I do find it ironic that you can now start a helicopter on the ground, cold and dark, from any location you select in the sim.
Except helipads. There, you spawn in hot, and have no option that I’ve found to do otherwise.
I have noticed that a little distance away from helipads there is often a very tiny white dot. I’m wondering if these are the remnants of a failed attempt at a cold and dark starting alternative, similar to the third-party practice in 2020 of placing parking spots almost on top of helipad markers.
If they are, it would be nice if at some point the system were properly implemented.
I did find one heliport (68CO) which, when I first looked at it, had only one of its three helipads marked, and I was able to spawn in cold and dark on one of the other two. But when I exited to Free Flight, then looked at the heliport again, all three spots now had hellipad markers and I spawned in hot at the one I previously spawned in on cold and dark.
Apart from this issue, however, my experience of helipads has been perfect.
Well, almost.
Edit: the picture is from CO78