I see that you like the littlebird variants of helicopters why is that?
‘Like’ is too modest of a word, I love the Littlebirds. There are a few reasons for this:
- Very vulnerable/light. This, in turn, makes them more challenging to fly in a hostile environment – which makes success that much more satisfying.
- Extremely maneuverable. Flying a bus like the Mi-17 or Chinook is boring. Zipping a Littlebird through trees and down streets, on the other hand, is a hell of a good time.
- Fixed-forward armaments and single-man crewable. Anyone can kill things with a rotating turret, a dedicated gunner, and laser- or wire-guided missiles. It takes a different kind of skill to kill with fixed-forward miniguns and a small quantity of ‘dumb’ rockets.
- Transport version is awesome. When you add my Littlebird mod and the fire from vehicles aspect of it, you end up with an incredibly entertaining way of transporting troops. Being able to land in tiny areas on a moment’s notice makes for thrilling insertions and much greater potential for “hot LZ” situations.
Getting to the level of piloting that I’m at these days took me years and years of practice with and against the competent members of ShackTac. It’s one thing to pull off a nice insertion in a calm mission against AI – something else entirely to put five guys on the ground in a few moments in the midst of the enemy without taking fire.
1 comment
As an engineer who worked on Chinooks for five years I have to say that you’re wrong in implying that a Chinook is bus-like to fly in the manner that transport helicopters usually are.
They are actually really maneuverable, as I can personally attest to after being on them while being thrown around enthusiastically on a number of occasions.
I agree with every other point you make entirely, and this is an exception for the Chinook only, but don’t dismiss the big green bus as sluggish, because it most certainly isn’t!