And none of you can fly the transport chopper.

All of you.  Well, there was one exception, but in general, this is a feat you don't seem capable of. This is sad.  People are still making the same mistakes as transport pilots they should have learned not to do 5 days into the game.

So in summary, here is my idea of how to fly a transport choppa:

1. When you get below a certain unit of measurement, I think 15, the Altimeter flashes Red.  The Altimeter measures relative altitude, so this is a measure of how high you are off the object just below you, be it ground or a rooftop.  Red is good.  Think of red as your green light.  When the Altimeter is red, you are flying correctly.
2. Your passengers will not fall out the chopper.  If you take a turn at a 60 degree bank, nobody falls out.  If you do this at the right Altitude and the right speed, and for the right amount of time, the transport chopper turns on a dime.  People on the outside edge may complain because they'll think they're going to die and get a little motion sickness.  But they will not die or fall out of the chopper if you have the guts to follow through.  They may throw up on their computer, but that's not your problem.  So turn tightly, and use judicious banking.
3. It's nice how so many of you know how to draw a circle in two dimensions.  But can you draw a spiral, or a figure eight?  Can you use the aforementioned banking to stop your bird midair, losing half your altitude?  I didn't think so.  Try it out.  You might find flying in a circle fun, but so does the asshole rocketeer on the ground.  But if you start a circle at 40 altitude, bank 60 degrees or so and turn in hard, you'll do an about face, stop your circle and drop to 8-12 altitude and the rocketeer will lose you for a second. Advantage helo
4. You can get the chopper to move.  Again, your passengers won't fall out and you won't flip over.  Lean that bird forward as far as you can and step on it.  You might have to throttle the rotation a bit, but you can get moving pretty quick when you need to.  Again, sometimes you will find circling around your target makes you the target and you have to get out of there.  Use your rotations (banking left right and pitching forward and back) to increase your agility.  Otherwise you become a sitting duck.
5. Get passengers.  This is my biggest personal problem.  Make sure people get in your chopper.  There is not a category of points the 'transport' chopper goes to.  That sucks.  Get over it and help your team win.  A chopper of six guys is mobile, deadly, and winning.  You land to let the guys out when needed and let them get back in.  Have a repair torch in your inventory.  Don't bail on your pilot.  Unless the bird lands stay in the choppa.  Don't fly into a war zone without passengers.
6. If you are a gunner, and you are alone with the pilot, make him look good.  Actively switch between gunner seats so you give maximum fire coverage
   

And now a word on fighting the attack choppa

 The attack chopper is not as deadly as you think.  Sure, done right it's pretty deadly.  But that's also because guys on the ground are dumb.  Otherwise they'd be in a bird too.  So here's what you do

1. The lock on rockets are pretty shitty against most birds, except the transport chopper.
2. Most pilots of the transport chopper draw circles in the sky, they are easy to kill
3. A full 6 person chopper is deadly, so do this: get one early rocket hit, then reload the rockets.  Pull out your rifle and take down 2 of the 4 guys in the open bays.  Doesn't matter much if it's one on each side or two on one side. Hit the chopper with another rocket. Done right the chopper will be crashing. Back to guns, shoot the guys that jump then throw a grenade at where the bird will land.  They all die, and you look cool.
   

And none of you can fly the transport chopper.

All of you.  Well, there was one exception, but in general, this is a feat you don't seem capable of. This is sad.  People are still making the same mistakes as transport pilots they should have learned not to do 5 days into the game.

So in summary, here is my idea of how to fly a transport choppa:

