# Helicopters How to?
**URL:** https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168
**Category:** The Warehouse
**Created:** [April 7, 2020, 2:53am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168 "2020-04-07T02:53:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tyranork](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Tyranork)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2020, 2:53am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/1 "2020-04-07T02:53:01Z")
Okay so How do I learn to drive a helicopter? is it in a book?
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### Author:  [@Tyranork](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Tyranork)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2020, 2:59am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/2 "2020-04-07T02:59:52Z")
Okay found out it’s a mutation but how do you get it ingame?
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### Author:  [@Tyranork](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Tyranork)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2020, 3:12am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/3 "2020-04-07T03:12:41Z")
Additionally are they supposed to fall out of the sky if you let go of the controls? it should still be running and holding itself stationary right?
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### Author:  [@mlangsdorf](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/mlangsdorf)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2020, 3:54am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/4 "2020-04-07T03:54:05Z")
No, if you do not constantly tell the helicopter how to beat the air into submission, it stops beating the air into submission and reverts to a helicopter’s natural relationship with gravity and inherent aerodynamic lift capabilities. Which is to say, it falls out of the sky.
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### Author:  [@Tyranork](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Tyranork)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2020, 3:55am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/5 "2020-04-07T03:55:34Z")
That would be more realistic wouldn’t it lol, I’ll do some testing with the autopilot.
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### Author:  [@mlangsdorf](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/mlangsdorf)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2020, 4:03am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/6 "2020-04-07T04:03:59Z")
We’re hammering out the learning process, but it would be something like this:
1. Find and read an extremely boring book on basic flight operations, which would give you the UNTRAINED\_PILOT trait.
2. Find and read another extremely boring book that would be the manual for the specific aircraft you want to fly.
3. Get in aircraft, start it up, take off.
4. After somewhere between 1 minute and 4-6 hours of flight time, encounter one of the many, many ways to kill yourself as an untrained pilot, fail to recover from it successfully, and crash land. If you’re lucky, you crash at a slow enough groundspeed that your injuries are survivable, but your aircraft is scrapped.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 until you have 25-30 hours of flight time, at which point you get the TRAINED\_PILOT trait and can fly more or less safely.
Also, if at any point during the safe training experience, you take your aircraft up during the rain, you crash and probably die.
It is possible to teach yourself to fly - obviously, all the early aircraft pioneers did it - but it is extremely risky and you will crash repeatedly in the process. If you’re lucky, none of the crashes will be fatal. It helps if you fly some extremely low powered biplane with a stall speed of about 15 mph, instead of some overmuscled AH-64 military helicopter that routinely kills trained pilots in peacetime.
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### Author:  [@TheMurderUnicorn](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/TheMurderUnicorn)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2020, 10:56am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/7 "2020-04-07T10:56:01Z")
Were helicopters properly released or are you just discussing debugging stuff? I didn’t see any PRs about it.
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### Author:  [@The\_Lone\_Badger](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/The_Lone_Badger)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2020, 11:23am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/8 "2020-04-07T11:23:42Z")
> [@mlangsdorf](#):
>
> Find and read another extremely boring book that would be the manual for the specific aircraft you want to fly.
What if the specific aircraft I’m trying to fly is a sedan that I’ve welded a rotor to?
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### Author:  [@Sediment](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Sediment)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2020, 12:12pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/9 "2020-04-07T12:12:53Z")
Then you have to write a book about it… then read it.
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### Author:  [@Invalid\_Username](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Invalid_Username)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2020, 12:12pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/10 "2020-04-07T12:12:54Z")
Build #10488, Cochise.
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### Author:  [@mlangsdorf](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/mlangsdorf)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2020, 2:31pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/11 "2020-04-07T14:31:11Z")
Homebuilt aircraft should have the advantage of not requiring you to read the operations manual.
The disadvantage is that unless you’re a trained aerodynamics engineer and power and airframe mechanic, your homebuilt aircraft should have a much higher chance of killing you. Being a test pilot is risky!
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### Author:  [@anothersimulacrum](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/anothersimulacrum)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2020, 2:56pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/12 "2020-04-07T14:56:58Z")
It’s a bit hard to find because it’s an old PR, but was merged recently.
>
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### Author:  [@Trigon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Trigon)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2020, 10:57pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/13 "2020-04-07T22:57:36Z")
An [autogyro](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autogyro) seems like something more in the CDDA survivor’s wheelhouse. At least as I understand it you’re far less likely to turn yourself into a pile of jagged metal and broken bones.
EDIT: Oh I finished reading the github comments. Silly me of course someone brought it up already. I’ll see myself out.
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### Author:  [@Gilliph](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Gilliph)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2020, 3:09am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/14 "2020-04-08T03:09:48Z")
You could potentially set the pilot and drivng skills as a single skill tree, but lower the driving skill requirements needed to efficiently drive ground based vehicles, while having higher skill requirements to “drive” airborne vehicles without issues.
Bit like cooking does in terms of both making food and chemical concoctions.
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### Author:  [@anothersimulacrum](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/anothersimulacrum)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2020, 3:43am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/15 "2020-04-08T03:43:48Z")
Cooking and chemistry being combined is already not something we really want, we shouldn’t use that as a model and extend it.
Besides, driving a land vehicle and operating a helicopter are largely unrelated.
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### Author:  [@Gilliph](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Gilliph)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2020, 5:08am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/16 "2020-04-08T05:08:39Z")
Fair enough.
In that context, would piloting also be broken down to cover separate modes of air born transportation? Such as Blimp, Jet and Helicopter?
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### Author:  [@Gilliph](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Gilliph)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2020, 5:16am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/17 "2020-04-08T05:16:10Z")
Also sorry for the second question, but are there any plans for air based threats or obstacles survivors in the sky will need to face?
Such as hulks lopping boulders at you or flying monstrosities?
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### Author:  [@mlangsdorf](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/mlangsdorf)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2020, 1:07pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/18 "2020-04-08T13:07:11Z")
Eventually this will be handled by the proficiency system, but in the short term, there should be different traits to enable different vehicles. So TRAINED\_ROTORCRAFT\_PILOT would let you fly helicopters, TRAINED\_FIXEDWING\_PILOT would let you fly normal planes, etc.
Piloting as a general skill to represent your ability to navigate and control any flying vehicle works fine, with proficiencies/traits to cover the stuff you really know.
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### Author:  [@Couvax](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Couvax)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2020, 3:01pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/19 "2020-05-19T15:01:46Z")
Can we really pilot helicopters in CDDA ? I’ve seen some Wreckage of flying vehicle, but that’s all.
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### Author:  [@Nonesuch](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Nonesuch)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/helicopters-how-to/23168/20 "2020-05-19T19:23:53Z")
I’ve been wondering how often they spawn. I’ve yet to see an intact one, and the wrecks don’t have functional rotors that I’ve found yet. The only ones I’ve messed with were debug test spawned copters.
EDIT: Looked at the old pull requests, looks like they have a rare chance to spawn at a regional airport (I’ve never SEEN a regional airport) for civilian models, and the military ones weren’t set to spawn anywhere. Don’t know what the current spawn rate is.
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