U41 Ptakojester

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U41 Ptakojester
Vehicle in Just Cause 3
Type	Transport plane
Weapons	None
Rarity	Rebel drop and missions only
List of owners	Medici Military The Rebellion Black Hand
Top speed (km/h)	~210 (330 to 360 with nitrous)
Top speed (mph)	~130 (~205 to ~223 with nitrous)

The U41 Ptakojester is a plane in Just Cause 3.

Appearance

The U41 Ptakojester is a large 4-engine cargo plane, bigger than the Bering I-86DP in Just Cause 2.

It most closely resembles the Antonov An-124 Ruslan in terms of size and shape, where the C-5 Galaxy would have much different wings and a completely different cockpit. The tail is similar to the An-225 Mriya's, but if one looks closely, it resembles the top of a C-17 Globemaster's tailplane, with vertical stabilizers jutting out of it. Also the landing gear resembles that of an Antonov An-124 Ruslan, while the shape of the cockpit glass resembles those from various aircraft in Boeing's lineup. Real aircraft similar to this have a nose door instead of or as well as a rear door, hence the raised cockpit.

According to the rebel drop info:

 PC  : "The huge transport aircraft U41 Ptakojester can hold an impressive ten land vehicles of normal size in its cargo bay. Runway strongly recommended."

 PS4   Xbox One  :"The gargantuan U41 Ptakojester transport plane can hold an impressive ten full-sized land vehicles in its cargo bay. Landing strip recommended."

Early beta versions of this plane had two small humps on its back, just like the An-225 Mriya. One beta version had a T-shaped tail.

Another beta version is shown the the E3 trailer, where the jet's hatch doors are two control plates and then the door, instead of the final version. The door itself is shown not to go all the way down. Either it wasn't able to in the beta or the player had an option in the beta for full control on how the door comes down.

One very strange yet annoying characteristic is that when you enter the cockpit of the airplane, suddenly all the on board lights turn off. The lights include the green cockpit lights, white flashing tail lights, cargo bay lights, aileron stabilizer lights (red on one side, green on the other), and the small clouds that fly by you when you're in the sky. This does not include engine exhaust. They do turn on though if you get out, stunt on top, enter the cargo bay, or use nitrous. It probably is a bug due to the render of the airplane lights being too short, whereas the view of the airplane when flying it is too far for it, because when the view must be shortened by a wall or obstacle in the way, the lights do turn on even though you're in the cockpit. Despite these light issues, the plane should fly normally.

Nevertheless, the U41 Ptakojester is the largest plane in the game by a long shot, second being the U-7 Dravec.

Performance

Its size makes it the least agile plane in the game. It flies relatively smoothly until turning, which can cause a loss of altitude. It is possible to hit multiple other aircraft without making this plane explode.

As seen in the launch trailer and the mission Bavarium on a Plane, it's possible to transport vehicles in it. As a matter of fact, it has a fully functional interior. It's advised to Grapple any transported vehicle to the walls of the plane to keep it more stable. It is possible to fit another plane inside (CS7 Thunderhawk) although it is not advised as it would usually explode inside the fuselage causing a loss of control and subsequent crash.

Despite the Rebel drop info, it's actually able to take off from a relatively small strip of land. The size of the required airfield increases if there's more cargo. If equipped with nitrous boosters it can take off almost immediately.

It is still a good idea to be in an open area to be rebel dropped, as it's hard to dictate which way the plane will be facing when Rebel dropped. Some suggested places to rebel drop are the fields in Prima, the butte in eastern Cava Grande, or anywhere in the water, as the plane floats. Opening the cargo bay while floating will sink the plane, however.

There are two hatches on top of the cockpit area; one to pilot the plane and one to enter the cargo bay. The cockpit can also be accessed by a door in the cargo bay. The cargo bay ramp can be opened and closed via a button inside the cargo bay.

These functions can be operated by the following controls:

•  Xbox One  : Using RB in the cockpit to open/close the cargo bay door and holding Y to enter the cargo bay.
•  PC  : Holding down the left mouse button to open/close cargo bay door and holding E to enter cargo bay.
•  PS4  : Using R1 in the cockpit to open/close the cargo bay door and holding to enter the cargo bay.

Versions and locations

Medici Military

In missions:

• A Terrible Reaction - The military drops paratroopers. As shown in a game trailer, it flies so close to the ground that it's possible to blow up with a rocket launcher and it is possible to hijack but will lead to a "mission failed" as you will have abandoned Mario. It has also been reported that any rockets fired at it will harmlessly clip their way through the plane.
• Missile Cowboy - At least one can be seen flying around. However, that one (or all of them) will crash into terrain before their paratrooper loadout can parachute out.
• Abandon Ship - Paratroopers drop from one.
• Tangled Up In Blue - At least one can be seen.
• Bavarium on a Plane - Rico, Tom and Dimah use the plane during this mission.
• The Shatterer of Worlds - At least one can be seen flying around.

In free roam:

• During a settlement liberation, eventually the text "Commando time!" will appear on screen, and a Medici Military marked U41 Ptakojester will appear and drop paratroopers. If you're skillful with the Grappler/Parachute/Wingsuit/Bavarium wingsuit, it's possible to catch up to it and hijack it. This occurs only at the following four bases:
  • Alte Potentia - Power plant. It can be a bit tricky to hijack it from here, because the plane can fly into a nearby mountain.
  • Cava Grande - Large mine. It's easiest to hijack from this base, if one stands near the top of the white storage facilities to the west and uses the grapple-parachute technique.
  • Griphon - Airforce base.
  • Le Tutor - Radar base.
  • Puncta Sud - Radar base (you can see only the paratroopers).

