History Main / HelicopterFlyswatter

* Lampshaded by ''WebVideo/{{Yotobi}}'' during his review of ''Megapython vs Gatoroid'': "Since this is an Asylum movie, if you're riding a plane or a chopper, chances are something will try to eat you."

A classic move for the [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever giant-monster]] genre, from ''Franchise/KingKong'' to ''Film/Cloverfield'', this is when a gigantic creature or similar menace lashes out and destroys a helicopter or other low-flying aircraft. The aircraft might be attacking the monster, circling too close to capture footage of the creature (news crews, beware this trope!), or simply passing by and/or trying to get the hell away from it. One of the many hazards of being an AcrophobicBird, and a standard tactic for filmmakers to justify a monster ''not'' simply being blown away by an air-to-ground missile. Of course, if the threat is ground-based, and the pilots would logically know it possessed no ranged weaponry, this may be a case of TooDumbToLive.

A classic move for the [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever giant-monster]] genre, from Film/KingKong to Film/{{Clover|field}}, this is when a gigantic creature or similar menace lashes out and destroys a helicopter or other low-flying aircraft. The aircraft might be attacking the monster, circling too close to capture footage of the creature (news crews, beware this trope!), or simply passing by and/or trying to get the hell away from it. One of the many hazards of being an AcrophobicBird, and a standard tactic for filmmakers to justify a monster ''not'' simply being blown away by an air-to-ground missile. Of course if the threat is groundbased, and the pilots would logically know it possessed no ranged weaponry, this may be a case of TooDumbToLive.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion End of Evangelion]]'', Asuka drop-kicks a VTOL craft using Unit-02.

[[folder:Board Games]]
* The board game ''TabletopGame/TheCreatureThatAteSheboygan'', which simulates an AttackOfThe50FootWhatever, includes rules for having the monster destroy helicopters that fly too close.
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[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''Attack of the 50-Ft. Half-Klingon'', the giant B'Elanna Torres is introduced striding across a ZeeRust city "swiping at the gyrocopters that buzzed about her like angry gnats". When a giant Tom Paris appears at the end of the fanfic, he's surrounded by a similar swarm of tilt-rotor gunships.
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* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'', Ginormica does it by accident, [[NotHelpingYourCase while trying to explain how she's not dangerous at all.]]

* Franchise/{{Godzilla}} and his kaiju colleagues do this all the time.
** In the 1998 ''Film/{{Godzilla|1998}}'' movie, the titular 'zilla does this to a helicopter that's tracking him though the city by sneaking up on it from below.
** Especially notable in ''Film/GodzillaMothraKingGhidorahGiantMonstersAllOutAttack'', in which Godzilla THROWS Baragon [[DeadlineNews into a news chopper]]. What a way to die.
* ''Film/{{King Kong|1933}}'': King Kong swats at attacking aircraft at the climax of the movie. He manages to take down three, but unfortunately it's not enough to save him.

* ''Film/PacificRim'' shows the first kaiju doing this to the fighter jets attacking it.

* The human protagonist of Creator/StephenKing's ''Battleground'' swats one of the attacking mini-choppers out of the air barehanded (suffering appropriate injuries to his hand), then throws a blanket over the other and stomps on it.
* The 50-foot Ginger that climbed up the Tower of Art in ''Literature/MovingPictures'' tried to play out this trope when two wizards started strafing it from a flying broomstick.

