Flying in ArmA 3 is a physics in itself. It is one of the most realistic flight models ever seen in games. The helicopters themselves are very detailed compared to real life and vary depending on the type.

A classic helicopter has a horizontal main rotor that is responsible for thrust and lift. If the speed increases, the rotor pulls the undercarriage upwards. To prevent the landing gear from turning uncontrollably around the rotor, a helicopter has a vertical secondary rotor that stabilizes it, also called an anti-torque rotor.

Larger helicopters for example have a longer reaction time than smaller ones, as the distance to the tail rotor is greater.

Mi-290 Taru

Helicopters with double horizontal rotors and no vertical rotors, on the other hand, have a different mode of operation. They regulate the speed of each one and deviate from each other.
The Mi-48 Kajman and the Mi-290 Taru, for example, have two superimposed horizontal rotors that rotate in opposite directions. If one rotor rotates slower than the other, the landing gear underneath moves in the opposite direction of the faster rotating rotor. The CH-67 Huron, on the other hand, has two side-by-side rotors and works in the same way.

CH-67 Huron

It is highly recommended that you read through all of the key combinations for the helicopter controls and make adjustments where needed. These adjustments can vary greatly depending on the player and their flying style. There is one thing to remember in combination to the change of settings you make: never change a running system. Once you’re comfortable with your settings, train your skills with those settings until you can master the handling of your preferred helicopter.

The standard controls in ArmA 3 are keyboard-only, but it is recommended to use a hybrid control system with mouse and keyboard, where the mouse can be used for small bank and tilt corrections.
It is up to each person how they set up their controls. A pilot should feel comfortable when flying.
The same Principle goes for HOTAS and Joystick users.

As with every vehicle in ArmA 3, there is also a display for helicopters. At the top left of the screen, a status display shows us information about the flown helicopter.

As in the following example of a UH-80 Ghosthawk:

In the standard controls, you increase the thrust when the [SHIFT] key is pressed. When leaving the ground, you should not immediately lean in one direction, depending on your level of skill, but first gain altitude. If you lean in one direction, the helicopter will also move in that direction. Lift and gravity must be taken into account as this plays a major role.
For example, if you lean forward (nose down), the force of gravity is stronger than the lift, which is why you also rotate at an angle of approx. +20-30° to regulate this. You lose height but gain speed.



However, if you lean backwards (nose up) at higher speeds, the lift is stronger than the force of gravity. This can be regulated at an angle of -10-80°. You gain height but lose speed. When this happens, it is advisable to completely deprive the helicopter of thrust (default: Y)

The maximum speed and flight altitude of a helicopter varies depending on its structure, weight, rotor length and rotor collective aswell speed.

Here's a chart of different helicopter types and their theoretical capabilities:

Landing is the most important part of helicopter flying. It takes a lot of time to master almost perfect landing maneuvers. The best way to practice this is in the in-game Eden editor or a scenario that you have created yourself in the editor or subscribed to in the Steam Workshop.
When landing, it is important to know that you have to go through the following three phases

• 1. Phase (cruise): When you are one kilometer (1km) from the desired landing destination, you apply less thrust and focus on the "spot" you want to land on and point the nose of the helicopter at the destination. the speed is up to each person. But you should bear this in mind: The closer you are to the target, the more you'll have to reduce your speed.
  
  
• 2. Phase (Approach): At a distance of around 500 meters from the target, you slow down quicker and quicker and then perform an almost perfect and soft landing in the third phase, the bleed-out.
  
  
• 3. Phase (Bleed-out): The landing itself. You should make sure that you synchronize your speed with the altitude so that the so-called "bleeding" takes place well during this step (e.g. 15 km/h at 15 metres altitude). If this is successful, you will arrive safely on the ground without taking any damage and the player you transported is satisfied. Normally it takes months of practice to master this perfectly.

This procedure is shown as in the following picture:
As you can see on the graphic, this can be done in a faster and a slower version. It is up to each pilot to decide how fast they want to land, depending on their level of comfort and flying skills.