Black Hand

• Used in the mission Stowaway. After the mission, the plane can still be found inside the hangar, but it is not flyable, and indestructible.
• Used to bring paratroopers to the following locations during the "Hold the Fort" part:
  • Nebio Sud Detention Camp.
  • Novola Central Detention Camp.
  • Alvea Detention Camp.
• Used to bring paratroopers to the Hive during the mission Storming the Hive. This mission has two of them, but it's unknown where the other plane is stored. For whatever odd reason though, rebel paratroopers come out instead of Black Hand paratroopers.
• The "Nebio Sud - Mech Arena" challenge has several bringing paratroopers in.
• In the mission The Setup.

The Rebellion

• The only place to get this variant is through Rebel drop. The plane is unlocked after liberating Falco Maxime: Centcom.
• It is recommend to drop the beacon in an open area, like the fields of Prima.
  • It is very difficult to launch one from an airstrip like Griphon because you don’t know which way the jet will spawn, and its likely you will hit something on the airstrip.

Trivia

• Ptakoještěr is Czech for Pterosaur (extinct flying reptiles).
• This is the first player controllable Cargo plane in the Just Cause game series to have a functioning cargo door.
  • On that note, it is the successor to the Alexander AX-14 from Just Cause (1) and the Bering I-86DP from Just Cause 2.
• Not counting the large Stationary vehicles, it is one of the largest vehicles in game series.
• See Amphibious vehicles for other floating non-Boats.
• Despite apparently being able to land on the large runway in Insula Lacrima (as shown in Stowaway,) the plane is actually still too big and will hit the chaos objects and other objects alongside the runway.
  • This may be the result of developer under sight.
• Landing is more tricky than taking off because some runways aren't long enough or have objects which the plane can hit and suddenly explode, killing Rico.
• Pushing its speed beyond 300 km/h with nitrous causes its nose to rise; as a result, the entire plane gains altitude. This is slightly annoying if you simply want to fly at 330 km/h forward without having to correct it.
• For some reason, when spawned for use in an Air Race, the plane spawns slightly damaged.
• During the "Nebio Sud - Mech Arena" challenge, if you destroy the plane quickly enough, you can kill all of the paratroopers, although there is a glitch where despite the plane being physically destroyed, the paratroopers will still spawn.
• The cargo plane has a similar appearance of the Andromada from GTA San Andreas. Both jets have a black nose, both have four engines and both are cargo planes. Although both are also not seen in freemode alone, the Andromada's only appearance is in a mission and the player is unable to fly the plane, while the U41 Ptakojester is flyable and can be unlocked in the rebel drop.
• There's a glitch where if you grapple one of the outer engines to the open cargo door mid flight, the plane will spin constantly and becomes out of control. It'll explode on impact on land and on water it'll land smoothly and will be able to take off again, as if the cargo door isn't open.
• The plane is so big it can ram into other smaller planes, like the Urga U17 Akrobat in midair without exploding. An example is shown here at 13:52: Link
• One amazing feature of the plane is its spinning fan blades. On closer look of the engines, 3 out of 4 are spinning clockwise. Engine 2 is only one spinning counter clockwise. This is the first plane in the Just Cause game series to have rotating fan blades in an engine.
• Strangely enough, when destroyed, some pieces of the plane (like the cockpit, engines etc.) will fall faster than other pieces (like the cargo door).
• At times, the plane's engine will stay with each other after the plane explodes, instead of separating from each other and flying in different areas.
• It's possible to back flip from the plane and stay on the plane without falling off.
• This plane has a bigger, if not the biggest exploding animation than any other vehicle in the game, due to its enormous size.
• All of them, regardless of owner, have "STR41-14" and "92-52189" on them. These are probably identification codes, even though they do not follow any known format of any nation's ICAO standardized registrations used in real life.
• Rebellion Urga Mstitels have markings which are also on both sides on the Ptakojester, although these can also be seen on most other Rebellion aircraft.
• As a vehicle with only four spawn points, this is one of the rarest vehicles in the game.

Gallery

Rebellion

In rebel colors.

Medici Military

There are no fixed spawn locations for this variant, and it must be hijacked in flight from one of the settlements where it spawns.

Black Hand

This variant only appears in the Mech Land Assault DLC and cannot be found in the base game. In a similar fashion to the Medici Military, it has no fixed spawn locations, although one can be found at the hangar from the beginning of the story, but cannot be used and cannot be destroyed. It is unknown if this is a glitch, or a normal part of the game. To operate one, it must be hijacked from an enemy settlement.

Miscellaneous

Concept art of a cancelled design. Notice how this still has the humps that were used on the A-225 to hold the Buran shuttle.

As seen in the Rebel Drop menu.

The unlock screen, after liberating Falco Maxime: Centcom.

As seen in a trailer.

As seen in the story trailer.

Rico blowing up this plane with a UVK-13 in the fourth mission.

As seen in the Rebel drop list.

The interior of the plane.

In the mission Bavarium on a Plane.

A Black Hand variant in the cutscene for the mission Stowaway.

In flight, in the same cutscene.

In the mission "The Setup".

In the mission "The Setup".

In the mission "The Setup".