* The monsters in the UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame ''VideoGame/{{Rampage}}'' could do this to attacking helicopters.
* This is possible by many ways and is greatly recommended in ''VideoGame/{{War Of The Monsters}}'', as helicopter gunships are, like those in CCAC, [[GoddamnedBats fairly good at evading the player, while at the same time]] [[DeathOfAThousandCuts peppering you with their cannons.]] Fortunately, there are a number of ways to beat them, including by [[ImprovisedWeapon throwing items at them,]] [[BeamSpam shooting them with your projectile weapon,]] [[HerdHittingAttack close-range special attacks,]] swatting them, jumping into them, or even grabbing another helicopter and using ITS guns to down the others.
** They are especially dangerous in the 4th mission, where you not only have to face helicopters, but also a Mecha-Kong and [[BigCreepyCrawlies the mantis Preytor,]] who exhibits all the traits of the aforementioned choppers.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Parodied in the opening scene of ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtheadDoAmerica''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS6E17Benderama Benderama]]", a Giant human boy is destroying the city. Zapp Brannigan shoots at him from a helicopter but then the Giant grabs the helicopter and uses it to give himself a shave.
* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': In "Stoneheart - Origins, Part 2", Stone Heart swats at the pursuing helicopters as he climbs the Eiffel Tower carrying Mylène.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo" the plane that the Simpsons are on going home gets attacked by Godzilla.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/{{King Kong|1933}}'': King Kong swats at attacking aircraft at the climax of the movie. He manages to take down three, but unfortunately it's not enough to save him.
* ''Film/KongSkullIsland'' continues the tradition with actual helicopters, and uses enough of them that Kong not only swats them, but grabs them to toss at ''other'' helicopters. The largest, he snatches out of the air and twists apart with both hands.

* Can be done in ''VideoGame/CrushCrumbleAndChomp'', though it's actually somewhat difficult. The helicopter units are fairly good at keeping their distance from the monster, and good at evading the monster's "grab" attack.
* The ''UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex'' in ''VideoGame/DinoCrisis'' does this to Regina's extraction chopper.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS6E17Benderama Benderama]]", a Giant human boy is destructing the city. Zapp Brannigan shoots at him from a helicopter but then the Giant grabs the helicopter and uses it to give himself a shave.
* ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'': In "Taz in Keeweeland", Taz becomes a giant atop a skyscraper, swatting at the Kiwi in a biplane.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': In "Stoneheart - Origins, Part 2", Stone Heart swats at the pursuing helicopters as he climbs the Eiffel Tower carrying Mylène.

** Especially notable in ''Film/GodzillaMothraKingGhidorahGiantMonstersAllOutAttack'', in which Godzilla THROWS Baragon into a news chopper. What a way to die.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm'', Batman does this with small radio-controlled choppers in a miniature diorama of Gotham City. Justified: This is the old "Gotham of the Future" monorail display, which now serves as the Joker's home base.

* ''Film/MegaSharkVsGiantOctopus'' uses the standard version when the octopus swats a fighter plane, and takes it far beyond credibility when the shark ''leaps 30,000 feet up to nom an airliner''.

** They are especially dangerous in the 4th mission, where you not only have to face helicopters, but also a Mecha-Kong and [[BigCreepyCrawlies the mantis Preytor,]] who exhibits all the traits of the aforementioned choppers UpToEleven.

* The ''TyrannosaurusRex'' in ''VideoGame/DinoCrisis'' does this to Regina's extraction chopper.

-->'''Pilot''': Don't let her get me!\\
'''Ginormica''': Sorry.

* The 50-foot Ginger that climbed up the Tower of Art in ''Discworld/MovingPictures'' tried to play out this trope when two wizards started strafing it from a flying broomstick.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'', Ginormica does it by accident, [[NotHelpingYourCase while trying to explain how she's not dangerous at all.]]

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[folder:BoardGames]]

[[folder:{{Film}}]]
* ''Film/KingKong1933'' swats at attacking aircraft at the climax of the movie. He manages to take down three, but unfortunately it's not enough to save him.

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

[[folder:{{Music}}]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]

* The TyrannosaurusRex in ''VideoGame/DinoCrisis'' does this to Regina's extraction chopper.

[[folder:WebComics]]

[[folder: WebOriginal]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

[[folder:RealLife]]

* The {{Trope Namer|s}} is the now-famous tweet joking about using a flyswatter to get rid of an annoying helicopter that was flying around town in the middle of the night. The town was Abbottabad, Pakistan, and the helicopters were carrying [=Navy SEALS=] on their way to take down OsamaBinLaden. One of them did crash during the raid, but so far there have been no reports that giant monsters were involved.

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[[AC: WebOriginal]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

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* The monsters in the ArcadeGame ''VideoGame/{{Rampage}}'' could do this to attacking helicopters.

* The T-Rex in ''DinoCrisis'' does this to Regina's extraction chopper.

* ''Film/KingKong'' swats at attacking aircraft at the climax of the movie. He manages to take down three, but unfortunately it's not enough to save him.