Fantastic Solution for the Huron/Hannibal Stealth Helis!
As you know, the Stealth Heli can be equipped with flares in addition to its inherent stealth mode, this leads to the Stealth Heli having an unrivaled survivability compared to other aircraft.
What I suggest is that the "Flares" must GO TO the Gunner for the Huron/Hannibal Stealth Heli. The Gunner must be responsible for the flares! The Gunner must deploy it, not the Pilot! This will transfer responsibility for survival across the occupants, forcing co-operation, creating risk and the potential for mistakes because of course, the Gunner does not have as much information as the Pilot.
Furthermore, the 30mm Cannons will still need its overheat speed increased to be more in line with its other 50.cal weapon.
Also, the Gunner seat should have a delay to deploy flares like it does to shoot the EMP Grenade, in order to prevent the Pilot from simply switching seats to use the Flares then switching back to the Pilot seat.
Another possible solution for the "skybox" bombing runs, make the bombs have a maximum height to explode, change the crosshair to a "X" or something to mark when the Pilot is too high to actually hit anything and resulting in the bombs exploding mid air. This will force the Pilots to fly within Rao's hacking range to drop bombs. I think this is way more balanced than what it currently is.
Such a change would also force Pilots to play more carefully as they can't directly see the cooldown for "Flares".