1. When you get below a certain unit of measurement, I think 15, the Altimeter flashes Red.  The Altimeter measures relative altitude, so this is a measure of how high you are off the object just below you, be it ground or a rooftop.  Red is good.  Think of red as your green light.  When the Altimeter is red, you are flying correctly.
2. Your passengers will not fall out the chopper.  If you take a turn at a 60 degree bank, nobody falls out.  If you do this at the right Altitude and the right speed, and for the right amount of time, the transport chopper turns on a dime.  People on the outside edge may complain because they'll think they're going to die and get a little motion sickness.  But they will not die or fall out of the chopper if you have the guts to follow through.  They may throw up on their computer, but that's not your problem.  So turn tightly, and use judicious banking.
3. It's nice how so many of you know how to draw a circle in two dimensions.  But can you draw a spiral, or a figure eight?  Can you use the aforementioned banking to stop your bird midair, losing half your altitude?  I didn't think so.  Try it out.  You might find flying in a circle fun, but so does the asshole rocketeer on the ground.  But if you start a circle at 40 altitude, bank 60 degrees or so and turn in hard, you'll do an about face, stop your circle and drop to 8-12 altitude and the rocketeer will lose you for a second. Advantage helo
4. You can get the chopper to move.  Again, your passengers won't fall out and you won't flip over.  Lean that bird forward as far as you can and step on it.  You might have to throttle the rotation a bit, but you can get moving pretty quick when you need to.  Again, sometimes you will find circling around your target makes you the target and you have to get out of there.  Use your rotations (banking left right and pitching forward and back) to increase your agility.  Otherwise you become a sitting duck.
5. Get passengers.  This is my biggest personal problem.  Make sure people get in your chopper.  There is not a category of points the 'transport' chopper goes to.  That sucks.  Get over it and help your team win.  A chopper of six guys is mobile, deadly, and winning.  You land to let the guys out when needed and let them get back in.  Have a repair torch in your inventory.  Don't bail on your pilot.  Unless the bird lands stay in the choppa.  Don't fly into a war zone without passengers.
6. If you are a gunner, and you are alone with the pilot, make him look good.  Actively switch between gunner seats so you give maximum fire coverage
   

And now a word on fighting the attack choppa

 The attack chopper is not as deadly as you think.  Sure, done right it's pretty deadly.  But that's also because guys on the ground are dumb.  Otherwise they'd be in a bird too.  So here's what you do

1. The lock on rockets are pretty shitty against most birds, except the transport chopper.
2. Most pilots of the transport chopper draw circles in the sky, they are easy to kill
3. A full 6 person chopper is deadly, so do this: get one early rocket hit, then reload the rockets.  Pull out your rifle and take down 2 of the 4 guys in the open bays.  Doesn't matter much if it's one on each side or two on one side. Hit the chopper with another rocket. Done right the chopper will be crashing. Back to guns, shoot the guys that jump then throw a grenade at where the bird will land.  They all die, and you look cool.
   

This thread is weak.

so basically you're telling me that in order to take down a copter I have to shoot it?

also shoot the guys as well?

man where's my pen and paper

It's been so long since the Blackhawk action days of Battlefield 2, that I just no longer take transport choppers seriously. But you make a good point on how important and deadly they can be, and you've reminded me of how fun and challenging piloting them is. 
Good thread, good tips, but don't you hate on the fucking rocketeers! 
 
 

Your passengers will not fall out the chopper.  If you take a turn at a 60 degree bank, nobody falls out.  If you do this at the right Altitude and the right speed, and for the right amount of time, the transport chopper turns on a dime.  People on the outside edge may complain because they'll think they're going to die and get a little motion sickness.  But they will not die or fall out of the chopper if you have the guts to follow through.  They may throw up on their computer, but that's not your problem.  So turn tightly, and use judicious banking.

@mfpantst: have you played with the transport chopper lately? After the JAvelin madness patch? I am amazed they live more than 10 sec.

@mfpantst: well it was broken before. Hitting even tanks only 50% of the time. Now they upped the damage and hit rate and everyone started using them. Even more important. All the recons started using the SOFLAMs. When a air vehicle is laser tagged then it can be targeted by Javelins and other guided weapons. As originally intended by DICE. So a Guided missile is a 1-hit-kill on your fully loaded chopper. It's still not 100% hit rate, though I haven't figured out how to evade them. What you described there in your first post you can only pull off against an enemy team that utterly lacks team play.

Even more importantly people have progressed and unlocked laser painters, guided shells and CITV stations. So all/many the chopper pilots switched from flares to ECM-Jammers. Since the transport chopper lacks those, you are free points flying in the sky. Also they upped the damage of the normal tank shell against choppers I think.

@mfpantst: Well. You made you great point in your second post. Drawing aggro or doing not so is an important point. The transport heli is still very good in actually transporting people into combat and quickly take over a flag etc. The gatling guns a are more for clearing the landing zone from infantry. People often forget that vehicles are actually for transport. On Noshar Canals Rush: As a defender I am sitting in a AA. 95% of the time the pilots come at me at close range. Shooting me a bunch. If they are smart they repair the choppers. Making them harder/nearly impossible to kill and taking my attention away from infantry. Only all the time they start dropping infantry behind me en masse I know we are done for.

@AhmadMetallic said:

It's been so long since the Blackhawk action days of Battlefield 2, that I just no longer take transport choppers seriously.

Ah memories. It wasn't just the days of Battlefield 2. It was the days of pre-patched Battlefield 2 where miniguns rained terror on those below.

Something that you guys haven't mentioned is the ability to spawn into the transport helicopters without needing a squadmate in it. This can bring your whole team to the action.