If you are not a Battlefield veteran — and even if you are, to be honest — flying a chopper might be quite a challenge.

Unlike other First Person Shooters in the market, Battlefield is a bit more concerned with simulation, and therefore, it doesn’t really make it easy for players to pilot the vehicles in the game.

The helicopters are especially hard if you’re playing with a mouse and a keyboard since trying to aim at someone can cause the aircraft to flip and crash.

There is a long learning curve when it comes to piloting an aircraft in Battlefield, but I’m sure we can make it easier for you.

So if you want to know how to fly a Helicopter in Battlefield 2042 and not crash it immediately, this is the guide for you!

The Controls

So, the trickiest thing about flying the helicopter is to keep it stable while trying to aim at others.

If you just focus on keeping it on the air and turn left and right using the A and D keys, you should be okay for the most part. However, you have to aim down in order to move forward, and you have to do while moving the aircraft in the direction you want to go.

Does it sound a bit complicated already? It really isn’t that simple, but there are a few things that can help.

First, focus on the idea that the chopper only moves up and down. So if you accelerate by pressing W, it’s going to go up. If you do not accelerate for a while, the helicopter might start losing altitude.

If you do not want that to happen, you can check the Options to set the Helicopter Control Assist to On.

This will at least help you maintain control when you’re still getting used to piloting the helicopter.

Basic Movement

As mentioned above, tilting the helicopter is how you move it forward or backward. That means that you have to aim down in order to move forward.

Practice this, and do not move your mouse sideways until you have this figured out. Press W to accelerate and move up and if you suddenly need to lose altitude, hold S.

Remember that to aim at someone on your sides, you have to turn the whole chopper by pressing A or D. It will be pretty challenging to get used to it at first, but reducing the number of things to do makes it much more helpful.

Yes, you’re most likely going to crash, burn, and be taken out of the air many times before you get used to the basics.

However, once you start getting the hang of it, it is super fun, and you’re going to feel awesome for launching a missile barrage over the enemy soldiers from your aircraft.

Evasive Maneuvers

You can press X to release flares and avoid missiles, but the cooldown is a bit long, and you might have many missiles about to take you down.

Evasive maneuvers consist in moving quickly and unpredictably to prevent the enemy from being able to lock on you or hitting you with their machine guns.

However, the problem with evasive maneuvers is that it is often hard to regain control of the aircraft if you’re not used to doing them.

If you drag your mouse sideways, the helicopter will start spinning. Do it quickly enough and for long enough, and you will even be able to do a barrel roll.

Note that it can be really hard to control the helicopter if you start using this movement before mastering the basics.

Also, remember that you can jump out of any vehicle, including helicopters, by pressing E. Do that and then hit your Space Bar to activate your parachute.

Shooting

Please note that when it comes to air combat, you and the target are constantly moving. Besides that, you might not realize how far you are from the target when you’re in a vehicle, but sometimes you can be miles away.

Since Battlefield is a game that cares about simulation, sometimes your bullets will not instantly reach the target. Most of the time, they won’t, really.

This will take a lot of practice, but you will have to aim where the target will be, not where it is when you’re firing.

You have to compensate for the target’s movement, the movement of your aircraft, and the bullets’ speed.

Final Thoughts

Piloting will be intimidating at first, and it’s okay. It takes practice, but if you go through the basics slowly and patiently, you will get there.

Just make sure you go through all the tips that we provided:

  • First, learn the basics. Move forward by aiming down, move backward by aiming up.
  • Remember to move sideways only by pressing A and D
  • Remember to control your altitude by pressing W and S
  • Once you master basic movement, try dragging the mouse sideways for new movement options
  • Aim where the target will be, not where it is

Helicopters can take down several targets at once by flying over an outpost and making missiles rain on top of the enemy soldiers’ heads, but it takes a while to earn all that power.

Now keep practicing and I’m sure you’ll get the hang of with eventually.