Timing Airstrikes and Helicopters with Radar in COD4

Being able to time the calling in of Airstrikes and Helicopters is a critical skill in Call of Duty to get out from under an enemies barrage of air support. Because you can only have one airstrike/helicopter active at a time the advantage of air support is huge. It not only gets you kills but keeps the enemy pinned down and distracted which helps your teammates. So how do you slip in your air support just after an enemy chopper goes down or an airstrike finishes?

Note that this method does not work in Hardcore matches, unless you have a UAV active. What you want to do is watch the radar in the top left of the screen and keep an eye on the Helicopter and Airplane icons. When the air support is still active the icons will be active and moving. When the air support is finished the icons will freeze for a moment and then disappear. The second the icons freeze you are now open to call in your own air support. This small head start over other players who are waiting for the icon to disappear completely from the radar will give you time to get your air support up first. Trying to spam the activator button is actually slower because of the time it takes to pull out and put away the air support activator.

The bottom line: You can successfully slip in air support as soon as the corresponding icon freezes on the radar.