Controls & flight modes

Every action is a key mapping, so players can rebind it under Settings → Key Bindings → FiveM. The F9 sheet shows the key each command is bound to right now.

Key mappings

Default key	Command	Where	Action
E	helicam	Camera seat	Toggle the camera (whitelisted heli, camera seat, air role). Does nothing while you watch a live feed
Mouse	–	Camera	Gimbal
Scroll	–	Camera	Zoom
LSHIFT + scroll	–	Camera, orbit running	Orbit radius ± Config.Orbit.radiusStep (10 m) instead of zoom
N	helicam_vision	Camera	Vision mode: normal → night vision → FLIR. FLIR is skipped during the warm-up
Y	helicam_palette	Camera, FLIR	Next thermal palette
G	helicam_overlay	Camera	Overlay: off → GEO → GEO+
SPACE	helicam_lock	Camera	Lock / unlock the target. Double-tap: lock position + orbit (pilot)
Q	helicam_heat	Camera, FLIR	Lock the next heat signature
M	helicam_mark	Camera	Drop a PNT marker at the crosshair ground point
R	helicam_record	Camera	Start / stop mission recording
B	helicam_bookmark	Camera, recording	Timeline bookmark (+ evidence screenshot if enabled)
K	helicam_share	Camera	Share the current lock with the crew and ground units
L	helicam_light	Camera seat	Searchlight on / off (works with the camera closed)
UP / DOWN	helicam_luxup / helicam_luxdown	Light on	Searchlight intensity (LUX), in steps of 10 %
J	helicam_beam	Light on	Beam narrow ↔ wide
(unbound)	helicam_strobe	Light on	Strobe on / off. No default key: bind it yourself
H	helicam_hover	Pilot seat	Hover hold on / off
W / S	–	Hovering	Raise / lower the hover height
NUM4 / NUM6	–	Hovering	Bank and nudge sideways, re-anchoring where you stop
NUM8 / NUM5	–	Hovering	Pitch: releases the hover hold
F9	helicam_settings	Anywhere, air / ground role or in a camera heli	Open / close the settings sheet. Not F1, which qb-radialmenu binds
F7	helicam_air	Anywhere, ground role	Open / close the Air Support panel. Silent without the role
BACKSPACE / ESC	–	Watching a live feed	Leave the feed

While the camera is open, the gameplay HUD is hidden and the attack, weapon and look controls are disabled, as well as the cinematic camera (so R doesn't cycle it) and the radio wheel (so Q doesn't open it). Moving out of a camera seat (for example to the back) closes the camera. If the context map is on, the radar stays visible (moved to the top right). Otherwise it is hidden too.

When you sit down in an eligible seat with the camera closed, a prompt (E · Open AIRSURV camera) shows for Config.Prompt.showForMs (8 s).

Mode pills

The row of pills at the top left of the HUD shows what is active. See HUD for the rest.

Pill	Meaning
EO / NV / FLIR	Current vision mode. During the warm-up the FLIR pill reads FLIR 64%
LIGHT 70	Your searchlight is on at 70 %. WIDE and STROBE are appended when active
ORBIT L·120M	The orbit autopilot is circling the locked position (direction and radius)
HOLD	The camera holds a locked position without the autopilot (copilot, or orbit refused)
HOVER	Hover hold is engaged. It also shows on its own when the camera is closed

Target lock

Press SPACE with the crosshair on a vehicle or ped to lock it. The camera tracks the target with smoothing (Config.Camera.lockLerp), draws red corner brackets and a target card, and the plate reader starts. The lock breaks when you press SPACE again, when the target dies, or when it is farther away than Config.Camera.lockBreakDist (900 m). See Operations → Target card & ANPR.

Position orbit

Double-tap SPACE (within Config.Orbit.doubleTapWindow, 400 ms) to lock the ground point under the crosshair.

• Pilot: the heli circles the point on its own, height 60 m above it, at the player's orbit radius (default 120 m) and direction (default left-hand). Flight inputs are disabled while it orbits.
• Copilot: the camera stays on the point (HOLD), and the pilot keeps flying.
• LSHIFT + scroll changes the radius while orbiting, in radiusStep steps between radiusMin (50 m) and radiusMax (400 m). The new radius is saved as the player's orbitRadius setting.

The orbit ends when you unlock, when the lock breaks, or when the camera closes. See Configuration → Orbit.

Hover hold

H (pilot seat only) holds the heli at its current position with a slight sway, so it doesn't look frozen.

• It engages only above 15 m off the ground and below 12 m/s. If you are moving, the hold point is placed slightly ahead of you and the heli glides to it. It won't brake you from cruise speed.
• W / S move the hold point up and down. It never goes below minAltitude.
• NUM4 / NUM6 bank the heli and move the hold point sideways. It stays where you stop.
• Yaw is still free. Pitching forward or back (NUM8 / NUM5) past pitchDeadzone releases the hold.
• A hover you turn on with H stays on after the camera closes.

Auto-engage: with Config.Hover.autoEngageSolo and the player's Auto-hover solo setting on, a pilot who opens the camera with no player in the copilot seat gets hover automatically, because the mouse is on the gimbal and nobody is flying. The game keeps retrying while you slow down, stops trying once you press H, and releases the auto hover when the camera closes.

Orbit and hover are exclusive

Both are autopilots for the same airframe. Starting an orbit releases hover. Turning hover on stops the orbit. Auto hover never engages over a running orbit.

Vision and FLIR

N cycles normal (EO) → night vision → FLIR. FLIR needs a warm-up of Config.Thermal.warmupMs (8 s) after the camera opens. Until then N skips it and a toast says how many seconds are left, the FLIR pill shows a percentage, and a Nimbus progress bar reads Pre-flight · FLIR cooling down….

In FLIR, Y cycles the palettes from Config.Thermal.palettes (WHT-HOT, BLK-HOT, IRONBOW, EDGE). The choice is saved as the player's thermalPalette setting, and a palette change is logged to the mission timeline. Heat signatures are boxed and Q locks them. See Operations → Heat lock.

GEO overlay

G cycles off → GEO → GEO+.

• GEO: street names, A & B junction labels and the zone, projected onto the camera image. Labels fade with distance, don't overlap, and repeat along long streets. The street, crossing, zone and laser distance at the crosshair are shown at the bottom centre (also with the overlay off).
• GEO+: adds a faint world grid (gridHalfLines, gridSpacing).

The projection is reconstructed in pure Lua from the camera position, rotation and FOV, rather than calling GetScreenCoordFromWorldCoord for each label. See Configuration → Overlay.