Stressful or difficult situations can occur over and over again. If you don't have an optimal landing zone, take the one you have. Sometimes the desired landing zones are located within narrow areas, for example in towns or villages. It is not advisable to land on buildings there, as ArmA 3 is not bug-free and these can cause a helicopter to jump or even explode. You should therefore look for a landing zone where the helicopter has enough space to land. Sports fields or military compounds, for example, are very suitable for this. But if you don't have any available, you can still land between buildings or on roads.

However, the dimensions of the helicopter to be landed must be taken into account. With the MH9 Hummingbird, it is very easy to estimate the dimensions. If you take the full dimensions of an MH9 and triple them side by side, only without the rotors and skids, you get an almost perfect picture of the true dimensions of the MH9.

In order to be able to land quickly with a helicopter, you must first master the standard landing perfectly, which you can find in the chapter: "Landing". The following fast landing techniques can be fatal for some pilots with little experience and should only be used outside of training sessions with caution.

This is a classic "combat landing". It is used in most cases when several occupants need to be transported quickly to a battle. This type of landing is made in the shape of the letter J. The helicopter is either diverted horizontally to the right or left of the landing target and braked sideways to land exactly on the target point.

Video Example (Source: "VAGR4NT-" on Youtube):
https://youtu.be/gNNmslTtXqU?si=bQkC5U8D1gY_L0qf&t=20
In the example, 20 seconds into the Video, you can see that the pilot fixes on the point one kilometer before landing. He does not steer directly towards it, but swerves to the right and flies towards the target from the side. He then slows down laterally so that he can land perfectly on the fixed point. The pilot also reduces the altitude 1 kilometer beforehand, as it is almost impossible to avoid gaining altitude when braking. There are countless tutorials on YouTube that explain such a landing precisely.

The looping works in a similar way to the J-touchdown. The only difference is that you don't reduce your speed sideways, but instead go up to use gravity to your advantage. This type of landing is not recommended, as you make yourself highly visible to your opponent at this height.

If the tail rotor goes out of action, the helicopter turns on its own axis, as described in the first chapter. In order to free yourself from this predicament and fly out of the situation, you need to build up a speed of at least 120 km/h. This can be achieved in two ways:

While the helicopter rotates around its own axis, the main rotor is aligned so that it constantly leans in one direction. You must maintain a moderate altitude and keep a firm grip on the helicopter. If you lean too much, the helicopter may crash. If you lean too little, you will not reach the required speed. With larger helicopters, such as the UH-80 Ghosthawk, a higher speed of approx. 140 km/h is required to achieve a stable flight attitude.

The second method involves first gaining altitude without leaning in one direction. A flight altitude of approx. 200 meters is recommended. Once this altitude has been reached, the thrust is removed from the main rotor and the aircraft is constantly tilted in one direction (preferably forward), reducing the altitude very quickly and thus achieving the desired stable flight attitude. These methods must be practiced constantly and are difficult for beginners to perform.


If the main rotor fails, either due to damage to the rotor itself or damage to the drive, you must reduce altitude and land as quickly as possible. With this principle, lateral braking is again recommended. It should be noted that the rotor is still functional for a certain time and that you can almost always land safely if you are below 200 meters altitude. Although the speed of the engine is constantly decreasing, the autonomous rotation (autorotation) takes place.
Before you let the helicopter touch down on the ground, you should regulate the thrust between 0% and 100% in a moderated manner.
This also requires constant practice for mastery.

The exercises listed always seem to work, but unfortunately this is not the case. A crash can occur faster than you can even react.

The following conditions must be right to land successfully:

• Flight altitude
  
• Flight Speed
  
• Flight attitude

If two of the three conditions do not match, there is a 75% certainty of a crash. The recommendation is to keep practicing and to try out new movements. This helps the pilot to assess himself better and strengthens his sensitivity to the helicopter handling.

For Training, i personally recommend using the "Hell-Heli Autorotation Practice Pack"
by the user "dr_strangepete". It offers a good setting for respawning quickly after crashing a helicopter. Also it offers a quick way to change Helicopter types, weather, and nice settings overall.
All via Scroll-Menu.

https://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=725887530

All i can say now is have fun practicing and becoming one of the best pilots in Arma 3
Thank you for reading this Guide, feel free to rate it so i can see what could be done better in the next one.