For the helicopter controls I highly recommend using the WASD or cursors along with the mouse for steering. This way you can move forward and back or strafe on the keys and then turn with the mouse. Also you could use one mouse button to shoot and another to elevate. That would be very easy especially for PC gamers who are used to these sort of controls.
I disagree. I personally found the helicopter controls to be intuitive, perfectly satsifactory, and consistent with the rest of the game and/or vehicles. It was because of this latter point that I found it so easy to work out which buttons to push, after playing the land-based vehicles. Compared to a land-based vehicles, helicopters aren't meant to be as straightforward to control. That being said, it's not at all difficult (my 5yr old son enjoyed very much blowing my poor lil Humvee away repeatedly) and the relative lack of control combined with supreme firepower helps make it fun.
If it adds at all to my credibility, I play PC games and have credit cards. ;o)