Personally to improve my flying experience:
First off, only fly the Viper and Z-10, preferably the Viper though. Havoc is shit.
Changed my map key to TAB and lowered the maps transparency so I can fly and have my map up.
Fly Diagonally when high and only stay high when no threat of TOW.
Un-spot as often as possible by looking right and ejecting. Not as effective in hardcore as softcore, but makes a huge difference on some maps especially ones with jets that are out for you or Siege of Shanghai.
Communication is the most important thing. I often won't even fly anymore unless I catch someone in MVP discord because if you cannot communicate with your gunner then you are only being half as effective as you could be on the battlefield. If not an option, only fly with Koshmenk and Fluff and be in squad!
If you are really sweaty your gunner can run fire extinguisher and you can seat swap.
Most importantly DONT GET COCKY. Ego strafes fail most of the time. It is more important to be a consistent pressure on armor and flags. Most players will not survive consistent barrages.
Don't waste ECM if you don't have too and also get good at timing it for maximum effect. Often you can dodge a pole or a building and it will take the rocket.
COVER, use cover and peak TVS, gunner needs to be watching their map and firing TVs even when in a dive, you'll have time to recover ammo.
Of course this all goes for the attack helicopters.
For little birds:
First off, only fly the US AH-64, way meaner just much easier to be shot out of, and get use to that.
Now this is up for more debate because everyone has their preference, the only answer imo is laser guided, mini gun, smaw launcher. Unless you have a cheeky squad member that wants to run reps and an opposite set up so they have 25mm and lock ons and fire extinguisher.
The only times you use 25mm is armor dominant maps i.e Golmund, Silk Road.
Mini guns do maximum damage to enemy aircraft, you can with ease take down jets and get behind enemy attack helis and take them down.
Double locking, if you don't know what this is where have you been. Obtain one lock, launch, lose lock, reload, obtain lock, launch, and both rockets will hit. All players will pop on the first incoming rocket lock at least the first few times you do it. Good players will catch on, you might have to lose the lock twice. Effectiveness is probably about 95%.
If you followed the above instruction and you are feeling a bit disrespectful this is when you fly above the enemy tank or LAV and seat swap to your SMAW and finish them off.
Now for maneuvering, you need to be fast and unpredictable. Take my word for that one lol. Little bird is the hardest air vehicle to kill, even for me, I choose those shots wisely still. Sideways movement is your friend, this is why you need to only use mini guns, because you will hone in your aim so you can bob back and forth when fighting infantry.
When flying in circles around an objective and you want to spot enemy infantry, you will be hard pressing A or D while pitching your mouse outwards, while you are in that circle occasionally tap the opposite trim tab from the direction you are going so that your HUD stays in place for half a second, this allows your brain to overcome all of the screen blur and fire and see people moving. Sounds weird, but I promise it works.
When fighting enemy helis do not just pitch back and up, if you are clear of their AA then pitch side to side, I TOW guys flying backwards fighting enemy helis all the time, easy to predict and that belly is hard to miss. Also, if your enemy has 25mm, get some distance and dodge their shots and hit them while they reload. Also, sudden downward drops when an enemy is firing will throw their aim off, very effective against 25mm users. Remember, pay attention to your elevation.
If you do use lock-ons, use 1 rocket at a time to break enemy aircraft countermeasures and then you can hit them with 2nd rocket with ease and finish them off with min guns.
COVER, you need cover, especially in the AH-64. Use cover to double lock on to armor that cannot see you, very effective against boats.
Be annoying. Sometimes if you don't have the best team supporting you the best thing you can do is just be a disruption. Move fast and low and dont stay near one objective for too long. Double team enemy armor when possible. And always troll the enemy AA.
Shoot at TVs with mini guns, much easier to destroy TVs then you think. If you are not ready for that, bob hard in the last 50 meters. DPI switch very useful for this.
Have DPI switches. Sometimes you are aiming short and sometime you are aiming long, DPI switches are your friend. I also use this trick for TOWS
and FINALLLY and perhaps the most important one... PRAY that Paladin is not online
