Aircraft

The Aircraft is the main portion of the modification made by Steve Bond for his level, The Test Area, and was also included in the HANGAR level released in the public beta. It behaves somewhat like a Powerup, lasting for a limited amount of time and providing additional abilities to the player. It respawns every 30 seconds, even in Single Player.

The player can instantly acquire an Aircraft by using impulse 100. Note that this does not work in Deathmatch.

The only alteration the modification makes outside of the new entities is removing the player bobbing, which likely was done to prevent problems with the Aircraft.

Steve Bond was unhappy with the texturing inside the Aircraft, which was done by himself. The modeling for all entities in The Test Area was done by John Guthrie. The sounds for the Aircraft were made by Ray Loggins.

Strategy
When the player is inside the Aircraft, they will have an entirely separate set of health from their normal level. Each Aircraft starts with 200 units of health and absorbs damage at a similar level to a Green Armor. As the Aircraft takes damage, pieces will start falling off it, and when it dies it will explode (meaning it can kill a nearby player) into a collection of parts on fire.

The Aircraft runs on fuel and thus has a limited amount of time it can be used. Every 4 seconds, it will display a message about current fuel levels, which decreases by a little over 6 units every 4 seconds. When the fuel drops below 20, a message will display on the middle of the screen, warning the player that their fuel is running low. Note that fuel will deplete at the same rate regardless of how much the player moves. Overall, the player has around a minute and 10 seconds before the Aircraft will drop from the sky and kill the player in a massive explosion.

The player can maneuver in the Aircraft in a similar manner to the fly Console Command. This means that players can use the directional arrow keys to move around, plus can swim up and down to move vertically. Colliding with a surface results in the message "Patank!" being continually spammed, which makes it highly lethal since the player cannot see their fuel levels. The player can exit the Aircraft at any time by ejecting, which launches them directly into the air above the craft, meaning they will simply land in the craft once more if they do not move. Impulse 101 is used to eject from the craft. Note that the player cannot eject from the craft when the fuel is depleted, meaning they must time their escape prior to the craft running out of fuel or risk death. The only way a player can escape a violent death in such a scenario is to crash land on top of another Aircraft, whereby they will enter the new Aircraft; it will deplete their health, but not kill them if they had full health.

The player is provided with two Weapon style systems whilst being inside the Aircraft. The first and default mode are the dual Vulcan Cannons. Note that these are not true Vulcan Cannons, since they do not spin and are much smaller than a M61 Vulcan. They behave somewhat like a Shotgun, being hitscan based projectiles that can rapidly fire from the sides of the Aircraft, meaning the player must offset their attacks instead of aiming at the middle of the screen. If done properly, the guns can be fired like rapid fire Shotguns, with the benefit that it holds unlimited Ammo. Note that the guns must be reloaded after every 60 shots.

If the player uses impulse 2, they can switch to the FFAR system, also known as Folding Fin Aerial Rockets. When fired, each side will launch a total of two rockets, meaning four total in a short volley. Much like the Vulcan Cannons, the player must compensate for the spread, though the shots will attempt to converge if given enough distance. Much like the Vulcan Cannons, the player has unlimited Ammo, but must wait for the guns to reload after every shot. Each shot causes a similar level of damage to the Vulcan Cannons, but has Splash Damage, and is considered an explosive attack. Plus both shots on one side will tend to connect, resulting in damage similar to a Double-Barrelled Shotgun.

By default, the player moves at the slowest speed, also known as "Hover Mode". This can be activated with Impulse 102. Note that using Impulse 100 can result in the player being placed on spots where they cannot move. The player can change the speed to slow or fast, Impulses 103 or 104 respectively, which will cause the Aircraft to move faster. Unlike in Hover Mode, the Aircraft will continually fly forward in the other two speed modes, meaning the player must control their mobility by aiming the mouse in the direction they wish to fly instead of using the directional keys. Also note that each speed will increase the fuel cost; slow costs 12 units per 4 seconds, while fast costs a whopping 18 units per 4 seconds.

After the player ejects from an Aircraft, they can return to it and enter it once more. Note that the Aircraft takes falling damage; the higher it falls the more damage it takes, meaning it can burst into a series of explosions if the player ejects too high in the air. Note however that an Aircraft that has been used by a player is susceptible to destruction by explosive weaponry such as the Rocket Launcher or the FFAR system. An Aircraft that has been spawned but left untouched cannot be damaged. An Aircraft that was touched by a player will change its colors to be the same as the player that used it; this feature does not work right in GLQuake and similar source ports.

Note that Steve Bond blatantly states that this entity is made for Deathmatch and only for levels made specifically for it, such as The Test Area. This is due to most areas in Quake being too cramped to fly around, resulting in constant message spam as the player collides with walls. The author felt this Powerup was not very entertaining when facing off against Monsters.

Death Messages

 * "Player" was vulcanized by "Attacker" - Vulcan Cannons
 * "Player" was killed by "Attacker"'s rocket attack - FFAR