attack helos can go beyond visual range so a lead who spotting your hits can help you kill AA well being outside it's range.
but i'm not sure how far the rounds will travel before disappearing.

[TF6049]

stal20048;989969']Am i right in saying the bf2 AA has a usage ceiling at around 700ft, tested it once when squad leader of nato 2s air squad and found that one out. The problem with low flying being its counter productive on a wide open and flat map such as kashan, or even quinling, if the AA is perched on a hilltop.

But on maps like Muttrah it dominates.

[Alex6714]

stal20048;989969']Am i right in saying the bf2 AA has a usage ceiling at around 700ft, tested it once when squad leader of nato 2s air squad and found that one out. The problem with low flying being its counter productive on a wide open and flat map such as kashan, or even quinling, if the AA is perched on a hilltop.

Im not sure what you mean?

It will lock until view distance o for example on kashan further (1300m) and the missile will track the aircraft all across the map if it needs too.

[Zi8]

Low flying has its place every now and then, but sometimes pilots take too much risks. Once LB pilot flied over my minefield in Qwai and I blew him up with my C4

[SgtFailure]

Low flying has its place every now and then, but sometimes pilots take too much risks. Once LB pilot flied over my minefield in Qwai and I blew him up with my C4

Now thats epic would like to try that someday..

[503]

Low flying has its place every now and then, but sometimes pilots take too much risks. Once LB pilot flied over my minefield in Qwai and I blew him up with my C4

Damn. That is awesome.

Low flying with jets is difficult and not necessarily a good thing. You can probably use it to evade AA's and jets for about 2 seconds. Or try to shake a jet off your tail by trying to make him crash into a tree or the ground, but usually it doesn't work well.

Helicopters flying low has advantages such as a lot of cover on urban maps. It's still pretty good on Kashan and Qinling. Just hope that you don't get a massive lag spike though or you'll crash.

[TF6049]

IRL Attack Helis hide behind terrain, ready a missile and lock onto the target, pop up, fire, and pop down.

[Don Promille]

People often complain about AA and SAMs killing them too often. The simple fact is, that if you fly at 12-15 alt off the ground/treetops/whatever and don't stay in one place for more than 5-10 seconds in a hilly or urban map, you are much less likely to get locked, and therefore much less likely to die.

Thoughts?

Thats only partially true. If an attackhelo has to deal with an enemy AA the crucial point is to appear where the AA does not expect the helo to appear. Therefore you can not say flying deep is the best solution.
Especially on Kashan you have to be very careful with the coice of your tactics. If you fly high you can easily be locked on by AA but if you fly low ,just a few meters above the ground using the environment as cover , you can easily be taken yout by a tank or a apc.
The 2 most inportant points (in my opinion) are stealth and informations about enemy troops/vehicles ( yes, that IS an appeal to the often closemouthed 70% of the players^^ )
But also on maps like Karbala i dont like to fly at 12-15 alt all the time. Its simply to low and the gunner cant work properly. That means Cal.50 cars and AAinfantry cant be located and taken out as fast as it may be necessary.
On the hole you can say that there is not one superior tactic but allways 2 or 3 and you allways have to think about the situation before you enter the battlezone.
The brain is PR-players mightiest weapon

[Spuz36]

From a gunner's perspective I can tell you I enjoy the medium elevation flight. You have time to adjust for the shot, and yet can see the target well. However it is the most risky because you are exposed to all sorts of possible attacks (small arms, LAT, HAT, tank, APC, AA, Inc grenade!??!) Over 700 is really tricky because at one point you loose all angle in visible ground. You have to ask the pilot throttle back to see stuff. As much as blind fire can help, it can also hurt (teamkill) and I would rather be spot on target then put some mediocre 30mm pepper down.

My usual pilot really digs the low level flying. I have no objection but sometimes having my gun cam lower makes me sick like we are going to clip a building, but we haven't died from a building in 20 or so hours of flying. Only objection I do have is that hellfire missiles are less controllable since the chopper needs to be facing right at the target. If the body is pointing one way, but your gunner is looking 90 degrees to the left or right. The missile needs to travel a distance to start turning. If it can't make the sharp turn then it could slam into a building that may be near friendlies. Best to stick with gun that low.

One of our first videos that we really took to the streets.


We usually run a circuit on Kashan, high up and dive on final target, stay low for a min or two, then RTB. I think having the element of randomness is really a kicker, especially when battling AA.

If you are ever on Muttrah, try looping around the fortress area (avoiding Quad cannons) and come from East City. AA will often only look for choppers over the bay or North City area. And if you are lucky and the rotor sound bug is plaguing them, they will most likely not know what is coming.

One last thing, make sure to make your FIRST SHOT COUNT! Once that first hellfire/30mm hits, people know you are up. If your target is not down, I would completely pull out and wait a min before going back. Especially true on Kashan when a Tank or AA could now be looking in the air for you.

[Hitman.2.5]

Yeah thats funny, the other day I was on muttrah and I was MEC, I had the LAT Kit and i was walking down some road and out of no where a cobra buzzes along, doesnt see me so I am now aware of the cobra's tactic, so I readied my LAT and the cobra comes by again only to turn into a smouldering wreck because it ate my LAT rocket

[KarateDoug]

I myself love to fly air trans, no lil brids, just hueys.

Best maps for low flying are Op.Barracuda, Jabal Al Burj and Op.Archer.

Op.barracuda has great tree cover, great canyons to fly in and it provides the air trans the opportunity to fly with multiple helos on single missions. THis provides protection against the AA.

Jabal is just fun. Lots of hills and canyons to fly through to avoid the AA lock

Op.Archer is IMHO the best map for air trans.

Lots of rolling hills, lots of canyon type terrain. Just great times.

One particular flight on Op.Archer I had to do an emergency Evac of a squad who was being over ran.
I flew in, landed on the smoke, 2 AA rounds flew past my windshield from different directions (or 1 was a RPG), small arms fire is lighting me up the entire time, the guys are slow to board due to the squads seperation and once they were all loaded on the way out a technical began firing on us and a RPG flew past my windshield again. But in the end, we got out of there alive, they may have lost one on his way to the heli. But we made it back and it felt amazing. The hottest evac I've ever encountered and survived.

[Solid Knight]

Well the biggest weakness of the attack helicopters is that they have to slow down to attack as their hellfire take too long to lock on or the wire-guided missile takes too long to get to it's target. The gunner's sight is also highly unstable as well which further compounds this situation. This is generally why tanks can easily take out an attack helicopter on Kashan. Tanks have an extremely fast round that is really accurate. Tanks can line up their shot faster. The tank's round reaches its target faster. The tank doesn't have to hold still as long either.