D79H-TC Pelican

Were you also looking for the G79H-TC/MA Pelican also found in Halo 4 ? Dropship 79 Heavy-Troop Carrier

The Dropship 79 Heavy-Trooper Carrier, abbreviated D79H-TC, or more commonly known as the Pelican, is an extremely versatile aircraft capable of carrying troops, cargo, or vehicles, and sporting a heavy arsenal of weapons. Because of this, the Pelican is both a capable support gunship, and troop deployment carrier. This model of the Pelican has two nose mounted machine guns, operable by the pilot. There is a gunship variant of the D79H-TC Pelican, the G79H-TC/MA Pelican.

Trivia

 * The D79H may be the UNSC's analog to the Covenant's Phantom Gunboat.
 * Unlike the earlier D77 models, the cockpit opens to allow the pilot inside.
 * Unlike previous Pelicans, the downward thrusters are on the main body and wings of the pelican, presumably to allow them to carry heavier cargo
 * Unlike other Pelican models, the D79 supports acceleration thrusters.
 * On the mission Reclaimer three pelicans are seen flying away from the Mammoth, and it is possible that it takes three Pelicans to lift a Mammoth. Though it is unlikely that even with three Pelicans that they would be able to lift the Mammoth as each Pelican can only lift 70 tons.
 * The variant flown in the Halo 4 level Shutdown is the G79H-TC/MA Pelican gunship, and has a seemingly infinite boost, unlike most Covenant vehicles. It is also possible to fly the dropship variant via a glitch on the level Reclaimer. However, it is not drivable in the first and possibly only season of Spartan Ops.
 * It's cockpit resembles that of a Russian helicopter, Mi-24 Hind and of the LAAT/i gunship from Star Wars.
 * This is the first known Pelican model officially to have a hologram projector in the cargo bay. The Tart-cart was first integrated with one on request.
 * When landing, the Pelican's wings will angle down from a horizontal angle to a vertical one in order to direct the thrust downward, much like "modern VTOL aircrafts".

Appearances

 * The Commissioning
 * Halo 4
 * Spartan Ops
 * Halo: Escalation