Flyable Pelican and Phantom

The Flyable Pelican and Phantom.

The Flyable Pelican and Phantom easter egg in Halo: Reach allows the player to pilot the Pelican and Phantom in the Halo: Reach campaign level New Alexandria. This was first revealed to exist to the players, after Bungie's campaign designer Dan Miller revealed that the Pelican is pilotable.^[1] The easter egg was figured out several hours after the release of the weekly update.

Walkthrough

All objectives assigned must be completed before the final objective is given to destroy the Shade turrets at the ONI Headquarters. Fly to the tower with Club Errera (It will have an orange rectangle on the top of the tower, look high) and look outwards. Approach the tower to the West of Club Errera and head to the North side of this building. There should be a hollow area with a ceiling but no floor whatsoever. If all the mission objectives prior to the ONI Headquarters are completed, a switch should be on the ceiling. The player must toggle it before the next step. This is possible on Solo and Co-Op.

The building where the Easter Egg can be unlocked - the building containing Club Errera is to the left. The alcove area visible contains the switch.

Solo

The player must land their Falcon on the building's ledge, with its rotors balanced and touching the ledge so it remains in position. Then, using a jetpack, which is obtainable from Club Errera or the New Alexandria Hospital, fly up to the roof and trigger the switch. If done correctly and quickly enough, the Falcon should still be in place, and the player should be able to return to it.

Activating the switch in single-player.
Activating the switch. Note the compass markings in the HUD, if you are having trouble finding the easter egg.

Co-op

First, one player stands on top of a Falcon, the pilot must then carefully hover into the hollow area in the back of the tower and adjust the altitude until they can activate the switch. This is best done if the player has a jetpack, which is obtainable during the New Alexandria Hospital and Club Errera segments of the mission.

After Activating the Switch

After activating the switch, the player must fly through the oval ring in the tower that resembles the Shanghai World Financial Center. It may take several passes through the ring at a certain altitude to trigger the Easter Egg. Aim for about three-fourths the way up in the ring.

At this point, if the player is in a Falcon or Banshee, they will be put into a Pelican or Phantom, respectively. The previous vehicle that they were in will then fall to the ground since the player is no longer piloting it.

The building you need to fly through.
A Falcon flying through the building.

Gameplay

Both vehicles are operated by using RB button to ascend and LB button to descend, with the default controls. With the Recon control scheme, in order to ascend press A button and descend with LB button. Both the Phantom and the Pelican can boost by pressing LT button. Co-op players can ride in the back by holding action (although the indicator is not shown, it will still work). The chain gun of the Pelican can be operated by a player that holds action near it, similarly to the Usable Pelican turret easter egg on Long Night of Solace. They will have full motion and firing abilities but cannot see anything because of camera placement, although sometimes the turret will become invisible if another person melees or shoots at it. The chin gun is the same as the Falcon's chin gun. Friendly Army troopers will automatically man the chin turret or ride in the back if the Pelican lands nearby. The Phantom's side plasma turrets where Unggoy usually man them can be manned by other players.

If the pilot exits the Pelican, it will disappear. Phantoms function almost identically, except that they are faster and the pilot cannot exit, except by committing suicide by flying too low. The Phantom can fly through buildings and other Phantoms and players, although the player will be killed instantly if they fly through a building. If the player wishes to finish the level by themselves with the Pelican they can simply push the Shade turrets off the edge and not have to worry about their health.

Achievements

The following achievement can be unlocked through this easter egg on the Halo: The Master Chief Collection edition of Halo: Reach.

Halo: MCC (Xbox One)	Halo: MCC (Steam)	Title	Unlock requirement	Games
		We're Gonna Need a Bigger Ship	Fly both the Pelican and Phantom via this easter egg.	Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Trivia

Note that if there are any passengers or gunners inside the Falcon during transformation, they will remain in the Falcon as it falls down. If the party leader is a passenger in the Falcon then they will get a Pelican first.
The player may also exit the normal barriers of the map while in a Pelican or Phantom and explore freely, even up to the Covenant Ket-pattern battlecruisers. If the player starts getting out too far, they will start seeing the effects of the Hall of Mirrors.
Please note that the Phantom is destructible. After taking large amounts of damage, it will explode. Unlike other vehicles in Reach, there is no way to tell how much strength the Phantom has left before exploding. The Pelican on the other hand is entirely indestructible.
The manner in which the Pelican flies seems to defy aerodynamics. To bank left, the right wing and its attached thruster tilts upward while the left wing and thruster tilts downward. The opposite is true when the Pelican banks right. In reality, these wing/thruster positions should have the opposite effect on the aircraft.
Projectiles fired from inside the cargo hold of the Pelican will travel straight through the "wall" of the Pelican, as does the "Rain" weather effect.
If the Pelican is holding a passenger and makes too tight of a turn, the passenger will sometimes be booted from the seat, and sometimes be stuck inside the Pelican until they reenter the seat and then get up from the seat.
If the player piloting the Pelican looks down while going backwards, passengers can exit their seats without leaving the Pelican, allowing the passengers to move around in the Pelican, however they are prone to damage from the Pelican's movements.
Curiously, while there is no "effective" AI controlling the chin/"concussion" turret of the Pelican/Phantom respectively; they still turn around and point at threats or other players staring at them, but don't fire unless they are actually taken over by another player or trooper.
The Phantom is known to have clipping issues when colliding with buildings.
The player can also reach the bottom of the level. If travelling outside the map, it is possible to spawn players on the invisible floor.