Riding a Pelican

It has been suggested that Pelican death glitch be merged into this article or section.

The "concrete" landing zone.

On some levels in the Halo trilogy, it is possible for a player to climb or jump on top of a Pelican and ride the ship to its destination when it's not required. -- Riding a Pelican. The glitch has been seen, so far, in Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo: Reach.

The glitch nearly always has the same results: the Pelican will either fly players outside of the map and directly into a kill barrier; or it will fly outside the map, fall or sink (sometimes violently), and drop players directly into a kill barrier. This is due to the AI Driver Despawning. The Pelican is meant to fly away and despawn. The pelican cannot despawn with the player in it, causing the crazy/bumpy ride then crashing!

Walkthroughs

Halo: Combat Evolved

343 Guilty Spark

Main article: Hidden Marine Easter Egg on 343 Guilty Spark

At the beginning of 343 Guilty Spark, when you are still in the Pelican for a few seconds, throw a Frag Grenade out of the Pelican; this will cause you to stay inside the Pelican. It will fly around the map, eventually going into the hills and hovering there for the remainder of the level. The hills span around the perimeter of the map and if you go around them, you will eventually find an unarmed Marine who stands completely still.

It is also possible to jump onto the top of the Pelican using a boulder at the nose of the ship. After that, you must time your jump right to get to the ledge that was to your right at the beginning of the level. Using this method, you can explore the area on foot.

Assault On The Control Room

At the beginning of CE:Assault on the Control Room|Assault on the Control Room, Pelican Echo 419 will drop you off in a Forerunner building. As soon as you are dropped off, it will say "Hold X to ride Pelican"; follow the instruction. If done successfully, you will be able to ride it for a short time. At the end of the ride, you will be booted out, and die. Using devmode in Halo: Custom Edition, and turning on the no-death cheat will allow you to not die, and to see the dead Grunts Easter egg. However, if one aims at the Pelican once they are booted out, they will see "Hold X to flip Pelican". If they do so, the pelican will disappear and they will be pushed onto a ledge, near which they can activate the Siege of Madrigal Easter egg.

It is, however, possible to survive if you are playing Co-op mode and one person exits the Pelican at the right spot. When you get in the Pelican at the start of the level, you will always pass through a checkpoint. The checkpoint is always there, regardless of whether you get in or not. If one would wish to continue the level after the ride, you'd have to hold X to get out again.

This can also be done on the first bridge that you come to. A Pelican carrying Fire Team Zulu will begin its descent near the middle of the bridge. If you jump at the right time, you will be able to land on it, hop off at its descent, and skip a very aggravating part of the level on Heroic and Legendary.

Death By A Pelican

When the level starts, if the player continues to rapidly press the enter/exit vehicle button (or action command for PC players), the player will hop out of the Pelican and then hop back in. After a few moments, the Pelican's script will kick in, and it will fly back in to the shaft room it came out of, leaving the two Sangheili standing there, firing at you in vain. Given the size of the shaft room, Foehammer will have to go vertical, nosing over roughly 80-85 degrees below the horizontal. As the player looks out the rear of the Pelican, the depths of the shaft room become visible. Eventually, Foehammer will travel far enough down that the view becomes obscured by a turquoise fog. After a few seconds, the player will mysteriously be ejected from the Pelican and die almost instantly when the Pelican hits the third of three large spinning disks approximately halfway down the shaft.

Halo 2

Outskirts

If you jump onto the rooftops at the beginning of Outskirts and completely ignore the battle in the first part, a checkpoint will appear and Sergeant Johnson will spawn and begin boarding a Pelican which will also come. If you jump onto the Pelican, it will fly off with you on it. You won't get far though because it disappears in midair.

Metropolis

Play through Metropolis until you get to the part where you have to rescue some Marines trapped in a building. You will be on a street with a couple of Jackal snipers, two Zurdo-pattern Wraiths, and a couple of Karo'etba-pattern Ghosts. Another Wraith and two Phantoms will come momentarily, followed by two Pelicans.

