Fly, land and service a helicopter

Before you start

• An accessible helicopter and a place to practise without passengers.
• Working controls for every flight axis.
• A plan for repairs, fuel and a reachable landing area.

Season 02 parachutes and armed-aircraft cost

Parachutes open more slowly and do not open below about 10 m. A fast fall with deployment below roughly 50 m may still cause fall damage. These are publisher warnings, not tested safe deployment thresholds. Basic Parachute costs $500 and Sport Parachute $700.

The Little Bird minigun variant now costs $12,000 per purchase and $125,000 to unlock at Pilot level 8. Distinguish that armed variant from the base aircraft. Keep current vendor costs separate from old beta kit and flight examples.

Season 02 vehicle inventory and handling

Purchased-vehicle inventories default to the driver and their squad; a setting can open an unlocked vehicle inventory to everyone. Free team vehicles keep public inventory access. Check ownership before loading valuable cargo.

The update changes tracked-vehicle weight, Humvee handling and Dune Buggy brakes, and fixes several vehicle collision and controller issues. Explosives and placeables cannot be used from enclosed seats. Vehicle weapon damage also follows the announced calibre reductions; older counterplay reports are not a current hit-count table.

Set the flight axes

The community FAQ uses Settings > Controls > Settings for mouse flight options and Settings > Controls > Keybindings for keys. Its Battlefield-style example enables rotary mouse control, assigns horizontal mouse movement to roll and vertical movement to pitch, then uses W/S for collective and A/D for yaw.

In that example, air-vehicle Y inversion is enabled while infantry Y inversion remains disabled. Pulling back raises the nose. Delete clears a selected binding. The author warns that rebinding vehicle controls can remove an infantry assignment, so check both afterward.

1. Inspect each flight action in the menu.
2. Test one axis at a time in practice.
3. Confirm that your infantry movement still works after changes.

Mouse moves the camera but not the helicopter

The Closed Beta 02 FAQ distinguishes mouse flight settings from ordinary keybindings. Treat its menu checks as a starting point: the launch patch changed damping, and current input bugs are not ruled out by matching an old layout.

Check the whole control loop before carrying passengers

Use this short acceptance check after a control change. It is a suggested test sequence, not a flight certification or a promise that the selected aircraft is bug-free.

1. Record the original bindings so you can restore them.
2. Without passengers, check pitch, roll, yaw and collective separately in a safe practice area.
3. Enter and leave free look; confirm aircraft control returns.
4. Land and leave the aircraft, then check infantry movement, firing and reload.
5. If mounted weapons no longer reload, stop changing flight settings and use the separate keybind-conflict guide.

Practise a controlled landing

StratzFPS’s pre-alpha demonstration reduces collective to descend, then raises it as the helicopter approaches the ground to soften the descent. Treat it as a demonstration to practise, not a current-build performance guarantee.

1. Choose a clear landing area before approaching.
2. Bring the helicopter under control and begin a gradual descent.
3. Reduce the descent as the ground approaches rather than holding full downward input.
4. After landing, check the aircraft before boarding passengers.

Prepare repair and refuelling

The launch-day player tips recommend carrying a wrench, a resuscitator for passengers and a fuel can. The building account also describes vehicle repair and refuelling services supplied by the FOB.

Exact tool use prompts, service range, required stationary state, consumption rates and repair limits still need a current-client walkthrough. Bring the right equipment, then follow its displayed interaction and confirm the vehicle’s condition changes.

Account for the launch input changes

Season 1 applied helicopter input damping across input devices and adjusted Z20 Lakota pitch behavior. Older sensitivity recommendations may feel different after those changes.

Common problems

• Custom key examples are not universal defaults.
• Do not use passengers as the first test of new flight bindings.
• No hardware compatibility list, guaranteed flare protection, fuel endurance or tested landing-speed threshold is established here.

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