Pelican and Phantom Easter Egg

The Pelican and Phantom Easter Egg allows the player to fly a Pelican or Phantom on the level New Alexandria.

Description
This easter egg allows players to pilot either a Pelican or a Phantom. The Pelican can carry other players in its troop bay and one player may take control of its turret. An advantage of using the Pelican is that it can take no damage. However the Pelican is harder to maneuver. The Phantom can also carry two passengers on its side turrets, but as it phases through geometry, care must be taken to ensure they are not killed in a collision with a building. If playing with multiple players, one player may remain in the troop bay while the pilot exits the vehicle. It will still remain although you cannot re-enter to pilot it again, as long as one or more players remain in the troop bay or in a turret the vehicle will not disappear although if ALL players exit the vehicle it will vanish. If anything happens you can simply return to the last checkpoint to start again.

Extras
This extra is optional for the Pelican but cruical for Phantom drivers to have their cannons operated. Players may man and gun the Pelican's turret, but it is impossible for those in Phantoms.

This is where your AI gunners come into play. Activate the easter egg and have at least one AI marine standing aside on a safe rooftop, when you have a Pelican/Phantom, position the craft so that the marine can enter the gunner seat, marines manning the Pelican can enter from the side of it. But they must be at the base of the Phantom's turret for activation.

The result is causing your dropship to shoot on its own at the enemy, similar to the dropships you face in the other missions. But like the Phantom's tough hide, its turret can be destroyed.

The Phantom's side plasma cannons may be manned be either marine or player. Increasing combat effectiveness. Note that you should position the craft in order for them to do so.

Controls

 * Left Control Stick: Fly forward and back, side-to-side.
 * Right Control Stick: Change direction.
 * X : Exit.
 * RB: Ascend.
 * LB: Descend.
 * RT: Boost. (phantom)

Method
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This easter egg can be done with one player but is easier with two on the campaign level, New Alexandria on any difficulty. In order to activate the egg, a switch must be pushed once the player has reached the point where he/she is instructed to shoot down the anti-air turrets at the ONI Base near the end of the mission, and then fly an aerial vehicle of their choice through the hoop-shaped building.


 * 1) Once the objective where you must shoot down the anti-air turrets at the ONI Tower has been reached, the switch will appear on the underside on an alcove cut into the side of a building with a glowing red strip to the west of Club Errera. The easiest, most straight forward method is to land on top of the building with another player, and have the second player jump on top of the Falcon. The pilot should carefully maneuver a Falcon into the alcove, where the second player can press the switch. Enemy Banshees will stop attacking, and capturing an enemy Banshee by jumping off the top of the Falcon becomes fairly straight forward.
 * 2) After the switch has been activated, the map's invisible barriers will be disabled and no more checkpoints can be gotten and emergency evacuation no longer functions. The players must then fly their vehicles through the hoop-shaped building towards the area where the glassing takes place at the edge of the map. If done correctly, the Falcon or Banshee will be dropped into the abyss and the player will be teleported into a Pelican or Phantom, respectively. If the Falcon has passengers, the latter will be teleported into a Pelican first, and the pilot must go through the hole again to get their own Pelican.
 * 3) Another method for one person to do is to go to the building that the switch is located at and wedge the two propellers of a Falcon between the corners of the windows. The Falcon should stay if done right. Get out of the Falcon and immediately jetpack to the ledge. Recharge the jetpack, then jetpack up to the switch. Press it and land back on the Falcon and fly off to get the Pelican or Phantom.
 * 4) One more method is to fly the Falcon near the top of the alcove, then have the another player jump out and jetpack down to the ledge. Then have the Falcon fly down to the ledge and lock its altitude. The player on the ledge should jump on top of the Falcon and the Falcon can then slowly fly straight up. When the player on top of the Falcon is close enough to the switch he can hold down the 'X' button to activate it.

Warnings

 * If you get a Phantom, avoid buildings, as the Phantom will phase through them and you will die instantly (players which have Pelicans will not run in danger, as it is a solid model and will not phase through the building).
 * If you try to exit the Pelican/Phantom without at least one passenger in the vehicle, the vehicle will simply disappear and you CANNOT call for another Falcon (As the EVAC option is disabled when the button is pressed) it is possible to hijack another Banshee to get a Phantom again. In order to obtain a second Pelican a co-op partner must still have a working Falcon.
 * If you fly too far towards the Orbital Elevators, you may hit a death barrier and will subsequently die.

Trivia

 * Another benefit of using this easter egg is that you can fly towards the closest Covenant Cruiser and can get out of the map. All barriers are disabled when the button is pressed (no matter what vehicle, you can still exit the map). From there, you can explore the outside of the map, including the Cruiser's themselves. The cruisers are notably small, presumably because they're only scenery and are meant to look like real sized Cruisers from a distance, not close up.
 * It is possible to finish the level in the Pelican by going back to the ONI Tower and knocking Shade Turrets off the edges of the buildings. When Kat calls you back, simply go to the landing pad and the cutscene will play as per normal. You can also complete it with a Phantom, but it is a lot harder due to the Phantom not being a solid model.
 * It is also possible to finish the level by having a second player in the Pelican turret. This can be achieved by lowering the Pelican as close to the second player as possible. He will then be able to hold down the 'X' button to get into the turret.
 * It is possible, although quite difficult, to achieve this easter egg alone. Experienced players can land the Falcon between the 90 degree angle at the ledges on the building and jetpack up to the switch and press it, then return to the Falcon.
 * After hitting the switch, the games objectives are halted and you will lose the ability to call for evacuation.
 * Sometimes, the building which you must fly through is the subject of a side objective, where Fuel Rod Shades on top of the building must be destroyed.