Go to the far staircase between the streets; this is the one closer to the building the Marines were in. This is the point where the Pelican will drop off some more Marines for you. You need to be the top of this staircase before the Pelican begins its descent. As soon as the Marines have exited the Pelican, jump toward the passenger bay and hold the X button. Aim for the bottom of the Pelican, right near the back entrance. An easier way to do this is to park a vehicle where the Marines are dropped off, climb on it, and wait for the Pelican. This should allow you to climb in the cargo bay instead of boarding.

After a short trip, the Pelican falls to the bottom of the level. Along the way, a blue notice like the one that tells you to get to cover will pop up saying "you must be in a DRIVER seat to drive a vehicle". In Halo: Combat Evolved, a free-falling Pelican would travel the exact same path every time, but things might be different here. Occasionally, on Co-op, everybody will land on a giant concrete platform (too far down to get back into the level, and too far up to continue to the very bottom). The Pelican may continue its way down, while players and Marines are stuck there. Sometimes, instead of landing on the giant concrete platform, players land on an invisible platform beneath the giant concrete platform. Also, on co-op, when both players enter into the pelican, the second player is standing on the seat, with their head sticking out through the top of the pelican and their arms in the style of a cross.

Delta Halo

Another example is on the level Delta Halo, where you continue as normal until the Pelican comes in and drops off the Warthog. Get to where the Shade turret on a small hill was, and then wait for the Pelican to come to a halt. Then Explosive Jump up to the Pelican. It will fly around with you on its back for a little while, and then accelerate, causing you to fall off of it and to your death.

Another way is to continue until the part of the temple where the Pelican starts to drop off weapon pods. You can jump atop the temple by crouch jumping and grenade jumping; from there, you can jump normally onto the Pelican. It will fly off into a hill and disappear. You will be very far from where you are supposed to be, and you may need to revert to the last checkpoint as if you tried to return to your previous position without reverting, you would most likely fail.

Halo 3

Sierra 117

While you must ride the Pelican at the end of Sierra 117 to complete the mission, you can instead get into its troop bay and kill the Marine on the turret. You can then take control of the turret, but once you get on the turret, the last cut-scene will begin.

Crow's Nest

The Pelican that shows up in Crow's Nest's first hangar can be boarded. After you clear the hangar, jump on Deployable Covers while the Pelican is coming out of its spot. If you time it right, you can get into the Pelican's bay (or, if you are good, possibly it's cockpit while it stops being part of the scenery and an actual vehicle). It may take a couple of tries, and could be a little frustrating.

Another Pelican appears when you take out the Jump Pack Brutes. You can jump on the Pelican. However, as soon as it takes off, you will die.

The Storm

At Rally Point Alpha in The Storm, right before the Scarab fight, a Pelican will enter the lakebed and drop off two Mongooses. The door to the troop bay will open, and both vehicles will hastily drive out. There will be a short moment in which you can jump into the Pelican right after the second Mongoose pulls out. You will stay in for about two seconds before it closes again. Then, you will ride it for about two to five seconds before inexplicably dying.

This glitch can be expanded, and if done quick enough you can get a checkpoint while inside the Pelican. This glitch is easy when done if loading Rally Point Alpha.

It may take one or two attempts, but find out exactly where the Pelican stops descending. Just when it stops, jump at the door; it is not solid, so you will go through it and into the Pelican. Jump immediately or you will get splattered or forced out of the Pelican by the first Mongoose; you must crouch jump slightly so you don't fly out, land on the mongoose, or die. If done right, you'll take some damage, but you'll be alive.

Quickly get to the second Mongoose, and force the Marine out so you can drive it; the Marine might get stuck or end up in front of the Mongoose. You have about two seconds before the Mongoose will get forced out; driving the Mongoose, however, will prevent it from being forced out. You will still die along with the Marines inside and the mongoose if you stay inside. You can drive outside the pelican when the doors are closed, as they are not solid.

If you drive out properly and at the right moment, the Marine that was originally driving the Mongoose may be standing inside (as in, overlapping) the non-solid door or right next to it (such that he appears to be hovering in the air). If you continue to watch him, you'll find that he will experience a similar fate to your own when riding the Pelican: he will either fall out o